HispaCasts: Episode 7, Esther Ferguson (Philanthropist and Founder of CofC’s Program in Trujillo)

Click the link below to hear the 7th episode of HispaCasts created in collaboration with Dr. Mike Overholt from the Teaching and Learning Team.

Dr. Del Mastro with Esther Ferguson

Episode 7 – Esther Ferguson – June 18, 2019

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro, Chair of Hispanic Studies, interviews Esther Ferguson, philanthropist, community leader and founder of the College of Charleston’s program in Trujillo, to share Esther’s story behind her and her late husband James Ferguson’s donation of their historic properties in Trujillo, Spain to the College of Charleston in 1996.

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

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.

Dr. Del Mastro’s Essay Appears in _Hispania_

Professor Mark P. Del Mastro’s essay “Sigma Delta Pi and the AATSP: A Shared Century of Leadership and Collaboration” has been published in the March 2019 issue of HispaniaThis “Special Note” connects to Dr. Del Mastro’s ongoing research for his book Sigma Delta Pi: Rediscovering a Century (1919-2019) that will be published by Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs in 2020.

Dr. Del Mastro Participates in 2018 MIFLC

Professor Mark P. Del Mastro had multiple roles at the 2018 Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference (MIFLC) held October 4-6 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville:

  1. Organized and presented in panel on the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society.
  2. Organized, chaired and presented the second annual session on “Stop the Bleeding: Language Departments and the Dwindling Major”
  3. Participated in the MIFLC Executive Committee and Business Meetings in his role as Secretary-Treasurer of MIFLC.

Dr. Del Mastro (far right) with panelists of “Stop the Bleeding”

Dr. Del Mastro to Address North American Academy of the Spanish Language

On Wednesday December 5, 2018 at 7:00pm at the Spanish Benevolent Society in New York City, Professor Mark P. Del Mastro will address the North American Academy of the Spanish Language as invited speaker for his formal admission as a “miembro numerario”/full member of the same academy.  Dr. Del Mastro’s presentation “Sigma Delta Pi y su historia en la vispera de su centenario (1919-2019)”/”Sigma Delta Pi and its history on the eve of its centennial (1919-2019)” will be based on his forthcoming book  Sigma Delta Pi: Rediscovering a Century (1919-2019) to be published by Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs in late spring 2020.

Hispanic Studies’ Professors Participate in 100th AATSP Conference in Spain

At the Centennial Conference of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) in Salamanca, Spain on June 25-28, 2018, Professors Mark P. Del Mastro, Susan Divine and Devon Hanahan had active roles in various sessions:

On Monday, June 25, Professors Divine and Hanahan co-presented “High impact practices during study abroad: Portfolios of Trujillo, Spain” during a 75-minute session.  This presentation was based on Divine’s and Hanahan’s experiences co-directing CofC’s Maymester program in Trujillo for two consecutive summers in 2017 and 2018.

Dr. Del Mastro organized and chaired the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society’s Best Practices and Informative Session that featured the presentations of student leaders from four different universities from across the U.S.   He also hosted the reception for Sigma Delta Pi members and guests and directed the event’s presentation of various awards and recognitions, to include the initiation of Dr. Frank Nuessel of the University of Louisville into the Order of Don Quijote.  Del Mastro also presented reports to the AATSP’s Board of Directors in his role as AATSP Finance Committee Chair and Executive Director of Sigma Delta Pi, which is a partner of the AATSP.