Professors Hanahan and Hetrovicz Earn Campus-Wide Awards

Professor Devon Hanahan, Senior Instructor of Hispanic Studies, and Professor Lauren Hetrovicz, Adjunct Lecturer of Hispanic Studies, were recipients of the campus-wide Distinguished Service Award and Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Award respectively at the College of Charleston’s “Celebration of Faculty” ceremony on Wednesday, April 24.

College of Charleston Celebrates Faculty

For additional pictures and the related details, click here for The College Today article.

Dr. Christina García’s Essay Published in _Cuban Studies_

Professor Christina García’s article “Baroque Revolutionaries, Communist Fags, and Risky Friendships: Reading the Politics of Friendship in Fresa y chocolate” has been published in Volume 47, 2019 issue of Cuban Studies.

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.

Professor Hanahan Conducts Workshop in Seattle, WA

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.

Dr. Raúl Carrillo Arciniega Inducted into Sigma Delta Pi’s Order of José Martí

On April 12, 2019 during the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society’s reception at the 72nd Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, Professor Raúl Carrillo Arciniega was inducted in the Order of José Martí, one of the Society’s highest honors. Dr. Carrillo Arciniega’s exceptional contributions to Hispanism earned him this international distinction.

HispaCasts: Episode 5, Melanie Keller (CofC 2010)

Click the link below to hear the 5th episode of HispaCasts created in collaboration with Dr. Mike Overholt from the Teaching and Learning Team.

Episode 5 – Melanie Keller – March 2019

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro, Chair of Hispanic Studies, interviews CofC alumna (2010) Melanie Keller to discuss her undergraduate experience at the College of Charleston as a major in Spanish and double minor in Linguistics and Women’s and Gender Studies, her time studying abroad, and the various professional opportunities she has enjoyed over the past 9 years.

HISP Faculty Focus, April 2019: Dr. Luci Moreira

Photo credit: Daniel Delgado

After obtaining her B.A. in Portuguese from the Universidade Estadual de Maringá in Brazil, Dr. Luci Moreira went on to earn her M.A. in Linguistics from the Universidade Fedederal de Pernambuco, completed doctoral coursework in Portuguese at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and then she earned her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign here in the U.S.

Since joining the College of Charleston in 2000, Professor Moreira has taught a myriad of courses for the Portuguese, Spanish, International Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Linguistics programs.  She also pioneered the online offering of Portuguese language in the spring of 2019, and she is co-author of  the Portuguese language textbook Ponto de Encontro, which has enjoyed widespread adoption across the U.S.

In addition to her constant work with the Portuguese program, Dr. Moreira has also collaborated in various projects both locally and nationally, to include co-founding the Department of Hispanic Studies’ newsletter HispaNews in 2001, and her ongoing role as Editor of the Portuguese Newsletter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.  Also in 2001, she initiated the department’s Portuguese Club, Bate-Papo Conversation Table, and the Portuguese Peer-Teacher program, which she still oversees today.  In the fall of 2017, she was also instrumental with the launch of her department’s newest program: the Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Minor.

With her colleague and loyal companion Jose, she has directed 11 study abroad programs in Brazil.  During these memorable trips to the Amazon,  students remember sleeping on a boat in hammocks, swimming with dolphins, visiting and dancing with indigenous groups, and snorkeling with baby sharks and green turtles in coral reefs of paradisiac Fernando de Noronha.

In Professor Moreira’s own words:

I chose to study Portuguese when I was 17 years old and it has always been my passion. I have always taught Portuguese, and I don’t see myself in a different profession or field. I am a firm believer that both language and culture can be taught at any level, and that they complement each other. I could not be happier than when the minor in Portuguese was established. This was not a work done alone, and started from writing petitions, committee proposals; a great deal of merit is due to the support of the Department Chair. This minor is the legacy that will be passed to the future.

Each year students from diverse backgrounds and expectations come to study Portuguese. We never repeat things because we don’t duplicate human souls and hearts. Whoever chooses the teaching career never does exactly the same thing and is always invigorated with the energy and the dreams of the most important ones—the students—those who inspire us. It is a good feeling to see the fruits of our labor in what we do.

Stay tuned for May 2019’s feature…

Hispanic Studies’ Student Focus: April 2019

A double major in Spanish and International Studies with a minor in Linguistics (’19), Jenna McLaughlin is also a member of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and she served as a Spanish Peer Teacher (2016), a CofC Spanish Tutor (2016-17), Secretary for the Special Needs Peer Helper (2015), and Team Captain for Relay for Life (2015), among other activities.  In the spring of 2018 she studied abroad in Seville, Spain, and in 2016 she traveled to Honduras and Mexico to volunteer as a Spanish/English Interpreter with Torch Missions and Campus Church respectively.  Jenna also worked as a Spanish/English Medical Interpreter at Cahaba Valley Healthcare in Birmingham, AL in 2015.

In her own words:

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a Spanish Major at CofC. Spanish has always been one of my favorite subjects, and the professors here at the College really helped me refine my skills and feel completely prepared to study abroad in Seville, Spain. Studying abroad is an enjoyable, empowering, and enlightening experience that I would recommend to any younger student, especially those who are interested in learning about language and culture!

One of my favorite parts about being a Spanish major is the freedom it allows me in my post-grad plans. In these past four years as a Spanish major at College of Charleston, I have had the ability to cultivate a skill that I can take with me in all of my future occupations! Coming into college, I had no idea what I wanted to pursue as an occupation, so I’m really thankful that my Spanish major has provided me with the flexibility to take the skill of bilingualism into a variety of areas.