Spring 2019 Newsletter

Spanish & Portuguese Studies is pleased to announce that Katherine M. King and Juan Felipe Arroyave completed their dissertations and doctoral defenses, and each received their PhD in Hispanic Studies in the Spring of 2019. “As the first two graduates for our new doctoral program, their accomplishments mark a significant milestone in the development of the department’s graduate program,” said Donald Gilbert-Santamaría, Associate Professor and department Chair. Arroyave’s dissertation,… Read more
On April 17, The Center for Teaching and Learning hosted the UW’s 15th Annual UW Teaching and Learning Symposium. The Symposium highlights research and pedagogy that advance student learning and promote innovation in teaching as well as collaboration among practitioners of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at UW.  It is intended for… Read more
On May 22, Dr. Elizabeth Hochberg, Teaching Associate in the Spanish and Portuguese Department, offered a talk entitled “Mass Media Reflections During Chile's Popular Unity”. Prof. Hochberg analyzed the way diverse cultural projects and artists in Chile engaged with “popular power” during Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government (1970-1973). In this period, Chilean workers and left-wing intellectuals engaged with the idea of “popular power”, a form of a direct democracy led by working-class… Read more
“The exposure to another culture at a deep enough level to include language studies rounds a person out and helps them think differently when addressing a problem.” Said Gregg Blodgett, ’76. Blodgett, who graduated from University of Washington with a double major in Spanish and Accounting, has led a successful professional life in both technology and philanthropy. Concluding his career with his retirement from Twisted Pair Solutions as CFO in 2011, Blodgett spent the first 14 years of his… Read more
The NW Cadiz Program has been providing a unique exchange experience in the south of Spain for over 20 years.  Students are encouraged to live up to their full potential, hone their existing skills, and develop new perspectives through community involvement, service learning, and self-exploration. Located on a peninsula in Andalusia, Cadiz is one of the oldest cities in Europe, having been founded over 3,000 years ago by the Phoenicians.  Its security and small-town warmth belie the… Read more
On Thursday, June 6, Sarah McKay, a junior double major in Spanish and Creative Writing, did a public presentation of the ad hoc honors project she did for Spanish 424 Winter Quarter 2019. The class, “Poetry and Music,” concentrated on Spanish peninsular poets and musical versions of their texts. Sarah’s project is a webpage that parallels what we studied in class, but is centered on two Latin American poets (one man, one woman) from each of five different countries, and the musical… Read more
On March 7th, 2019, the UW Spanish & Portuguese Studies and UW Nutritional Sciences cosponsored the screening of the gastronomic documentary, The Txoko Experience. The Secret Culinary Space of the Basques. The viewing was paired with a few delicious Spanish tapas, as well as the guest lecture, "Slow Food on Camera: An Introduction to Basque Cuisine" by scriptwriter Professor Marcela T. Garcés of… Read more
The Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies teaches some of the world’s most essential languages: Portuguese is spoken by 220 million people worldwide and Spanish is spoken by 480 million, including one in six people in the United States. Undergraduate students in our department not only acquire linguistic proficiency in foreign languages, they also develop critical thinking and communication skills, as well as a deeper awareness of cultural diversity.  For their part, faculty and… Read more
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