Emilia NavarroEmeritus Faculty

Emilia meant so much to so many people. For all of us in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, she was a dear friend and revered colleague—a brilliant teacher, scholar and mentor whose interactions with us were characterized by impeccable integrity, rigorous standards, and boundless generosity. She was a skilled literary and political analyst and loved nothing more than to encourage and nurture the intellectual curiosity of others.

Emilia Navarro was one of the first women to join the faculty of Emory University in 1968 where she had a distinguished career as a scholar, a brilliant teacher, and invaluable mentor for students, colleagues, and staff.  She was the first woman at Emory to chair a department, and one of the first women in the University Senate. She was also a founder of the Emory Women’s Caucus, and of the Women’s Studies Program, now The Department of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. 

In honor of Emilia Navarro’s memory and legacy as a scholar of early modern Spanish literature, The Department of Spanish and Portuguese has established a The Emilia Navarro Distinguished Lecture Series, an annual lecture on a topic related to early modern Spanish studies or gender studies, and an annual prize to be awarded to an Emory undergraduate or graduate student for excellence in early modern Hispanism. Both the prize and lecture series were inaugurated during the spring of 2008. We know that the student prize and the annual lecture will serve to keep Emilia’s voice in conversation with all of us.