Julia Medina is Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of San Diego, where she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Latin American Studies Program and in the advisory board for the Center for Educational Excellence. Medina earned her PhD from the University of California, Davis, where she specialized in 19th and 20th Century Latin American Literature, with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory. Her current research focuses on visual culture, ecocriticism and non-fiction in Nicaragua and in Central America.