Category Archives: Faculty News

CofC Faculty awarded Alixa Naff 2021 Prize

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LCWA’s very own Dr. Amy Malek, assistant professor in International Studies, won the Alixa Naff 2021 Paper Prize by the Khayrallah Center. The annual prize recognizes outstanding scholarly studies from any discipline focusing on Middle East migrations, refugees and diasporas. This year the Khayrallah Center selection committee awarded the best paper prize to Dr. Amy Malek for her paper Clickbait orientalism and vintage Iranian snapshots (International Journal of Cultural Studies).

To find out more about the Alixa Naff Awards and Dr. Malek’s paper Clickbait orientalism and vintage Iranian snapshots click the link below.

https://lebanesestudies.ncsu.edu/awards/scholarly/2021.php 

Photography exhibition by Yulian Martinez-Escobar

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We’d like to congradulate Yulian Martinez-Escobar, Adjunct Lecturer of Spanish in CofC Hispanic Studies for his upcoming photography exhibition!

https://www.publicworksartcenter.org/s/stories/november-5-december-30-passenger-in-transit-next-stop-cuba-east-gallery-exhibition

Passenger in Transit was inspired by the song “Pasajera en Trance” (“Passenger in Trance”) by Charly García, an Argentinian rock singer. This exhibition is a window to a beautiful and exciting island that has become a myth to the world during the last sixty years. A year after a normalization agreement between the US and Cuba, my wife and I decided to travel to the Island to take advantage of the newly opened direct flights between Miami and Havana. Bianca, our 10-month-old daughter, became our ambassador everywhere we went. We stayed in the homes of Cuban families who made us feel at home and who gave us a glimpse of how Cubans live their daily lives.

Yulian Martinez-Escobar is a Spanish professor and filmmaker based in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also a self-taught photographer whose work has been exhibited in Colombia and in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. His avid interests include languages, traveling, and culture, which have defined his artistic style. Yulian first cultivated an interest in the fine arts in his native Colombia as an actor in his college theater company. As a photographer, he especially enjoys capturing candid portraits of people he meets in his travels, from Scotland to Peru, from Senegal to Cuba, from The Gambia to The Philippines. As a foreigner, he wants to explore and document the lives and diverse backgrounds of other people who have ended up in the United States.

HispaCasts: Episode 8, Devon Hanahan (Senior Instructor and Director of Casa Hispana)

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Click the link below to hear the 8th episode of HispaCasts created in collaboration with Dr. Mike Overholt from the Teaching and Learning Team.

Devon Hanahan

Episode 8 – Esther Ferguson – July 17, 2019

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro, Chair of Hispanic Studies, interviews Devon Hanahan, Senior Instructor of Spanish, Coordinator of the College of Charleston’s Basic Spanish Language Program, and Director of the Casa Hispana, to discuss the special living-learning residence on campus that affords students of Spanish a unique educational opportunity outside the classroom.

 

Hispanic Studies Faculty Participate in 101st Annual Conference of the AATSP

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On July 8-11, 2019 at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego, CA, four faculty members of the Department of Hispanic Studies participated in the 101st Annual Conference of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP).

In the session “Innovative Curriculum II,” Professor Claudia Moran gave her presentation “Launching a Successful Conversation Class Program” along with talks by faculty from Bowling Green State University and the Unviersity of Southern California respectively.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of Portuguese in the AATSP, Dr. María Luci De Biaji Moreira presented on a special panel entitled “Setenta e cinco anos de Português na AATSP: Um olhar para o passado. Reflexões para o futuro.”

Anchoring her own academic session, Dr. Silvia Rodríguez Sabater gave her talk “Food for Thought: Building Socially Conscious Writers through Eating Practices and Sustainability Perspectives.”

Finally, Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro was the plenary speaker for a session entitled “A Century of Recognizing Student Excellence: Sigma Delta Pi (1919-2019) and the Honor Society” that focused on select stories from his upcoming book on the 100-year history of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society.  Dr. Del Mastro also organized and chaired the “Sigma Delta Pi Best Practices and Informative Session,” and he organized and co-moderated Sigma Delta Pi’s 28th Triennial Convention.

Hispanic Studies Professors Collaborate in the 72nd Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference

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Several faculty members of the Department of Hispanic Studies participated in the 72nd Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference on April 11-13, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky:

Professors Raúl Carrillo Arciniega, Mark P. Del Mastro, Susan Divine and Daniel Delgado were panelists in the 3rd annual “Strategies for Academic Journal Publishing” session hosted by Hispanic Studies Review. 

Dr. Antonio Pérez-Núñez presented his study “Developing Intercultural Competence through Online Face-to-Face Interaction with Native Speakers.”

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro organized, chaired and presented in the 17th annual General Informative Session of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society and the 2nd annual Sigma Delta Pi Graduate Research Symposium.

Professor Hanahan Conducts Workshop in Seattle, WA

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On March 1, 2019, Professor Devon Hanahan conducted a four-hour workshop entitled “Connecting with Generation C in the Language Classroom” with faculty from the University of Washington and Everett Community College in Seattle.

HISP Faculty Focus, March 2019: Professor Fenner Hoell

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Professor Fenner Hoell

As an undergraduate student at Eastern Carolina University, Professor Hoell spent his fall 2011 semester in the Bilateral Student Exchange/Spanish Immersion Program at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, and then completed his B.A. in Hispanic Studies with a minor in Anthropology.  He then attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he earned his MAT with a specialization in Spanish.  During his time in Wilmington he taught for the Spanish Department at Hoggard High School (2017), and he worked as a graduate assistant for UNCW’s Department of World Languages and Cultures (2015-16). Since joining the Department of Hispanic Studies at the College of Charleston in August 2017, he has taught full time in the Basic Spanish Language Program, earned his Distance Education certification (spring 2018), and served on the Department of Hispanic Studies’ Distance Education Committee.

In Professor Hoell’s own words:

Working with the College for the past two years has been a marvelous experience which is difficult to summarize in a single paragraph. From the social atmosphere of the department, to the professional development opportunities that abound, we must remember this is one of the best positions we can be in within our field of expertise. I relish in the fact that each day I am given the chance to bestow on my students the gift my past instructors bestowed on me: the understanding and ability to communicate with others around the world. 

The Department of Hispanic Studies recognizes Professor Hoell’s fine contributions to students, his department and the College, and for being selected for our March 2019 “Hispanic Studies Faculty Focus.”

Stay tuned for April 2019’s feature…

HISP Faculty Focus, February 2019: Professor Claudia Moran

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Professor Claudia Moran

After earning her undergraduate degree in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Instituto Nacional Superior en Lenguas Vivas, Professor Moran obtained her M.A. in Bilingual Legal Interpreting at the College of Charleston, where for the past 17 years she has taught a wide range of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to include beginning and intermediate Spanish language, interpreting and applied Spanish.

Complementing her efforts in the classroom, she also serves as the Coordinator of the Spanish Conversation Program, which affords students one-credit hour, co-curricular opportunities for improving their oral and aural language skills.  Professor Moran is aptly suited for this role as she is currently one of only two in the Department of Hispanic Studies with American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview Tester Certification.

In addition to her leadership role as a program coordinator, Professor Moran has also served the department and College in a myriad of ways to include her editorial role for the past decade with the department’s newsletter, HispaNews; past chair of the Spanish House Committee; past co-adviser of the Hispanic Latino Club; former member of the Faculty Advisory Committee to the President; and long-time member of the Honor Board Advisory Committee.

In Professor Moran’s own words:

It has been an honor for me to have been part of CofC in different capacities, but that of a teacher has been the most rewarding. I love being in the classroom and sharing experiences with my students as I teach language and culture, especially when I hear them express their learning curiosity, as beginners or in more advanced courses such as SPAN 316 where I introduce students to interpreting as one of the many ways to apply a degree in Spanish. As the coordinator of the Spanish Conversation Class program for the past five years, I have had the opportunity to work closely with exceptional Peer Teachers as they share their own passion for the language with their students as I observe their classes. I have also been able to work closely with students as a committee member of the Casa Hispana and the Hispanic-Latino Club and share their enthusiasm for the Spanish language and culture. Throughout the years I have greatly enjoyed learning from and sharing ideas with everyone in the Department of Hispanic Studies. 

The Department of Hispanic Studies applauds Claudia Moran for her important contributions to students, her department and the College, and for being selected for our February 2019 “Hispanic Studies Faculty Focus.”

Stay tuned for March 2019’s feature…