Lopez, Ana M.

Ana Maria Hernandez de Lopez is a retired Professor of Spanish American Literature in the Department of Foreign Languages. She is from Spain, and became an American citizen in March of 1983. Her M.A. and Ph.D. are in Spanish and Spanish American Literatures from the University of New York at Buffalo, and she has a M.A. + (ABD) in American History from the University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. Professor Lopez's teaching was held in high regard by her students and colleagues in the Department of Foreign Languages. The student evaluations attested to the quality of her teaching, which had been recognized and rewarded by many organizations on campus; her colleagues, who inherit her graduate and undergraduate students, continuously commented that students from Dr. Lopez's classes were exceptionally well prepared. Professor Lopez was even at times a professor's professor; colleagues in other departments and colleges at MSU who were enrolled in her classes, such as Honors Spanish, sent unsolicited comments praising her teaching to the department head.

She was also a renowned scholar of Spanish American Literature. Her scholarly book, editions, articles and reviews, published in the U.S., Spain, England, Mexico, Columbia, Argetina, Nicaragua, Honduras, and France, promoted her reputation, and the reputation of MSU internationally. Morever, she was also an ambassador for MSU when she presented more than 65 papers at national and international conferences. As a result, her research, the symposia, and her involvement in national and international conferences brought Professor Lopez's reputation to such prominence that she was regularly invited to evaluate manuscripts submitted for publication in international journals.

Dr. Lopez was the first specialist in Spanish American Literature to be hired, and for a time the library holdings were not adequate to support her work. As a result, she had to travel to libraries in Spain to conduct research while she built the present collection of needed materials. Her dedication to scholarship and the quality of her work have long been recognized and respected by her peers.

Dr. Lopez remained a scholar and a teacher in the area of service to the profession. Her major contribution to the scholarly end was the organizing of two international symposia. In 1984, she directed a symposium on the works of the Columbian novelist and Nobel Prize recipient, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The success of this effort encouraged Professor Lopez to organize another symposium on the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes in 1987. These symposia brought to MSU some 1400 scholars from 14 different countries, and her labors of editing the proceedings for both symposia must not go unmentioned.

She was invited to organize a round table to be presented in July of 2000 at an international conference in Warsaw, Poland. The round table required eight professors, but Dr. Lopez found eleven in the U.S., and the round table became a symposia within the larger one. This event was very successful. Dr. Lopez also directed a program with 40 students in Mexico until the present, and she continues to bring great prestige to MSU.

Dr. Ana Lopez retired from Mississippi State University in 2003.