Seven Southwestern students — economics and studio art double major Asin Allavudeen ’27, economics and business major Cody Diez Jennings ’27, biochemistry major Jade Cindy Foka ’28, computer science and psychology double major Alyanna Martinez ’27, computer science and economics double major Juan Martinez Varela ’27, political science major Emma Sanchez ’29, and economics and business major Elias Sarwana ’27 — were selected to compete in the 2026 HSI Battle of the Brains (BOTB), held September 28–October 2 in Austin. This national interdisciplinary competition challenges student teams to tackle a complex business and technology problem in just 24 hours, requiring them to research the problem, develop an innovative and technically feasible solution, and create a business plan and presentation. The week also includes company visits, professional development, and recruiting opportunities with major employers, including Dell Technologies, Thrivent, CrowdStrike, eBay, The Home Depot, and Electronic Arts. Solutions are evaluated by industry experts on both their business and technical merits, with the seven highest scoring teams advancing to the finals. Southwestern was selected as one of those finalists and earned the highest business score in the competition! In addition, Diez Jennings received a scholarship from eBay, marking the second consecutive year a Southwestern student has received an eBay scholarship through the competition. The team was supported throughout the selection, preparation, and competition process by the Office of Student Life, Office of Academic Affairs, Director of the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library Center & Head of Distinctive Collections Megan Firestone, Director of Student Engagement Jacorey Patterson, Assistant Dean of the Faculty & Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair, Board of Visitors Member Zoe Thompson, and team advisors: Director of the Center for Career & Professional Development Adrian D. Ramirez, Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings, and Professor of Business Debika Sihi.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and communication studies alumna Andrea Stanescu ’24 have recently published an article titled “La doble alteridad en Carmen y Lola.” The article, which started as Andrea’s paper in a class about cinema from Spain, can be read here.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings co-authored the article “The Study Abroad Experiences of Heritage Spanish Speakers,” recently published in the journal Spanish as a Heritage Language. Co-authored with Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Virginia, this qualitative study examines the experiences of U.S.-based heritage speakers of Spanish who studied abroad in Spanish-speaking countries, looking at peer relationships, interactions with local communities, and long-term impacts on family relationships. The article can be read here.

Assistant Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair presented a paper titled “Affective Archives and Feminist Memory: Chilean Women Writers and the Politics of Care After the Estallido Social” at the XXXIV Congreso de la Asociación de Estudios de Género y Sexualidad (AEGS) 2026 on May 21 in Oviedo, Spain.

Members of the Education Department attended and presented at the American Educational Research Association, held in Los Angeles, CA from April 8–12. Assistant Professor of Education Alexandrea Melgoza gave a talk titled “Agents of New Knowledge: A Transcendental Phenomenology of BIPOC Mothers Traversing Texas’ Special Education.” Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz and education and Spanish double major Ximena Ling Uribe ’28 presented research from a 2025 SURF project, titled “Towards a model of culturally sustaining pedagogy for Roma youth.”

Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena presented her paper “Los recuerdos del camino, el camino de la vida: remembranza ambulatoria a caballo en la película histórica Huérfanos” at the 60th Southern Council of Latin American Studies conference that took place from March 5–7 in Mexico City.

Business and international studies double major Cassidie Gomez ’26, Spanish and Latin America border studies double major Gerardo Ortiz ’27, biology major Adriana Salazar ’28, and sociology major Abigayle Stubby-Kern ’26 presented papers in Spanish at the Undergraduate Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL on March 27. Gomez, Ortiz, and Salazar presented a group project titled “De trabajadores a personas: la revindicación de la dignidad humana en la película mexicana La delgada línea amarilla” as part of the panel “Mexico: Community, Culture, and Development.” The group project was written for Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena’s course “Leisure and Play in Latin America” in Fall 2025. Stubby-Kern presented her paper “El lenguaje cinematográfico en la construcción de lo humano y el deterioro de las instituciones en la película argentina Un Hombre Mirando al Sureste” as part of the panel “Art, film, and identity in Latin America.” The paper was written for Dr. Rodriguez Cadena’s course “Conversation through Hispanic cinema” in Fall 2025. Dr. Rodriguez Cadena mentored her students during the process of research, writing, and presentation at the Symposium.

Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro’s article, “Melodrama y denuncia social: estrategias narrativas de resistencia en La pasión de Gabriel y Operación E” was accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Romance Studies. He also presented a paper on the same topic at the 2026 Congreso Internacional de Literatura y Estudios Hispánicos in Arequipa, Peru from March 11–13.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented her paper “Purchasing Pregnancy: Egg Donation in Spain” at the NeMLA conference in Pittsburgh, PA on March 6.

Staff Instructor in Spanish Noelia Cigarroa-Cooke and Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro presented the paper “Comparative Allegories of Authoritarianism in Contemporary Latin American Horror Cinema” at the 2026 Annual AIFOR Conference in Honolulu, HI from January 3–7.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross had her second book, Narrating Infertility in Spain, published on December 9. More information is available here.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and co-author Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Virginia presented a talk titled “The Use of Open Educational Resources in Medical Spanish Courses” at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo held November 20–23 in New Orleans. The practice-oriented presentation aimed to showcase available open educational resources (OER) for Spanish for healthcare professions and guided attendees through materials addressing cultural practices and perspectives surrounding childbirth.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross led a workshop on AI in the L2 classroom at PAMLA, the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, in San Francisco on November 23.

Staff Instructor in Spanish Noelia Cigarroa-Cooke and Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings presented a talk, titled “Establishing Community Partnerships for Spanish for Healthcare Professions: Laying the Groundwork for Equitable, Experiential Learning,” at the 2025 NAMS/MOLA (National Association of Medical Spanish/Medical Organization for Latino Advancement) conference in San Antonio from November 6–7.

For the first time, Southwestern University was represented at the 2025 HSI Battle of the Brains, a premier national competition that brings together top student talent from across the country to solve real-world business and technology challenges. Southwestern’s inaugural team included eight exceptional students: Asin Allavudeen ’27, Santiago Cuevas ’26, Cassidie Gomez ’26, Julyssa Hernandez ’27, Yeva-Mariya Hayko ’26, Anna Hulett ’28, Alyanna Martinez ’27, and Juan Carlos Martinez Varela ’27. Selected through a competitive internal application process, the students participated in a 24-hour cross-disciplinary challenge integrating computer science, marketing, finance, and sustainable business strategy. They also engaged in professional development workshops led by industry leaders from Dell Technologies, eBay, Thrivent Financial, Capital One, and The Home Depot. Southwestern’s team earned first place in the Video Marketing Challenge, an interactive activity sponsored by Kickin It ATX that tested their creativity and collaboration under a time constraint. In addition, Juan Carlos Martinez Varela was awarded scholarships from both Dell Technologies and eBay in recognition of his outstanding academic and professional accomplishments and his ability to make a lasting impression on company representatives throughout the event. Special thanks to the faculty and staff who coordinated the team’s participation: Hispanic Academic Success Coordinator Amalia Merino, Director of the Center for Career & Professional Development Adrian D. Ramirez, Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings, and Professor of Business Debika Sihi. Gratitude is also extended to the blind judges who assisted with the internal selection process, Assistant Vice President of Admission Christine Bowman, Director of Admission Jaime Gonzalez, and Professor of Kinesiology Scott McLean, as well as Visual Content Producer Todd White for photography and videography of the event.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings presented a talk titled “Open Educational Resources for Spanish for Healthcare Professions” at the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) annual conference, held June 26-29 in Panama City, Panama. The presentation highlighted strategies for incorporating open educational resources (OER) into medical Spanish curricula to enhance accessibility, build communicative competence, and promote cultural humility.

Staff Instructor in Spanish Noelia Cigarroa-Cooke and Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro presented the paper “El monstruo político como una alegoría crítica en el cine latinoamericano contemporáneo” at the 2025 Secolas Conference in Mexico City, Mexico from April 24-26.

Spanish minor Jessica McCutcheon ’28 presented a research paper titled “Cerrando Brechas: Desafíos de Salud Mental para los Inmigrantes Hispanos” at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium held at Rollins College on April 4. Jessica’s paper addresses one of the most urgent and often overlooked public health issues in the U.S.—the systemic barriers to mental health care for Hispanic immigrants. At a time when mental health disparities are deepening, her research brings critical attention to the cultural, linguistic, and structural challenges affecting one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. Her participation in the symposium was sponsored by Endowed Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro, who mentored Jessica in preparation for her presentation.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross published an article titled “No quiero ser mamá: Non-motherhood in Pronatalist Spain” in Letras Hispanas. This article analyzes how a graphic novel portrays a woman’s decision to not become a mother and the pushback she receives through her visual narrative. Read the article here.

Spanish major Maricruz Zacharias ’25 presented a research paper titled “Danzas aztecas: la representación ceremonial de las creencias” at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium held at Rollins College on April 4. Maricruz studied how through the performative nature of dance rituals, the choreographic patterns were used to convey stories, spiritual beliefs, and communal values. Her paper comes from the independent study she is doing this semester with Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Cadena, who mentored Maricruz to present at the Symposium.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings published “Pedagogical Approaches to VE” with co-author Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Lynchburg. The chapter, which appears in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Computer-Assisted Language Learning, edited by Lee McCallum and Dara Tafazoli, explores the use of virtual exchanges in second language teaching as a means to enhance the learning experience by providing opportunities to interact and communicate with speakers of the target language. More information on the volume can be found here.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented her paper “(In)visible Mothering Decisions in Leña menuda” at the Modern Languages Association (MLA) conference in New Orleans, LA from January 9–12.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and co-author Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Lynchburg presented a talk, titled “Study Abroad as a Safe Place for Heritage Speakers to Practice Speaking,” at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo held November 22–24 in Philadelphia, PA.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented her paper “Translating memories: from autobiography to fiction” at PAMLA in Palm Springs, CA on November 10.

Staff Instructor in Spanish Noelia Cigarroa-Cooke and Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro presented the paper “Monstruosidad y poder: Alegorías de la injusticia en Sin señas particulares y La llorona” at the 77th annual convention of the Rocky Mountains Modern Language Association in Las Vegas, NV, on October 10-12.

Sabrina Woodward ’25 presented the paper “Motocicleta lúdica/Playful motorcycle” at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium held at Rollins College on March 22. Her presentation was based on the course “Leisure and Play in Latin America” (Fall 2023) that Sabrina took with Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena, who mentored her to present at the Symposium.

Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro presented the paper “Revelando el impacto y el trauma del conflicto armado: La espectralidad como estrategia cinematográfica en el cine colombiano del nuevo milenio” at the 2024 Southwest Council on Latin American Studies in Panama City, Panama.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Andrea Stanescu ’24 presented their paper “La doble alteridad en Carmen & Lola” at the Northeastern Modern Languages Conference in Boston, MA, March 8-10.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and coauthor Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Lynchburg presented a talk titled “The study abroad experiences of heritage Spanish speakers” at the Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics (GURT) in Washington, D.C., March 1-3, 2024. This year’s theme was “Education Abroad: Language, Learners, and Communities.”

Assistant Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair had her article titled “Unlocking the Door to Shadow and Substance: Nona Fernández’s La dimensión desconocida” published in the 50th issue of the journal Ciberletras: Revista de crítica literaria y de cultura. Learn more here.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross had an article, “Las técnicas de reproducción asistida y la donación: el caso de Samanta Villar,” published in the Revista de ALCE SXXI, Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and coauthor Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Lynchburg presented a talk titled “Language Variation and Standard Language Ideologies in Spanish Classrooms” at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo held November 17–19 in Chicago, Illinois.

Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Cadena presented “Ecofeminismo y poesía indígena Latinoamericana” at the Asociación de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades Conference at the Universidad Autonóma de Querétaro. Querétaro, Mexico. October 5-7, 2023.

Staff Instructor of Spanish Noelia Cigarroa-Cooke and Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Cadena presented research papers at the annual Canadian Association of Hispanic Studies Conference in Ottawa, Ontario, June 3-5, 2023. Cigarroa-Cooke presented “En las entretelas del corazón guatemalteco: tradición y justicia en la película La Llorona de Jayro Bustamante (Guatemala, 2020).” Rodríguez Cadena presented “Mujeres del pasado en las series históricas de televisión en México.”

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Bailey Barlow ’23 had their second co-authored article come out in print. The article “The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Gazpacho Agridulce” was published in Hispanic Journal vol. 44, no. 1 (spring 2023).

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Bailey Barlow ’23 presented their paper “The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Gazpacho Agridulce” at the Northeast Modern Language Association conference in Niagara Falls, New York, on Saturday, March 25. A longer version of this paper has been accepted for publication in Hispanic Journal and will come out this summer.

Professor of Communications Studies Valerie Renegar and Kristi Cole co-edited the book Refiguring Motherhood Beyond Biology, which was published this month. The book features essays that challenge the biological expectations of motherhood and features work by communication, rhetoric, and motherhood scholars across the country, including Southwestern’s Renegar, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Lamiyah Bahrainwala, Professor of Spanish Katy Ross, and her student Bailey Barlow ’23.

Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair 2023 has been selected as one of the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) 10 academic leadership fellows. The program is aimed at providing leadership experiences to a diverse cohort of humanities faculty members and will combine leadership training, mentoring, and hands-on leadership experiences for a diverse group of tenured humanities faculty as they enter administration leadership.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science Katie Aha, and Catherine Hiebel ’22 published an article in Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Their article, “Populism and Surrogacy in Spain,” can be found here.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and coauthor Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Lynchburg presented at the Heritage Languages Special Interest Group panel of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo held November 18-20 in Boston, Massachusetts. Their talk, titled “Heritage Spanish Speakers’ Reflections on Their Study Abroad Experiences,” was based on a thematic analysis of follow-up interviews with a subset of participants who had completed their original survey. It explored how the participants’ heritage speaker status impacted their study abroad experiences.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented a paper titled “La Adopción Internacional en La Adopción de Daniela Féjerman” at the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cine Españoles Siglo XXI annual conference, held July 12–15 in Oviedo, Spain.

Spanish majors Evelyn Eason ’22 and Danielle Perales ’23 presented papers at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium at Rollins College on April 8. Eason presented “Poesia Indígena y Ecofeminismo en la Obra de Irma Pineda Santiago (Indigenous Poetry and Ecofeminism in the Work of Irma Pineda Santiago).” This presentation is based on her Spanish honor thesis. Perales presented “La Importancia de Conocer: El Humanismo Lúdico en Diarios de Motocicleta(The Power of Knowledge: Ludic Humanism in The Motorcycle Diaries).” Both presentations were delivered in Spanish and stemmed from upper-level courses taught by Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena.

Staff Instructor in Spanish Noelia Cigarroa-Cooke and Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro copresented the paper “En el Umbral de la Pubertad: Viaje al Interior Femenino en Niña Errantede Rubén Mendoza” at the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies 69th Annual Meeting, held March 10–12 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross, visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science Katie Aha, and Catherine Hiebel ’22 presented a panel titled “Populism and Surrogacy in Spain” at the XXIX Congreso Internacional de Literatura y Estudios Hispánicos, held March 8–10 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ross presented “Surrogacy in Spain: the Bioethical and Feminist concerns”; Aha presented “Populism and Surrogacy”; and Hiebel presented “Spanish Populist Parties and Their Positions on Surrogacy.” The three were told that their presentation was the most coherent and organized panel the audience heard.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings presented a talk titled “Heritage Spanish Speakers’ Reflections on Their Unique Study Abroad Experiences” with coauthor Tammy Jandrey Hertel of the University of Lynchburg at the 9th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language, held February 24–26 in Tallahassee, Florida.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings presented a recorded talk titled “The Unique Experiences of Heritage Spanish Speakers Studying Abroad” with her collaborator Tammy Jandrey Hertel (University of Lynchburg) at the 2021 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo, which was held virtually November 19–21.

Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair presented a paper at the International Conference of Hispanic Women Filmmakers titled “Burying Ashes and Making Dust: Memorial Acts in the Latin American Road Movie.” The paper analyzed how Ecuadorian film director Tania Hermida subverts and decenters the traditional (Hollywood) characteristics of road films to represent a Latin American and feminist perspective. 

Professor of Spanish and Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Endowed Professor Katy Ross presented a talk titled “Faculty-Student Research in Spanish” at the virtual 2021 Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, held October 7–9.

An article cowritten by Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Lizzeth Cepeda Lozano ’20, “La Adopción China en El Alfabeto de los Pájarosde Nuria Barrios,” was recently published by ConSecuencias.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented a paper titled “La Ovodonación Dentro del Marco Neoliberal” at the ALCE SXXI virtual conference during the week of July 12–16.

Double major in Spanish and environmental studies Jasmine Herrera ’21 and history major Saul Zuñiga ’22 presented “Mapping the Past” at the ninth Phi Alpha Theta History Conference, held at Texas State University (TSU) on April 24, 2021. Their poster was awarded first place for undergraduate virtual presentations. The poster was selected from 19 submissions by students from TSU, Baylor, and UT Dallas, and the award included an honorarium and a certificate.

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the following awards:

• 2021 Teaching Awards
• Tenured: Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore
• Tenure-track: Assistant Professor of Business Gabriela Flores
• Visiting, part-time, and staff with faculty rank: Director of General Chemistry Labs Willis Weigand
• 2021 Jesse E. Purdy Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Works Award
• Tenured: Associate Professor of Communication Studies Bob Bednar
• Tenure-track: Assistant Professor of History Joseph Hower
• 2021 Excellence in Advising Award
  • Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair

Double major in Spanish and environmental studies Jasmine Herrera ’21 and history major Saul Zuñiga ’22 presented a paper titled “Mapping the Past: A Look into the Distribution of Midwives from Escuela Libre de Obstetricia y Enfermeria in Mexico City during the 1920s and 30s” at the 9th Phi Alpha Theta History Conference organized by Texas State University and held virtually on April 24, 2021. Herrera and Zuñiga undertook their research, wrote the paper, and prepared the presentation under the mentorship of Associate Professor of History Jethro Hernández Berrones during the 2020–2021 academic year. You can see their presentation here.

Associate Professor of Spanish Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena moderated the panel “Music and Social Movements” at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium, an annual undergraduate event organized by Rollins College, which was held virtually on April 9 this year.

Jasmine Herrera  ’21, double major in Spanish and environmental studies, presented a paper in Spanish titled “La Revolución de Testimonios en el Gran Abismo de Chile” as part of the panel “Reexamining Historical Events” at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Symposium, an annual undergraduate event organized by Rollins College, which was held virtually on April 9 this year. Herrera wrote that paper for Associate Professor of Spanish Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena’s class Cultural Memory in Latin America.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings presented a poster titled “On Becoming Bilingual: Students’ Language Ideologies in a (Second) Language Acquisition Course” with her collaborator Suzanne García-Mateus (California State University, Monterey Bay) at the American Association for Applied Linguistics annual conference, which was held virtually March 20–23, 2021.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Bailey Barlow ’23 presented a paper titled “The Commercialization of Infertility: Quien Quiere Ser Madre (2017) by Silvia Nanclares” at the 2021 MLA Annual Convention on January 8. The talk was part of the panel “Politics as Usual: Women Writers in Contemporary Spain Confronting a Bias System,” and the paper is the result of a faculty–student research project that began in the summer of 2020 and was made possible by funding from the Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson endowed professorship held by Ross.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Lizzeth Cepeda Lozano ’20 had their article “Un Viaje Fantástico: La Adopción China en El Alfabeto de los Pájaros de Nuria Barrios” accepted for publication in the Journal ConSecuencias. The article started as a summer faculty–student research project and continued as a semester-long independent study that culminated in this publication. Ross and Lozano examine the adoption of Chinese babies by Spanish families, as depicted in the novel El Alfabeto de los Pájaros  by Nuria Barrios.

Associate Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro published the article “Cine de Guerra, Drama, Comedia y Thriller: Representaciones del Trauma, La Violencia, y la Insuficiencia Estatal en el Cine Colombiano” in the peer-reviewed journal Hispanófila.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross  participated in Maternidad, Reproducción Social y Cuidados en la É poca Neoliberal: Descolonizando el Imaginario Patriarcal,  a virtual conference hosted by the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cine Españoles Siglo XXI (ALCES XXI) July 13–16. She presented the paper “Maternofobia: El Miedo a la Maternidad Patriarcal,” in which Ross analyzes the book Maternofobia  by Diana López Varela. The conference was scheduled to be held in Oviedo, Spain.

Associate Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro  published an article titled “Traveling Narratives, Neorealism, and Marginalization: Ciro Guerra’s Cinema of Denunciation and Resistance” in the peer-reviewed journal Latin American Perspectives . He also presented a paper about the same topic at the 2020 Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies conference in Austin, TX.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented her paper titled “Baby Space: Narrating Infertility in Spain” at the Strong Foundations: 100 Years of Hispanism in Kansas and Beyond symposium at the University of Kansas.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented her paper titled “Baby Space: Narrating Infertility in Spain” at the Centennial Symposium: 100 years of Hispanism in Kansas and Beyond at the University of Kansas.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross wrote a chapter titled “Isabel: Mito, Madre y Mujer: Exploration of the Cultural Role of Isabel” in Mito e Historia en la Televisión y el Cine Español, edited by Christine Blackshaw Naberhaus and published by Albatros Hispanófila, 2019. The chapter examines the representation of Queen Isabel of Spain, from the conflicting embodiments of Isabel as mother to her depiction as queen in the television series Isabel.

Four students in the Spanish program presented papers at the XXVII Latin American Studies Symposium held at Rollins College, in Winter Park, FL, on April 5.

• Alex Bell  ’20 presented “Poetas Principales del Modernismo Hispanoamericano en Canción de Otoño en Primavera y la Pregunta.”
• Dominique Rosario  ’20 presented “Muerte y Nacionalismo en Dos Patrias, por José Martí.”
• Valentina Olivieri-Puentes  ’19 presented “¿Y las Madres que opinan?”
• Violeta Bueno  ’19 presented “Un Cambio de Vestuario: Un Análisis de El Delantal Blanco.”

Their papers were produced in Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodriguez Cadena’s class Introduction to Literary Studies in Fall 2018.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented a paper titled “Narrating Crossings: Mother/Daughter, Morocco/Spain” at the 50th Northeast Modern Language Association in Washington, DC, on March 21. Her paper was part of a panel she organized called “Transnational Spain: Porous Borders and New Nationalist Tendencies.”

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus presented about their ongoing research project titled “Language Ideologies in a University Classroom: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Latinx Students as Language Learners.” The panel about dual-language education took place at the 6th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language (NSSHL) hosted by University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, in McAllen, TX.

Eleven Southwestern University faculty members have won Sam Taylor Fellowship grants to support their research, with award amounts ranging from $1,000 to $1,600. Sam Taylor Fellowships are selected through a competitive application process and are provided by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. This year’s recipients are

• Professor of Physics Steven Alexander, “Generating Energy from Hot Sidewalks” (awarded $1,200)
• Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Lamiyah Bahrainwala, “The Politics of Stealth Halal: Re-Presenting the Islamic Origins of U.S. Meat Products” (awarded $1,600)
• Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth , “Nature Education in the German Classroom: Possibilities for Integration and Inclusion?” (awarded $1,400)
• Professor of Biology Romi Burks, “Unravelling the Mystery: Genetic Differentiation of Chinese and Japanese Mysterysnails Using 16S” (awarded $1,400)
• Assistant Professor of History Jethro Hernandez Berrones, “With Indigenist Spirit: Doctors on Spiritual Practices in Post-Revolutionary Mexico” (awarded $1,500)
• Professor of Anthropology Melissa Johnson, “Human–Jaguar Becomings and Racial Capitalism in Belize” (awarded $1,000)
• Associate Professor of French Francis Mathieu, “Research on Claire de Duras’s Avant-Garde Novella, Ourika” (awarded $1,400)
• Associate Professor of French Aaron Prevots, “Gestures toward the Sacred: Guillevic, Vargaftig, Tellermann, Michel” (awarded $1,400)
• Associate Professor of Communication Studies Valerie Renegar, “Contemporary Modes of Parenting: Disrupting the Representation of Stepmothers in Popular Culture” (awarded $1,500)
• Associate Professor of Spanish Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez Cadena, “Cultural Memory and Historical Fiction: Women of the Past on Television and Film by Four Contemporary Mexican Women Directors” (awarded $1,400)
• Assistant Professor of Political Science Emily Sydnor, “Researching Attachments to American Political Institutions” (awarded $1,600)

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings presented a paper, “Teaching the Linguistic Landscape,” at the annual meeting of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in New Orleans, LA, on Nov. 18.

Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodriguez Cadena published the chapter “Heroínas de la Revolución Mexicana y la Construcción de la Memoria Cultural en el Cuento Histórico Contemporáneo” in the book Representaciones en la Cultura Visual y las Letras Acerca de la Revolución Mexicana y la Guerra Cristera, edited by Ute Seydel and published by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Bonilla Artigas.

Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair presented her current research, “Defining Silence and Silence Defining: Nona Fernández’s Literature of Resistance,” on Aug. 26, 2018, at the Asociación de Género y Sexualidades conference in Chicago, Ill.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented a paper titled “Left Behind: Cultural Assimilation and the Mother/Daughter Relationship in Najat El Hachmi’s La Hija Extranjera” at the Women in Transition Conference at Oxford University, Sept. 20–22.

Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodriguez Cadena presented a research paper titled “Cultural Memory and the Optical Unconscious: Women of the Past in Historical Audiovisual Texts by Women Directors in Latin America” at the 42nd International Academic Conference in Rome, Italy, Sept. 10–13. She also chaired the panel on Humanities and the Law.

Associate Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro published a chapter titled “Between Armed Conflict, Social Awareness and the Neoliberal Market: The Case of Alias María” in Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Resisting Neoliberalism?, eds. Claudia Sandberg and Carolina Rocha (Palgrave Macmillan). He also presented a paper about the same topic at the 2018 annual Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies (SECOLAS) conference at Vanderbilt University.

Spanish and Latin American and Border Studies students Karla Pérez, class of 2019, Alexandra Vásquez, Stephanie García, and Marie Nugpo, all class of 2018, presented research papers at the XXVI Latin American Studies Symposium at Rollins College April 6, 2018, under the supervision of Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodríguez Cadena.

Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodriguez Cadena presented a paper titled “Memoria cultural y una heroína de la Independencia de 1810: Gertrudis Bocanegra en la literatura y el cine” (“Cultural memory and a heroine of the Mexican Independence of 1810: Gertrudis Bocanegra in literature and film”) at the XXI Congreso Internacional de Literatura y Estudios Hispánicos, Quito, Ecuador, March 7–9, 2018.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings’ article titled “The Undergraduate Spanish Major Curriculum: Faculty, Alumni and Student Perceptions” (coauthored with Tammy Jandrey Hertel) was published in the Winter 2017 issue of Foreign Language Annals.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross’ most recent article came out in an edited volume called Gender in Urban Spaces: Literary and Visual Narratives of the New Millennium (Palgrave MacMillan 2017). She will share this work with the SU campus at the Representations Lecture Series on Tuesday, February 20.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and SU alumna Lauren Fellers ’14 published “Subversive Texts: MommyBlogs to Blog-Books in Spain” in the Hispanic Studies Review 2.2.

Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair, Mattie Cryer, Class of 2017, and Antonio Mendez, Class of 2020, served as coaches at SXSWedu on March 7. Senio Blair met with attendees interested in the liberal arts, Cryer spoke about undergraduate research, and Mendez mentored first-generation college students. The meetings were one-on-one or small group opportunities for students, parents, and attendees to think about and explore their learning goals.

Seven Southwestern faculty members were awarded a prestigious Sam Taylor Fellowship Grant. The 2016 recipients include:

• Professor of Physics Steven Alexander, “Creating a Wave-Powered Robot,” $1,200
• Associate Professor of Music David Asbury, “Research at the Library of Congress and the University of South Carolina Related to the Correspondence of Andrés Segovia and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco,” $1,100
• Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth, “Learning Arabic to Teach the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Inclusiveness and Diversity in the German Classroom,” $1,750
• Associate Professor of Art History Patrick Hajovsky, “Examining Excavated Aztec Sculptures and Offerings in the Templo Mayor Museum and Museo Nacional de Antropología,” $1,220
• Associate Professor of French Aaron Prevots, “Gestures Toward the Sacred: Guillevic, Vargaftig, Tellerman, Michel,” $1,500
• Associate Professor of Communication Studies Valerie Renegar, “Beyond the “Wicked Stepmother”: Representations of Stepmothers in Popular Culture,” $1,830
• Professor of Spanish Katy Ross, “Immigration in Spain: The Cultural Effects of Otherness,” $1,500

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross and Lauren Fellers ’14 presented the paper “From Mommyblogs to Blog-Books” as part of the conference of the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica (AILFCH) in Houston on Nov. 11, 2016.

Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair presented the paper “From Pain to Pleasure: Sexual Awakenings and Revival in Contemporary Chilean Narrative” at the Mid-America Conference on Hispanic Literatures at the University of Kansas on Nov. 4, 2016. Earlier this semester, she attended the ACS workshop “Building Digital Foundations at Liberal Arts Colleges” at Centre College.

Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodriguez Cadena will be the keynote speaker for the opening of the seminar “Audiovisual Representations of the Past: The Construction of Historical Narrative and Identity through Cinema and Television” in Mexico and Ibero-America on March 24, 2017. The seminar is hosted by the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, Mexico and sponsored by the International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST).

Associate Professor of Spanish Carlos de Oro and Iris Klotz ’15 co-authored an article titled “Cine, pobreza y marginación en el Pacífico colombiano” in the journal Imagofagia, Revista de la Asociación Argentina de Estudios de Cine y Audiovisual. This article was the result of research that started during the 2015 Spanish Capstone. Klotz also presented a paper about this topic in the 2015 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair attended the book release party at the Universidad de Chile Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen for the book Nomadías: El cine de Marilú Mallet, Valeria Sarmiento y Angelina Vázquez on July 27, 2016. Blair contributed a chapter titled “Atravesando continentes y océanos: La obra fílmica de Angelina Vázquez.”

Associate Professor of Spanish Angeles Rodriguez Cadena edited a new book titled La ficción histórica en la televisión iberoamericana 2000–2012, and contributed the chapter “Memoria cultural y la construccion audiovisual del pasado.” The book focuses on historical fiction in television.

Associate Professor of Spanish Katy Ross published an article titled “The Failed Quest-Romance: Lucía Etxebarria’s Nosotras que no somos como las demás” in Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures Volume 70, Issue 2.

Professor of Spanish Katy Ross presented a paper on the representation of motherhood in the 2010 film “Biutiful” at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference in Lexington, Kentucky.

The Board of Trustees approved the following recommendations regarding promotion of faculty:

Associate Professors promoted to the rank of Professor:

• Dr. David Gaines, Professor of English

• Dr. Katy Ross, Professor of Spanish

• Dr. Maria Todd, Professor of Biology

Associate Professor of Spanish Katy Ross recently signed a book contract with Bucknell University Press for her book “The Changing Face of Motherhood in Spain: The Works of Lucía Etxebarria.” This interdisciplinary work focuses on how the representation and construction of motherhood has changed in recent films and fictional works by Spanish author Lucía Etxebarria.

Abby Dings, associate professor of Spanish, had an article published in the fall 2014 edition of “Modern Language Journal.” The article, “Interactional Competence and the Development of Alignment Activity,” draws from research conducted on second language learners in the study abroad setting. Dings also had an article published in the fall 2014 edition of “Foreign Language Annals.” The article, co-authored with Tammy Jandrey Hertel of Lynchburg College, is titled “The Undergraduate Spanish Major Curriculum: Realities and Faculty Perceptions” and presents quantitative and qualitative results of a nationwide survey of Spanish department faculty on the undergraduate Spanish major curriculum. 

Four faculty members have been selected to be Community-Engaged Learning Fellows for the 2014-2015 academic year and will receive special mentoring from the Office of Civic Engagement on how to integrate community-engaged learning into their classes. The new fellows are Erin Crockett, assistant professor of psychology; Abby Dings, associate professor of Spanish; Katherine Prater, assistant professor of education; and Carl Robertson, associate professor of Chinese. Read more about the program here.