Susan G. Polansky
Teaching Professor Emeritus of Hispanic Studies
Bio
Susan Polansky's teaching and research have been closely connected and have invigorated each other. She has taught Tutoring for Community Outreach, the Senior Capstone Seminar, Translation Workshop III in the M.A. GCAT program and courses at all levels in the Hispanic Studies program. With colleagues and students, she has presented and published work about the collaborative tutoring course model with the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Her research in Hispanic literary and cultural studies focuses on Spanish writers and cross-cultural currents from the Early Modern period through the Twentieth Century. Her most recent book, "Globalizing Chocolate and Tobacco: Medical Exchange in the Early Modern World," explores two early and opposing Spanish medical perspectives on chocolate and other New World substances. In the early 1600s, doctors Bartolomé Marradón and Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma returned from the Americas with starkly different views. Marradón cautioned against tobacco and offered only limited approval of chocolate. Colmenero vigorously defended chocolate's health benefits. Their writings, translated and circulated across Europe, helped transform chocolate from a medicinal drink into a global commodity. Featuring the first full bilingual edition of Marradón's "Dialogue" (1618), and a new bilingual presentation of Colmenero's influential "Curious Treatise" (1631), the book provides insight into early modern medical thought, cultural exchange and the globalization of taste.
Education
Ph.D.,Romance Languages and Literatures, Boston College
M.A., Spanish Literature, Boston College
B.A.,Spanish Literature and Education, Simmons College
Areas of Interest
- Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Spanish Literary and Cultural Studies
- Community-based Learning and Second Language Learning
- Language Teaching Methodology and Materials Development
- Culinary Cultural Studies of the Spanish-Speaking World
- Translation Studies
Courses Taught
- 82-580 Modern Languages Senior Capstone Seminar
- 82-706 Translation Workshop III
- 82-281 Tutoring for Community Outreach
- 82-342 Spain Language and Culture
- 82-455/456 Topics in Hispanic Studies: Spanish Poets and Playwrights of Exile, Visions of Family Life in Twentieth-Century Spain; Knights, Rogues, and Saints, Family Life and Strife in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Spain; Political Drama of Spain
Selected Awards and Honors
- PSMLA (Pennsylvania Modern Language Association) Merit Award, 2018
- National Football Association and Fidelity Investments Award for Faculty Athletic Representative, Carnegie Mellon University, 2017-2018
- Barbara Lazarus Award for Culture and Climate. (Carnegie Mellon University), 2006
- Elliot Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service. (Dietrich College, Carnegie Mellon University), 2004
- National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, 1990
Selected Community, University & Professional Service
- Head, Department of Modern Languages, 2007–2020
- Carnegie Mellon Faculty Athletic Representative, 2017–2021
- Consultant, ADFL-MLA Language Consultancy Service (Association of Departments of Foreign Languages-Modern Language Association), 2015–2022
- Member, Board of Directors, Board of Directors, Asociación Hispánica de Humanidades (AHH), 2007–2016
- Member, Executive Board, Association of Departments of Foreign Languages (ADFL), 2011–2014
Selected Publications
Polansky, S. (2026) Globalizing Chocolate and Tobacco: Medical Exchange in the Early Modern World. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press.
Polansky, S. (2020)."Community Bridges and Interdisciplinary Language Learning Projects: Stepping Out of Comfort Zones and Building Ways to Grow.” In Project-Based Learning in Second Language Acquisition: Building Communities of Practice in Higher Education. Editor Adrián Gras-Velázquez. ESL and Professional Linguistics Professional Series. New York and London: Routledge.
Polansky, S. (2016). "Tristana." Newark, Delaware: European Masterpieces/Lingua Text, Ltd.
Polansky, S. (2008). "Abel Sánchez." Newark, Delaware: European Masterpieces/Lingua Text, Ltd.
Polansky, S. (2005). "The Poet as Hero: Pedro Salinas and His Theater." Newark, Delaware: Juan de La Cuesta-Hispanic Monographs.