Illinois State University celebrates the distinguished career of Professor James J. Pancrazio, who will retire after nearly three decades of teaching, research, and leadership in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
A Redbird alum, Pancrazio earned his B.A. from Illinois State University in 1987, followed by an M.A. (1991) and Ph.D. (1995) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before returning to Illinois State, he held faculty positions at Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Arkansas.
Pancrazio joined Illinois State in 1997 as an assistant professor of Spanish. Promoted to associate professor in 2003, he achieved the rank of professor in 2015. His teaching, in both Spanish and English, focused on Latin American literatures and cultures, enriching the academic experience of Spanish majors and minors as well as students in the general education program.
Pancrazio is a beloved professor who embraces the University’s motto of “Gladly We Learn and Teach.” He developed student-centered approaches to teaching students reading, writing, and speaking skills, in their first and second languages, and explicitly developing students’ academic skills, from notetaking, reading, and writing skills, to time management. He has been an active affiliated faculty member in the Latin American and Latino/a Studies program.
Pancrazio’s scholarly work in Cuban literature and culture helps shape how we understand seminal figures such as poet and hero of Cuban independence José Martí; novelist Alejo Carpentier, forerunner of so-called magical realism; and the understudied yet fascinating historical figure of Enriqueta Faber, an early 19th century Swiss physician who practiced medicine in Cuba and whose gender-bending identity has been the subject of cultural scrutiny.
Pancrazio is the author of two monographs: The Logic of Fetishism: Alejo Carpentier and The Cuban Tradition (Bucknell University Press, 2004) and Enriqueta Faber: Travestismo, documentos e historia (Verbum, 2009). He also co-edited, with Grace Pinney, Cuba: arte y literatura en exilio (Legua Editorial, 2011).
His scholarly record further includes 20 journal articles, five book chapters, three conference proceedings, and several public opinion pieces. He has delivered over 50 presentations on his scholarship and has been interviewed by local media on both his scholarly knowledge of Cuba and student-related initiatives.
In addition to his research on Cuban culture, Pancrazio has published on curricular efforts at Illinois State to improve and promote language programs and international education, underscoring his commitment to higher education and global learning. He collaborated with colleagues in German to make the curriculum more flexible for students. He developed learning outcomes for the AMALI (Africa, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Indigenous Peoples) graduation requirement.
He also spearheaded the “Internationalize Your Major” initiative, securing an internal grant to develop sample four-year plans of study for students seeking to add a minor, second major, and/or study abroad to any other major on campus. Currently, roughly a third of language majors are second majors pursuing careers in nursing, health sciences, history, education, and other programs across campus.
For many years, Pancrazio taught a course on Latin American cultural history from colonial times through contemporary Latino experiences in the U.S. that he redesigned with the support of the College of Education’s Chicago Teacher Pipeline grant. Every semester, Pancrazio organized a field trip for emergent bilingual students to schools in Little Village to offer translation and interpreting services for parent-teacher conferences, serving both the schools and our students.
He has been an invaluable resource for Spanish majors seeking to achieve advanced levels of oral proficiency, which is a requirement for world language teacher education majors to qualify for student teaching. Pancrazio coaches students individually to build confidence in their speaking skills, which is typically a larger barrier to proficiency than knowledge of the language itself.
Ever committed to student success, further contributions to the University include teaching Success 101 for University College and playing a leadership role in Communities of Belonging and Academic Success, an initiative spearheaded by Latino Studies and led by Maura Toro-Morn, director of Latin American and Latino/a Studies.
Working alongside colleague Alejandro Enríquez, Pancrazio has helped foster inclusive academic communities and developed teaching practices to foster academic skills that all students need as they transition to college. He has gathered data on student retention to identify issues that set students up to fail and tracked evidence regarding teaching practices that set them up to succeed.
Throughout his time at Illinois State, Pancrazio has served on department, college, and university committees too numerous to count, including eight years on Academic Senate. Above and beyond official committee assignments, he has volunteered his time for such initiatives as translating admissions materials into Spanish and updating them for cultural outreach, an initiative that earned him a Living Our Values award.
As he retires, Pancrazio leaves behind a legacy of scholarship, mentorship, and advocacy for student success. His dedication to teaching and leadership has made a lasting impact on Illinois State University and the broader academic community.
