Timothy Alford was born and raised in Albertville, Alabama. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance and Music Education from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and his Master of French Studies degree from Auburn University. He is currently studying Romance Languages at the University of Alabama with an emphasis in Applied Linguistics. His area of interest is the origin, acquisition, imposition and modification of orthographic systems.
Kate Batson was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She received her B.A. at the University of Alabama in Interdisciplinary Studies with a depth study in Latin American Studies Spanish. She also studied for a semester at La Universidad de la Habana in Cuba. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in Spanish and Applied Linguistics. Her primary research interests include Second Language Acquisition, Cognitive Linguistics, U.S.-Cuba Relations.
Forrest Blackbourn, born in Louisiana and raised in South Carolina, was awarded a B.A. in 2007 and M.A. in 2009 from Mississippi State University where he studied Spanish and French literatures and linguistics. He is a Ph.D. Candidate in Romance Languages at The University of Alabama. He is working under Dr. Ignacio Rodeño, and his research pertains to the role of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in narratives of the self–particularly the Bildungsroman–in Caribbean, U.S./Caribbean, and Chicano literatures.
Betsy Brooks, born in Fort Myers, Florida, received her B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from Mississippi College in 2008, and her M.A. in Spanish & Applied Linguistics from the University of Alabama in 2010. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Romance Languages at UA. Her research interests include 20th/21st century Peninsular Literature and Film, testimonios, and historical memory in post-war Spain.
Ana Capanegra is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was awarded her B.A. in TESOL from The Teacher’s College “Dr. Joaquín V. González” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received her M.A. in Spanish from The University of Connecticut in 2005 and she is now pursuing her PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Alabama. Her research interest is the reading to writing relations at beginner levels.
Larissa Clachar, from San José, Costa, Rica, was awarded her A.A. from Marion Military Institute in 2003, her B.A. from Judson College in 2006, and her M.A. from The University of Alabama in 2008. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Romance Languages at UA. Her research interests include 19th Century Transatlantic Studies, the Latin American Foundational Novel, and Naturalism.
Brett Drummond, currently of Hueytown, AL, spent his childhood moving around the United States and Europe with his family. He received his Bachelor’s in Spanish from UAB, and holds two MA’s, the first in Education from UAB, the second in Spanish from UA. He is currently working on his PhD in Romance Languages. His primary research interests are transatlantic film discourse between Spain and the United States. More specifically, he is working on studying Pedro Almodóvar and John Waters.
Elizabeth Grassmann is from Eaton, Ohio. She completed her B.A. in Spanish Education at Bowling Green State University and accomplished her M.A. in Spanish at Ohio University. She is a first year Ph.D. student at the University of Alabama. Her research focus is 19th century Latin American literature.
Lorena Gómez, Bogotá, Colombia. She received her B.A. degree in Teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language in la Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá and her M.A. in TESOL -Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages- in the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. She is currently a PhD candidate in Hispanic Linguistics who, in a few weeks, will defend her doctoral dissertation, “Lexical Borrowings in the Colombian Online Newspaper El Tiempo from 1990 to 2012″. Her research interests include Spanish in contact with other languages, Second Language Acquisition topics, the use of technologies in the delivery of Spanish Curricula and K-12 education.
Shelly Hines-Brooks is a doctoral student in Romance Languages from Science Hill, Kentucky. She received her B.A from Centre College in 2007 where she majored in Spanish and anthropology, and her M.A. in Spanish from the University of Alabama in 2009. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis, “La escritura de la memoria como herramienta de diálogo en la metanovela española del siglo XXI”, under the direction of Dr. Ana Corbalán. Her research interests include Spanish literature, new historicism, cultural studies, metafiction and historical memory in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Spanish novels.
Brianne Kobeck received a B.A. in Spanish/Teaching English as a Second Language from Union University in 2007. She received a M.A. in Spanish/Applied Linguistics from the University of Alabama in 2009. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Spanish/Applied Linguistics at the University of Alabama. Her research involves examining beginning level students’ communication strategies and languages in contact.
Dani Peterson graduated with a B.A. from the Calvin College in 2006 where she became interested in Spanish and French. She came to the University of Alabama in 2008 to continue her studies of Spanish and French language and culture, through a M.A. of Romance Languages. She now continues at UA as a Ph.D. student whose research interests include the construction of identity through ethnicity, gender and citizenship in 20th and 21st century literature, particularly through Chicana and French-Algerian texts.
Seth Roberts, originally from Tennessee, received a Master’s degree with a Spanish concentration from Middle Tennessee State University in 2009 and a B.S. in Business Management from Samford University in 2006. As a Ph.D. student in Spanish his concentration is 20th century Latin American literature. In addition to studying abroad in Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, and Spain, he has worked as medical interpreter and is a member of the Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society.
Laura Rojas-Arce was born in San José, Costa Rica. She received a degree in psychology in Universidad Hispanoamericana in Costa Rica in 2005. She received a master’s degree in Hispanic Literature in The University of Alabama, in 2007. She is currently a PhD candidate in Central American Literature. She studies the presence and manifestation of violence in 21st century Central American novels.
Hannah Sullivan was born and raised in Northport, AL. She received her Bachelor’s in Spanish Education from Lee University in Cleveland, TN in 2010 and is currently working on completing her M.A. in Spanish & Applied Linguistics at UA. She is interested in studying the connections between language and music and investigating possible pedagogical implications for music use in the classroom.
Valencia Tamper is a native of Birmingham, AL. She received a B.A. in Spanish from The University of South Alabama in 2006 and an M.A. in Spanish from Bowling Green State University in 2009. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics at The University of Alabama. Her research interests include The Golden Age of Spanish literature.
Tara Trent was born in Tuscaloosa, AL, received a B.A. in Spanish & Psychology at the University of Alabama, and is currently pursuing a M.A. in Hispanic Literature. If you’d like a little personal info, she loves anything having to do with music (especially artists such as Rob Thomas, Alejandro Sanz, Los Secretos, Eminem, Maná) and Harry Potter. She also loves fútbol, writing poetry & songs, and performing as a singer/songwriter (www.youtube.com/user/wizardjedi0007).
Sara Williams, originally from, Fort Wayne, IN received her BS in Computer Information Systems with a Minor in Spanish at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN in 2004. She is currently working on a M.A. in Spanish Linguistics at UA. Her primary research interest is Second Language Acquisition Pedagogy.
Scholarships
Student Organizations
Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica
(National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society)