Recent News
In the world of languages, literatures, and cultures, our laboratories are our classrooms, and our tools are our books. However, here at SPS we are sensitive to the fact that books can be expensive, and with that in mind we are excited to announce that this quarter we have launched the new Spanish and Portuguese Studies Undergraduate Textbook Fund to help defray the costs of assigned Spanish or Portuguese course books for students… Read more
We are delighted to announce that this past year, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies has established, through a generous endowment created in the memory of Susan B. Johnson, the Susan B. Johnson Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship is intended to support UW students participating in a UW Study Abroad programs in Spain or a Spanish-speaking country.
This year's scholarship recipients, all planning to head to León on our department program… Read more
We are delighted to announce that this past year, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies established the Spanish and Portuguese Studies Undergraduate Essay Prize, the first undergraduate essay prize on campus for essays written in languages other than English! Entry into the competition is by faculty nomination of outstanding essays written during the past year, and prize recipients are chosen by the department's Undergraduate Awards Committee. … Read more
From the Chair (slightly edited version of remarks first delivered at the graduation ceremony):
Congratulations to our Graduates!
All of our graduates—just as all of our faculty—got to where they are today from different points of origin, with our different histories and our different challenges and our different hopes and our different fears, but with a shared desire to...
... well, let me be honest: sometimes our shared desire whispers that what we really need to… Read more
Exciting news! Lexi Smith has just been awarded this year's Asociación Internacional de Galdosistas' John W. Kronik Scholarship for doctoral research travel! Lexi will use this scholarship to continue research on neurasthenia in both Madrid and Barcelona this summer. Lexi was encouraged to apply for this scholarship by Professor Leigh Mercer, in order for her to delve more deeply into her work on Benito Perez Galdós' La loca de la casa, which she began in Prof.… Read more
Great news! Mikaela Peizer (Sammamish WA), who will be earning a BA in Spanish and a BA in Public Health-Global Health (expected graduation Spring 2025) has been named to the Husky 100! In her own words: "My journey at the UW has empowered me through an array of diverse lessons and experiences that have underscored my passion for social justice through the utilization of multilingual communication within the interdisciplinary field of public health. From advocating for enhanced… Read more
After more than two years, students returned to the UW León Center.
At 9:30 Sunday morning, March 27, still jet-lagged and sleepy-eyed, 34 UW students gathered at the entrance to the University of León’s Language Center. A few minutes later they piled onto buses for the first excursion of the Beginning to Advanced Spanish Program at our León Center. They had arrived in León a scant 24 hours before and gone with their host families to what would be their home for the next 11 weeks.
Joining the… Read more
This has been an extraordinary year for the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. We have welcomed three new colleagues and said goodbye to another after many decades of service to the department. We have witnessed the re-start of our study abroad programming after a two-year Covid-related suspension. We have celebrated as several members of our faculty have been recognized for their contributions in the areas of research, teaching, and service to the larger community… Read more
Samuel Jaffee, Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies at the University of Washington, was awarded a 2022 Distinguished Teaching Award. The award is the highest university-wide honor for innovative instruction, curricular development, and mentorship.
“It’s a tremendous honor” said Jaffee, who views the award as not… Read more
After 32 years as a member of the faculty, María Gillman, founder of the Spanish Heritage Language program, has retired from the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies at the University of Washington. Her retirement was effective at the end of winter quarter.
Joining the department in 1990, Gillman noticed that her classes had students who were fluent in Spanish but had no formal education in the language, and in 2000 began teaching SPAN 314 as a course for heritage speakers of… Read more