Division of Spanish & Portuguese Studies Quarterly Newsletter - Spring / Summer 2014
Irene Panke Hopkins, Writer and Editor
I write these lines on board a narrow gauge train lumbering from Bilbao to León, following the route across the north coast of Spain that brought coal from the mines in León to the steel foundries of Bilbao during the industrial boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It’s like a trip through the past, as we rumble down deep valleys flanked on both sides by rugged mountains. Dappled light filters through spring foliage. Cattle, sheep and horses graze in meadows next to tiny Romanesque… Read more
How does a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature prepare someone to be a college dean or university provost? “I'm not sure that any academic training really does that,” said UW alumnus Brent Carbajal, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at Western Washington University in Bellingham, “but my experience at the University of Washington provided an opportunity to forge meaningful relationships with faculty and administrators who taught me how departments function, how critical… Read more
Piled on Donald Gilbert-Santamaría’s desk is a set of very old books. With their worn brown covers and gold lettering, the books have a reverential presence in the room. They are the elders, the ancients that provide a connection to the newer books surrounding them and remind us of a time when ideas that are still being explored today were new.
Gilbert-Santamaría, Associate Professor, specializes in Spanish Early Modern literature, which covers the… Read more
Written by Irene Panke Hopkins
Photo left to right: Lisa Zeta, Rachel Brown, Michelle Vega
When Spanish & Portuguese Studies advertised for a part-time student assistant, the number of qualified applicants made the decision very difficult. So difficult in fact, that the division scrambled to create additional positions. “We couldn’t hire everyone,” said Holly Winters, Administrative Coordinator, “but we… Read more
Photo left to right: Bob Dawson (Foster School Faculty Coach), Brandon Upton, Amanda Baker, Josh Twaddle
Congratulations to Amanda Baker, Josh Twaddle and Brandon Upton who placed third in Brigham Young University's 2013 Case Competition!
Baker, a Business and Spanish major, will graduate in June. Her passion is technology and her business degree focused on Information Systems… Read more
This summer, the Division of Spanish & Portuguese Studies is offering a 15-credit course at the León Center in León, Spain. Food and Culture in the Hispanic World will be taught by Associate Professor, Ana Gómez Bravo, from June 21 to August 23, 2014.
The course will explore the role food plays in Hispanic cultures and how that role has changed over time. Students will learn how biological and cultural exchanges between Spain (Europe)… Read more
Congratulations to Joy Maa, a graduating Spanish major, who received the College of Arts and Sciences 2014 Dean’s Medal for Humanities. The College of Arts and Sciences presents the Dean’s Medal annually to four exceptional graduating seniors, from the College’s four divisions—arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
“Joy is an exceptional individual who demonstrates not only a mastery of the grammatical material but also a strong interest in political, cultural, and social… Read more