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Recent News
November 17, 2020
COVID-19 is preventing us from having in-person classes, meetings, and conferences. However, our SPS faculty keeps actively engaged in promoting and sharing their knowledge within our community in different ways. The Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT) was held virtually this year, and three of our SPS faculty members collaborated to deliver a joint presentation at the October 2020 Conference: ¨Apart, But Together.¨
Jorge González... Read more
November 12, 2020
Farris Anderson was a professor in the Spanish and Portuguese Department from 1966 until his retirement in 1999. He served as chair from 1995-1999. He gained emeritus Professor status in 2000 and worked as a part-time retiree until 2005, both teaching classes and acting as a consultant for the Cádiz program. He passed away October 7, 2020. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family. You can find... Read more
October 30, 2020
Eduardo Viana da Silva, Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the UW, has received the 2020 Teacher of the Year Award from the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT). This award recognizes the work of language teachers in the State of Washington for their excellence in the teaching of world languages.
The WAFLT Association highlights on its website that this award "celebrates the promotion of cultural awareness, intercultural... Read more
October 23, 2020
A broad definition of a heritage speaker, according to Fishman (1981, 2006), “is anyone who has an ethnic, cultural, or other connection with a language, regardless of whether that person learned the heritage language as a child” (In: Benmamoun, Montrul, and Polinsky, 2013). This definition applies in different degrees to the UW Indigenous students: Elsa Vásquez, Karol Janet Cruz Escamilla, and Nancy Mendoza Ruiz, who participated in a panel discussion on February 22nd, 2020, at the Heritage... Read more
October 9, 2020
Article by Sabrina Spannagel-Bradley
During this pandemic, remote teaching is the “new normal” for faculty. A year and a half ago, however, all classes were face-to-face, with first and second-year language classes meeting five days a week in the classroom. This is a convenient routine for students living on or near campus, but not for all students. Last year, I identified an unmet need for some non-traditional students trying to fulfill the language requirement by taking... Read more
July 6, 2020
Dr. David William Foster, Faculty Head of Spanish and Portuguese and Regents Professor of Spanish at Arizona State University, and University of Washington Alumni, passed away June 24 at the age of 79.
Born September 11, 1940 in Seattle, Washington, Dr. Foster grew up in the Wallingford neighborhood and attended University of Washington from 1958 to 1964, earning a BA in Spanish, a... Read more
June 4, 2020
By Samuel Jaffee, Spanish & Portuguese Studies
This spring quarter I’m teaching Spanish 302 and Spanish 303, both of which guide students in developing writing strategies in Spanish (creative fiction, business letters, reportage, argument and counterargument, and literary and visual analysis).
In lieu of a final exam, both classes will enjoy a multi-day “finale.”
Students in Spanish 302 are collaborating during Week 10 on... Read more
June 2, 2020
The current pandemic ravaging the world has been a reminder not only of the fragility of life, but also of the rampant inequity in our society. Today, more than one hundred thousand lives have already been lost to Covid-19 in the United States. Black communities, along with Indigenous and Latinx communities, have been disproportionately affected by this virus, with many working essential jobs without being provided sufficient protection. Meanwhile, another kind of pandemic—that of structural... Read more
June 1, 2020
Brianna Salinas, a Masters student in Spanish & Portuguese Studies, is connected with the new Translation Studies Hub run through the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities.
Salinas lived for two years in the autonomous community of Castilla y León in Spain, first studying abroad with SPS and then working as an English language instructor with... Read more
May 21, 2020
Chiara DeSantis, who graduated this March with a double major in Spanish and Public Health-Global Health, has been named a UW Husky 100 this year.
This recognition means the world to Miss DeSantis. Through the love and support from the University of Washington she has had the confidence to not only accept her multiracial identity, but her hair loss... Read more