Our graduate students come to UMass from all over the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world, including the United States and Canada. They are an amazingly diverse and energetic cohort that collaborates with our faculty in many of the initiatives that take place in the Spanish and Portuguese program. Our doctoral students typically hold TOships / TAships for most, if not all, of their time in our PhD program, and have the opportunity to grow as effective instructors of languages, literatures, and cultures. They regularly present their work at national and international academic conferences in their fields. We are also proud of their competitiveness as candidates for fellowships and grants from the Graduate School as well as from external funding sources (including the Fulbright Program and the National Science Foundation). Articles stemming from their research in Iberian Studies, Hispanic Linguistics, Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Portuguese and Brazilian studies, Catalan studies, and Translation are accepted for publication in peer-reviewed venues prior to graduation.
Eva Álvarez Vázquez earned her B.A. in English Studies from the Universidad de Oviedo and her M.A. in European Literature and Second Language Teaching from the Universidad de Huelva. She is currently a PhD Candidate and Teaching Associate in the Spanish and Portuguese Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She holds a graduate certificate in Film Studies and has participated in the organization of the Catalan and Lusophone Film Festivals at UMass Amherst. She is currently working on her dissertation project, which explores how deindustrialization has impacted the cultural and social memories of industrial workers and inhabitants of several peripheral regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Through an interdisciplinary approach that analyzes audiovisual cultural products, mainly contemporary documentaries, her research addresses broader questions regarding collective memory and the interplay of cultural production and memorialization. Her research interests revolve around Iberian literatures and cultures, film studies, cultural memory, gender studies, and videographic criticism.
Alexandre Alves Santos received his B.A. in English Language and Linguistics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics at UMass Amherst. Alexandre is interested in second-language acquisition, language processing, and heritage language development. His research focuses on the morphosyntactic acquisition of Portuguese as a heritage language and the correlations between specific language forms and the age of onset. He has presented his work at academic conferences on second-language processing, second-language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and second-language intonation.
Marco is currently a Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics at University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), and he is interested in Heritage Language as well as Second Language Acquisition of morphosyntactic properties. He is currently working on derivational morphology in heritage speakers of Portuguese. He also holds a Master's in Linguistics from the University of Brasilia in Brazil where he investigated the semantics of stative verbs with the periphrastic progressive in Brazilian Portuguese. He is currently a teaching associate of Spanish and Portuguese at UMass and has been an Adjunct instructor of Portuguese and Instructor of Spanish at Texas A&M International University; a Language Specialist of TESOL, at Texas A&M International University, and an English instructor at University of Houston-Downtown, and Lone Star College in Houston.
Marta Cerón, a PhD student from Chile in the Spanish and Portuguese program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializes in Latinx Studies and Translation. She is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Translation Studies. Her interdisciplinary research delves into Latinx literature, Literature and latinidades, Third World and decolonial feminisms, translation studies, and diasporic and indigenous literatures. Her research critically explores how translating Latinx narratives can function as a decolonial practice and a tool for building cross-border connections and alliances, while also contributing to broader discussions on cultural identity and resistance.
Hee Joong Choi is from Seoul, Republic of Korea. He holds a B.A. in Hispanic Language and Literature from Seoul National University (SNU, 2013), where he also graduated with a Linguistics minor. After three years of serving in ROK Navy as a Spanish Instructor and as a Spanish/Korean interpreter in high-level Navy talks, he continued to pursue his studies in Hispanic Linguistics in SNU. In 2019, he earned a M.A. with the thesis focusing on the syntactic derivation of Spanish Split Questions. As a Ph.D. student, Hee Joong has been putting his effort to refine his research in two ways: 1) to broaden the spectrum of meaning in questions from semantic and pragmatic perspectives, and 2) to develop experimental methods that could support his theoretical speculations. His secondary areas of interest include Korean as a Foreign Language (KFL), Portuguese Linguistics, and Intonational Grammar. In Spring of 2021, he completed the Korean Language Teachers Training Program at the Language Education Institute of SNU.
Carlos Flores Quispe is a second year Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics at UMass Amherst. He is a native speaker of Quechua from Bolivia. He comes from an expert weaving family in the village of Candelaria, Chuquisaca, Bolivia. He has a bachelor’s degree in languages, focusing on Quechua, Spanish and English from the San Francisco Xavier University of Chuquisaca, with an undergraduate study in Sociology from the University of Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, where he also taught Quechua. He is interested in contributing to the revitalization of the Quechua language through social media @carloskires, weavings, pedagogical teaching materials and designing experiential learning for children and adults. One of his publications is Bolivian Quechua Verbal Art collection is archived in The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) and The Importance of Weaving From Generation to Generation in the ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America.
lcampana@umass.edu
Luis Alexander Campaña Zapata was born in Quito, Ecuador. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics with specialization in translation and interpreting from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. He is now a first-year PhD student in Hispanic and Latin American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at UMass Amherst. He is eager to start conducting research on his main interests, Linguistic Landscape and Language Attitudes.
dcevallosvac@umass.edu
Anahí Cevallos holds a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics with a minor in Translation and Interpreting from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) and is currently a PhD student in Hispanic Linguistics and Literature at UMass Amherst. Anahí's academic work is focused on exploring the intersections of language, culture, and identity in the Hispanic world. Alongside their studies, Anahí is actively involved with Oralidad Modernidad, a platform dedicated to advancing research on oral traditions, and works with el Grupo de Pensamiento Afrodescendiente (GPA), an organization that promotes Afro-descendant perspectives and intellectual contributions.
Sandra Galván is originally from Barcelona (Spain). She graduated with a B.A. in History from the Universitat de Girona. After obtaining an M.A. in both Cultural Heritage and Education and Culture from the Universitat de Girona, she joined the Spanish and Portuguese doctoral program in 2015. Sandra is interested in Spanish and Catalan Cinema, with an emphasis on gender studies, space studies, and videographic criticism. Sandra is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Film Studies.
Karla Giorgio received an A.A. in Graphic Design from the Institute Toulouse Lautrec of Lima, an A.A. in Commercial Art from STCC, and a B.A. with a double major in Art History and Latin America Studies from Smith College. In 2017 she obtained an M.A. in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures from UMass, where she is currently a doctoral student in Latin American studies with an emphasis on contemporary Peruvian literature, the negotiations of national identity, and the different expressions of portable art. She has published the interview “Rostros del arte Kichwa: Eriberto Gualinga y sus documentales de la selva” in LatinoRebels. In addition to teaching at UMass, Karla has also been an instructor at Western New England University and will be teaching a course at Clark University this Spring.
Cristina did her B.A. on English Studies at the Universidad de Valladolid, followed by a M.A. on Advanced English Studies at both Valladolid and Universidad de Salamanca. She then went to complete an M.A. in Linguistics at West Virginia University, where she also taught Spanish. She started her Ph.D. on Hispanic Linguistics in the Fall of 2022. Her focus is on prosody and gesture from an intercultural, crosslinguistic perspective. However, she will happily talk about anything linguistics with anyone interested.
Irina Lifszyc is originally from Rosario, Argentina. She graduated with a B.A. in Translation Studies and obtained an M.A. in Spanish from Ohio University. She is interested in Spanish language variation and historical linguistics. She is currently studying different sociolinguistic aspects of Spanish in Argentina.
Paola Medina González is from Asturias, Spain. She holds a B.A. in Spanish Philology from the Universidad de Oviedo. She earned a M. A. in Spanish Language and Linguistics. In 2018, she obtained a M.A. in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. Her masters` thesis focused on sociolinguistics, speech accommodation and the representation of Spanish language varieties in textbooks. From 2018 to 2019, Paola was a Foreign Language Assistant in the Spanish department at the Tiffin Girls` School in London, United Kingdom. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language variation and dialectology.
Maíra Mendes-Galvão was born in Brasília, Brasil in 1981. She holds a BA in Graphic Design from the University of Brasília (UnB), but changed paths and began circa 2004 a career as a professional translator and copyeditor. After a later stint back in academia, when she studied Philosophy of Language and Logic, with a special interest in theories of meaning, logic, and metaphor, she decided to forge ahead in the editorial industry instead. In addition to commercial translation, she took on literary projects and translated authors such as Jonathan Safran Foer, Boris Fishman, Monique Wittig and Mina Loy into Brazilian Portuguese. Now back to academia, she got an MA by the University of São Paulo (USP) with a Master thesis about translation as a theoretical practice and is working toward a PhD in the track Translation in the Hispanic and Lusophone World at UMass Amherst. She is also a poet and has published one chapbook and one full-length book. As a poet and performer (she composes ambient music/audio interventions for her poem readings), she is active in the Brazilian scene of contemporary poetry and frequently publishes poems in online and print journals. Some of her work both in poetry and translation has appeared in anthologies from Brazil and Mexico as well. Some of her other academic interests are: English language literature, Latin American literature, semantics, cognitive science and anthropology.
mmegiacesped@umass.edu
María Teresa Megía Céspedes earned her B.A. in Translation and Interpreting from the Universidad de Granada and her M.A. in Spanish Second Language Teaching from the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija. She is currently a Teaching Associate in the Spanish and Portuguese Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Paulina Ochoa Figueroa is originally from Michoacán (Mexico). She received a B.A. in Spanish Literature and Culture from Manhattan College. Paulina joined the Spanish and Portuguese Ph.D. program as a graduate student in 2017. She is finishing her doctoral coursework. Her research interests include translation studies, travel writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Latin@x Literature. She has presented papers at academic conferences on travel and translation, and on Pruebas de Nueva York by the Spanish author José Moreno Villa. Paulina intends to pursue a graduate certificate on Translation and Interpreting Studies. She teaches basic- and intermediate-level Spanish, and medical interpreting. She is also a freelance translator and interpreter.
Tanya is Colombian-American and spent part of her childhood in Brazil. She received her BA in Latin American Studies from the University of Massachusetts Boston, an MS in Journalism from Columbia University, and an MFA in Creative Writing & Literature from Bennington College. She has worked extensively as a journalist covering the Latino and Brazilian communities in the U.S., along with immigration policy and Latin American/Latino music and art. She has also worked as a certified Spanish interpreter for the Massachusetts Trial Court, a medical interpreter, a freelance translator, and an adjunct professor teaching interpreting, translation, and Spanish at Regis College, Babson College, and Harvard University. Her research interests include collective trauma and cultural trauma in Colombian and Brazilian literature, Latin American female authors, and Latino/Latinx writers in the United States.
Fabiola Corte Fernández received a B.A. in English Studies and a M.A. in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language from the University of Oviedo. She joined the Spanish and Portuguese Ph.D. Program in 2022 as Teaching Associate. Her research focuses on Early Modern Iberian Literature and Gender.
testradahevi@umass.edu
Tomás Estrada Hevia, originally from Asturias (Spain) received a B.A. in Spanish Language and Its Literatures from the University of Oviedo, and obtained two M.A.s from the same university: one in Teachers of Compulsory Secondary Education, Upper Secondary Education and Vocational Training, and the other one in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. Tomás joined the Spanish and Portuguese Department in 2023 as a Teaching Associate, and he is also a PhD student with interest in oral literature with medieval origins and its connections with the present day.
Celia Sainz is originally from Madrid (Spain). She received a B.A. in Journalism and Media Studies from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Celia entered the Ph.D. program in Iberian studies in the fall of 2017, and is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Film Studies. Her research focuses on film and gender in the Iberian Peninsula. She is currently working on her master’s thesis on the poetic cinema of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Since 2018 she co-curates the Catalan Film Festival and the Latin American Film Festival at UMass. She has been collaborating in the Gynocine Project since 2017.
Giovanny Salas Torres is originally from Colombia. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures and Teaching Associate of Spanish in the Spanish and Portuguese Studies program of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He graduated with an LLB from the Universidad Católica de Colombia and holds an M.A. cum laude in Literature from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. His research and areas of interest include 20th and 21st-century Latin American literature and culture, transatlantic studies, literary theory and criticism, and the intersections of art, literature, and philosophy. His most recent journal article appeared in Revista Iberoamericana (https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/revista.2024.90.286.123). Giovanny's forthcoming works will be published in Teatro: Revista de Estudios Escénicos and Hispanic Studies Review, among other venues. He is currently working on his dissertation project, tentatively entitled Memories of Proust in Latin American Literature.
aortegatruji@umass.edu
I am from Málaga (Spain). I hold a B.A. in Spanish Philology from the Universidad de Granada. I earned my two M.As —in Teacher Training and in Advanced Studies in Spanish Language—from the same institution. I am currently a Teaching Associate in the Spanish and Portuguese Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
lcaballerora@umass.edu
Laura Caballero Rabanal is a PhD student and Teaching Associate in the Spanish and Portuguese program at UMass Amherst, in the Iberian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures track, where she also pursues a Graduate Certificate in Film Studies. She holds a BA in Translation and Interpreting (Universidad de Granada, 2014), an MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2017), and a second MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Universidad de Málaga, 2021). Her research interests include Iberian cinemas (with a special emphasis on Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan films), urban, postcolonial, and gender and sexuality studies applied to literary and audiovisual analysis, and videographic criticism.
jionson@umass.edu
Jaqueline Ionson, originally from Brazil, received her B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from the State University of Bahia (UNEB) and completed her postgraduate specialization in Spanish/Portuguese and Portuguese/Spanish translation at Gama Filho University. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics at UMass Amherst, where she also serves as a teaching associate. Jaqueline has over 15 years of teaching Portuguese and Spanish as second languages from middle school through the graduate level in Brazil, Colombia, and the United States. Her research interests lie in the instruction and acquisition of second and heritage languages.
Maria Camila Vera Arias holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the Universidad de Antioquia. Since 2011, she has worked as a journalist for several publications in her home country, Colombia. She completed an MFA in Spanish Creative Writing at the University of Iowa in 2016 with a hybrid thesis of poetry and fiction. Her first book, Especies, a short stories collection about Colombian fauna was published in March 2019. Her academic interests include Translation Studies, literary translation, and Latin American women writers and poets.
dalcarraz@umass.edu
Dayana Alcarraz is from Ecuador. She studied at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador where she got her bachelor degree in Linguistics with specialization in Translation and Interpreting. She is interested in researching areas related to pragmatics and how language is shaped by context.
Simón A. Villegas received a B.A. with distinction in Hispanic Philology from the Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia. His main research interests are medieval and early modern Iberian literatures and cultures, critical theory, and textual scholarship. His work has appeared in Lingüística y Literatura, Medievalia, La Corónica, and Calíope. His dissertation project focuses on the intersection between race, gender, and religion in the Iberian and colonial Hispanic American epic poetry from the late sixteenth century.