Maida Watson, Ph.D., is professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages at Florida International University.
Maida Watson holds a Ph.D. in Romance languages from the University of Florida and a master's degree in finance from Florida International University. She earned a B.A. in history and French from Agnes Scott College.
During her more than fourty-year-long career at FIU, Dr. Watson has held various teaching and administrative roles, including chairwoman of the Department of Modern Languages from 1994–97 and 2002–05. She currently teaches Spanish at the graduate level and is a foreign language coordinator for the Center for International Business Education & Research (CIBER) in the College of Business Administration.
Dr. Watson is the author or editor of eight books and monographs and more than forty articles in refereed journals about Latin American literature and languages in international business. She has also written extensively about women playwrights in Peru, Panamanian poetry, and Cuban exile theater. She has received research grants from the Fulbright-Hays Program, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Florida Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S.-Spain Joint Committee, and the American Philosophical Society.