Aída
Belansky, MA, Universidad Católica de Lima.
Journalism & Public Relations. Joined UMB in 1999 and teaches all levels of Spanish language
Jean-Philippe Belleau, Ph.D. candidate at the Institut des Hautes Etudes d'Amérique Latine, Université Paris-III Sorbone Nouvelle. He conducted research in the Brazilian Amazon and in Haiti and worked for several years in human rights with the United Nations, the OAS and various NGOs. He joined UMB in 2000 and teaches Latin American Studies.
Ann
Blum, PhD (Latin American History), University of California,
Berkeley.
She assumed her tenure track position in Fall 2000. Her research examines the relationship between family and state formation in modern Mexico, with a focus on urban child welfare. Her publications have been honored with awards from professional societies.
She has reviewed manuscripts for Princeton University and the Smithsonian Institution Press.
Reyes
Coll-Tellechea, PhD (Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures and
Linguistics), University of Minnesota.
A scholar of Early Modern Spain, she edited a critical edition of La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes (Madrid, AKAL 1997 and 2000) and has published articles on the Spanish Picaresque novel, contemporary Spanish literature, the place of history in Spanish literature, and language as cultural capital. She is currently working on a book project on the subject of history in Spanish literature.
Jason Cortes,
A.B.D. Pennsylvania State University (Spanish American Literature)
Jason Cortés joined the Department of Hispanic Studies in the Fall of 2002. His
training in Spanish American literature focuses on 20th century narrative, with a primary emphasis on Caribbean literature, and cultures. His researchinterests include: Puerto Rican literature, literature and philosophy,
Afro-Hispanic studies, literary theory, and the ethics of writing. His doctoral dissertation "The Ethics of Authorship: Literary Authority in
Contemporary Spanish American Novel" examines the relationship between writing and violence in Spanish America, specifically its impact on ethics and
authorship. Prof. Cortés has published articles on the topics of violence and representation in Griselda Gambaro's theater, and ethics and identity in Manuel
Ramos Otero's short stories.
Charles
Dietrick, PhD (Spanish American Literature), University of
Wisconsin at Madison.
Joined UMB in 1985. He is an expert on Web-based foreign language teaching. He teaches all levels of Spanish.
Clara
Estow, PhD (History of Ideas), Brandeis University.
A student of Spanish medieval culture and institutions, she has written extensively on a variety of historical and literary subjects and is currently completing a manuscript on gold in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. She is a member of the editorial board of a journal in her field and is frequently called upon to referee and review manuscripts and books on Spanish medieval subjects.
Lenor
Figueroa-Feher, PhD (Latin American Literature), Harvard University.
She has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate-level courses in Latin
American Literature and Spanish language in Harvard University, Boston College
and UMASS-Boston. She developed the oral translation component for UMASS's
Certificate in Spanish Translation program, and is now coordinator and head instructor for the Certificate program in Spanish Court Interpretation. In
July 2001, Dr.Figueroa-Feher was appointed Training Manager at the Office of Court
Interpreter Services for the Massachusetts Trial Court. She is a state-certified court interpreter, with years of experience
working in the Massachusetts judicial system and in the Supreme Court of
Puerto Rico
Jacobo Gutiérrez,
MA, University of Warwick, England, 1997.
He joined Hispanic Studies in 2000 as Director of the Spanish Resource Center. He is an expert in Foreign Language Education.
Beatriz
Iffland, MA (Latin American Literature), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
(Argentina).
She joined MB in 1975. She has published two Spanish as a foreign language textbooks; she teaches all levels of Spanish.
On leave Fall 2002.
Ildefonso Manso, M.Ed., Escuela Universitaria de Profesorado Pablo Montesino, studied philosophy and psychology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid as well as theology and religion in Spain and Argentina.. He teaches all levels of Spanish.
Seth
Minkoff, PhD (Linguistics), Masschusetts Institute of Technology.
He assumed his tenure track position in Fall 2000. His scholarship lies at the intersection of linguistics, anthropology, psychology and philosophy. His ongoing scholarship emphasizes field, experimental and theoretical research on Central American languages (Spanish and Maya), and on broader problems in syntax and semantics; and the employment of generativist theory to illuminate broader human problems of epistemology, ideology and ethics.
Susan
Mraz, MA (Foreign Languages: Spanish & English),West Virginia University.
She is author of several books for Spanish as a foreign language. Editor, Writer and Language Consultant for several major publishing houses. She is an expert in Teaching Methodologies. She joined UMass-Boston in 1999 and teaches all levels of Spanish.
Marta
Sierra, Ph.D. Rutgers University (Spanish American literature).
Marta Sierra joined the Department of Hispanic Studies in the Fall of 2001.
She was Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Memphis from 1999-2001.
Her specialization is Latin American Literature, South
America. Her research interests include the impact of modernization in Latin
America, the city and urban narratives, gender studies, migration and exile. Her
doctoral dissertation dealt with Avant-garde literature of the Southern Cone and
she has already published one of the chapters of her Thesis in Revista de
Estudios Hispanicos. Prof. Sierra is currently working on a book manuscript on
Avant-garde and modernity in Latin America.
Esther
Torrego, PhD (Romance Philology), Universidad Complutense de
Madrid.
One of the most distinguished experts on Spanish Theoretical Linguistics, she has published extensively in this field, including a book,
The Dependencies of Objects (MIT Press, 1998). She is a member of several editorial boards in her field and is frequently called upon to referee and review manuscripts, abstracts and books on theoretical linguistics and numerous Ph.D committees at prestigious universities in the United States and abroad.