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Carlos Ortiz, Kelly Ferguson, Russell Simonsen, and Beth Boyd

In 2023, our department chair, professor Dr. Iñaki Prádanos, published his third book, A Companion to Spanish Environmental Cultural Studies. He has given many invited lectures about environmental humanities and the political ecology of technology in various universities and also engaged with broad audiences via op-eds and podcasts. Dr. Prádanos continues to teach upper-level courses on Hispanic culture. Dr. Prádanos has been our chair since 2021. He also mentored Fulbright doctoral ºÚÁÏÉçÇø Noémie Mil-Homens Cavaco and continues to mentor our tenure-track faculty. He was .

Our department has been thrilled to welcome two new scholars to tenure-track positions: Dr. Carlos Ortiz and Dr. Kelly Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson is a Transatlantic film and media studies scholar who specializes in the horror genre. Dr. Ortiz specializes in the theatre and visual cultures of the Latinx Americas. They worked together this semester to host a series of three films for ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs on the topic of migration: Problemista (2023), Culture Shock (2019), and Retorno a Hansala (2008). Dr. Ortiz has enjoyed introducing ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs to the visual cultures of the Americas, exposing them to stimulating contemporary theatre, film, photography, and other visual arts. He is currently working on two academic articles about Afro-Latinx performance in Chile as well as contemporary Puerto Rican theatre.

Dr. Ferguson has brought back our course Business Spanish (SPN 317) in the semester format and it has been a hit with ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs. Although our normal limit is twenty-three for an upper-level course, she currently has twenty-six for spring and would have more if it had not been capped early. Assistant Lecturer David Motta continues to teach 317 in his winter-term Business and Conversational Spanish in Argentina program — which shows there is great demand for this course. Dr. Ferguson’s 317 has seen many guest speaker invitations, including 5/3 Bank, La Mega Radio, the Ohio Department of Development, the restaurant Arepa Place, and — already slated for spring — the translator for the Cincinnati Reds, Jorge Merlos. The speakers are invited to discuss how business leaders use Spanish to engage with the Latinx community in the greater Cincinnati area and the rest of U.S.

Assistant professor Dr. Russell Simonsen, a relatively recently hired tenure-track linguist in our department, published an important article in the LA Times. It is called “.” In addition to his research, conference presentations, and teaching, Russell has been working on the optimization of our curriculum, such as by helping our faculty craft course updates to adopt new Miami Plan components. There continues to be high demand for his upper-level linguistics courses. He has been also busy publishing journal articles related to his research in top journals and delivered a well-received presentation at the . Dr. Simonsen also cowrote the 2022 book Language Acquisition in a Nutshell: A Primer for Teachers with Dr. Bill VanPattan. Dr. Simonsen was a top ten nominee for The Outstanding Professor Award, as decided by the associated ºÚÁÏÉçÇø government.

Leah Henson, Jill Gómez, Tamise Ironstrack, and Katie Fowler-Córdova

Our department has been fortunate to have many new faculty who have enriched the academic lives of our ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs: Dr. Morgan Smith, Mr. , Mr. , Ms. , Dr. , Ms. , and Mr. Omar Cabral.

Andrew previously assisted with The Way of St. James and has taught our 316 course in addition to 200-level courses. Dr. Smith worked with her capstone ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs to produce a compelling original film about femicide in Latin America and Spain. Although Dr. Smith and Mr. Cabral are no longer at Miami, all of these faculty have been essential to the mission of our department and its success. Jorge has leveraged his deep knowledge of history to be instrumental in the reimagination of SPN 351 — Historical Perspectives on Current Issues. Ashley has been teaching linguistics in addition to courses at the lower levels. Last spring, Dr. Boyd taught a fascinating 450I/550I course that she developed called Conquest and the Image: New World Visions.

Andrew Herrick, Jorge Santander Serrano, Ashley Swann-Santander Serrano, and Kerry Chermel

Students in the Way of St. James pilgrimage in Spain

Associate professor Dr. José Domínguez Búrdalo has continued to teach advanced courses about Spain’s highly influential Spanish-language poet Federico García Lorca. He is currently writing a book: Como el agua: Lorca simbólico. José taught in Miami’s Luxembourg program last year. Adept at identifying potential majors, he helped us to add five more in the last two weeks.

José also continues to be the advisor and coordinator of the BA/MA program, which was recently revised so that it has a no-thesis option. Those who intend to pursue a doctorate can choose the thesis option. José directs two : The Way of St. James (El Camino) and Miami in Spain (Summer). He will offer a film festival next spring, as part of SPN 318.

Our Language Coordinator, Senior Lecturer Julie Szucs, received an award for the work she and her ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs in SPN 322 have done to help to improve access to health care for Spanish-speaking families with disabled children. She was named the  by the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati. She also developed our upper-level health care course, SPN 322, and is working with Senior Lecturer Nohelia Rojas-Miesse on a medical certificate as well as a medical course in English — both for our departments’ ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs.

Visiting Assistant Professor  has continued to challenge and delight our ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs in her teaching of the capstone. Our ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs wrote, produced, and starred in a Spanish-language play called La Bella Fea y la Bestia for the previous spring semester. It was inspired by the tale of Beauty and the Beast and focused on self-esteem as it relates to body image. The ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs chose the topic. Her ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs for this semester are producing two plays, Slime! (with conformity as the theme), and El hospital de Oz (that looks at healthcare) — as enrollment in the capstone was very high for this semester. The plays will be held on November 21st in McGuffey 322. Eugenia also directed a play in Cincinnati called Forecast and has been taking courses in theater to continue to build upon her knowledge. Dr. Ferguson will be teaching the apstone in the next term, focusing on cinematic horror. Eugenia was .

Senior Lecturer  recently began teaching our SPN 312 — Spanish linguistics. She has worked toward the crafting of innovative curricula for our 100-level courses that focuses on the ability to be comfortable enough to produce Spanish language — a change from the historical problem of language instruction in which ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs learn a great deal of grammar and vocabulary but feel unable to speak and write (produce).

José Domínguez Búrdalo, Julie Szucs, Eugenia Blanco-Mazur, and Tiffany Belka

Our other senior lecturers: Julie Szucs (coordinator of Spanish courses), Katherine Fowler-Córdova (assistant coordinator), Tamise Ironstrack (lead departmental advisor), and Nohelia Rojas-Miesse (coordinator of scholarships and awards, have also developed this curriculum at the 200 and 300 level. (Our curriculum committee also includes tenured and tenure-track faculty.) OSU’s expert on structured input, Dr. Wynne Wong, was invited to host a workshop that included her giving a presentation. 

Advisor and instructor  continues to welcome ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs to our advising office and help them with their decisions, such as how to become majors and minors. She also helps ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs at the 200 level with her SPN 204 course that provides additional assistance. 

Assistant Lecturer  continues to bring ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs to Argentina, for the . He also coordinates our SPOT tutoring center, which is volunteer-staffed by talented Spanish majors and our Sigma Delta Pi honorary society. Both he and Russell Simonsen coordinate the weekly Spanish-language practice table. David is the coordinator of Sigma Delta Pi.

Professor  has shown the appeal of her courses in Portuguese; her multifaceted interactive courses in Brazilian music, film, and literature fill rapidly. She performed her original compositions, poems set to music, as a vocalist in a symphonic hall in Brazil last year. She will be offering POR 111, Accelerated Portuguese, next fall. Portuguese is one of the US Department of State’s . Dr. Gândara was .

Senior Lecturers Nohelia Rojas-Miesse and Julie Szucs partner to direct and teach the winter-term . A valuable program for premedical ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs and other ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs of Spanish, each year it sees higher enrollment, with ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs on waiting lists. Nohelia developed our SPN 203, Spanish for Health Care, course. She serves as our scholarships and awards coordinator, served for three years recently on the LEC (Liberal Education Committee), and has been a member of our assessment committee.

Our regional senior lecturers,  and , continue to provide valued instruction in Spanish, primarily in the online format. They also serve as regional advisors. At the regional campuses, both have been highly involved in transforming language instruction and similar initiatives.

Nohelia Rojas-Miesse, Ginny DeVito, David Motta, and Paula Gândara

Promotions and Doctoral Graduations

• Dr. Iñaki Prádanos was promoted to full professor in 2021.
• Also in 2021,  and  were promoted to Senior Lecturer. Tamise is currently our lead departmental advisor.
•  was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2022.
• Ms. Jill Gómez was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020.

Congratulations to them and to our department for having such fine faculty members.

Beth Boyd finalized her doctoral degree this year and Morgan Smith did last year. Congratulations to both.

In 2022, we welcomed a new administrative assistant, Mr. Stephen Sauer II — a Miami alumnus. A prolific poet, with 700–1300 poems annually — he was once a visual artist (painting primarily) and musician (voice and multiple instruments). He also works informally in various creative disciplines such as digital painting, music production, and screenwriting. Stephen was a graduate ºÚÁÏÉçÇø in secondary English education at Miami.