Undergraduate Student Highlights
World Language Day 2022: 136 Spanish Students from nine Kentucky high schools visited campus and participated in a variety of activities including a panel with current students and attending a class with UK faculty.
Mihir Kale graduated in May 2023 with two BAs: Spanish and Political Sciences with an Academic Certificate in Peace Studies and Academic Honors (Phi Beta Kappa, and Dean's List since 2019). He received the University of Kentucky Presidential Scholar, Gaines Center for the Humanities Fellow, Chellgren Student Research Fellow, U. S. Dept. of State Critical Language Scholarship-Swahili (2021), University of Kentucky Crum Outstanding Undergraduate Research Paper (1st place), sole institutional nominee for the Rhodes Scholarship, and the Evans Award for Excellence in the Social Sciences and Humanities (2023). Under the direction of Dr. Yanira Paz, he completed a thesis for the Gaines Center for the Humanities entitled: "El papel lo aguanta todo: Linguistic Nationalism in Hispanic Constitutions."
Awards Ceremony: At our yearly awards ceremony, we honored several of our undergraduate students. Bethany Ison and Dylan Mears received the Zembrod Award, which is a competitive award for undergraduate students to help defray the cost of studying abroad. We also recognized 16 Spanish Majors that were graduating with honors. Those graduating with honors were: Darcy Adreon, Eva Aldarondo, Sarah Barth, Lauren Bell, Elizabeth Blank, Kamryn Bogott, Aurelia Cardona, Taylor Cleveland, Katherine Delgado, Bethany Ison, Kaitlyn Johnson, Mihir Kale, Selena Lopez, Megan Rice, Alexandria Sapp, & Anna Warfield.
Graduate Student Highlights
Dr. Thomas F. Whayne Jr., MD, Ph.D. was a long time friend and benefactor of the Department of Hispanic Studies. In addition to his work in biochemistry and as a physician, Dr. Whayne sat on Ph.D. committees in the department and was a fixture among graduate students for decades. His love for Spanish and the students that taught it led to his bequest that became the Dr. Thomas F. Whayne Jr. MD, Ph.D. Awards in Graduate Excellence. This was the first year that awards bearing his name were given. The recipients of the awards were:
Whayne Endowment for Academic & Scholarly Development funds were provided for conference or research travel for Daniel Batten, Paula Ruiz, & Kelly Ferguson.
Whayne Award for Graduate Student Research Paper was awarded to Paula Ruiz.
Whayne Award for Graduate Student Teaching was awarded to Meimalin Rivas.
Whayne Award for Graduate Student Service was awarded to Paula Ruiz.
Ana Álvarez Guillén defended her dissertation, “El anverso de lo cotidiano: percepción woolfiana en la cuentística de Rodoreda, Roig, Alós y Riera,” on January 19, 2023, with special distinction. She has accepted a position as visiting Assistant Professor at Bucknell University, Fall 2023.
Danny Batten received an academic and scholarly development award from the Whayne funds to complete a pilot study as part of his dissertation project on Spanish Second Language Acquisition and received the McCrary-Keller Award for outstanding 2nd-4th year student for AY 2022-2023. He served as grad student assistant for the KFLC conference, 2023.
David Cortés Ferrández will defend his dissertation entitled “La independencia de Catalunya en Twitter. Nuevas formas de argumentación” this coming August. He received in 2022 the College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award. David has accepted a Lecturer position in Washington University in St. Louis.
Kelly Ferguson defended her dissertation, “Truth in Horror: Cinematic Representations of Social Violence in Spain, Latin America, and the Latinx US,” on May 23, 2023. Kelly served as Kelly served as assistant director of the KFLC conference in 2023. And she will join the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Miami University (Ohio) as Visiting Assistant Professor in Fall 2023.
Brittany Frodge defended her dissertation, “The Human, the Posthuman, and the Body in the Science Fiction of Rita Indiana and Rosa Montero,” on September 2, 2022, with special distinction. She accepted a position as Teaching Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2022.
Patricia María Gamboa defended her dissertation, “Álvaro Cunqueiro: La existencia fabulada,” on May 24, 2022. Patricia Gamboa received a Nietzel Award from the Graduate School, which allowed the department to bring in Dr. Rexina Vega as Nietzel Visiting Distinguished Faculty Program Award to give a talk on “Traducciones, autotraducciones y recreaciones de Álvaro Cunqueiro,” on April 29, 2022.
Sandra Nava Nieto defended her dissertation, “Sexualidad, afectos y sociedad. Las no monogamias consensuadas (NMC) en la literatura y el cine español,” on August 29, 2022. She accepted a position as Senior Instructor in Easter Oregon University starting in Fall of 2022.
Adriana Rivera Vargas defended her dissertation, “Catalanes en el cafetal mexicano: el exilio heredado de la tercera generación a través de la trilogía La guerra perdida (2004-2009) de Jordi Soler,” on May 24, 2023. She is an Assistant Professor at Asbury College, Fall 2023.
Paula Ruiz Santamaría defended her dissertation proposal, “Aproximaciones hacia una indigeneidad compartida entre poetas vascas y mapuches contemporáneas con el fin de establecer diálogos y redes transnacionales feministas” on April 27, 2023, and will advance to the qualifying examination in August 2023.
Morgan Stewart defended his dissertation, “Interrogating Ideology: The Fantastic-Religious in 19thCentury Spain” on April 13, 2022, with special distinction, and has accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Western Indiana in Fall 2023.
Jakob Turner defended his dissertation, “Forum on 'Conquest': Past-Present Politics of Coloniality in Cinema on Latin America,” with special distinction on April 13, 2023, and he will join the faculty at Center College in Fall 2023.