Alumni News

Alumni Profile: Sasha Zawadsky-Weist (BA ’14)

As an avid traveler, I know how challenging it can be to pursue a steady career and simultaneously embrace one’s aspirations to be a travel bug. I hope my success will inspire others to pursue learning languages.

I graduated from IU in 2014 with a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and Psychology and a minor in Brazilian Portuguese. Upon graduation, I was offered a Human Resources internship with Citigroup Latin America.

Four years later, I am now the Leadership Program Manager for Citigroup Latin America, and I deploy Leadership Programs for 55,000+ employees in 22 South and Central America countries. I am based out of Florida, and, with my clients spread throughout the Americas, I periodically have the privilege to work remotely and travel.

With all of my clients in Latin America, it is imperative to speak Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese on a daily basis. As a non-native speaker of both languages, I am thankful for my studies in the language programs at Indiana University, and I owe much of my success to my superb professors during that time.

This year so far I have travelled to Brazil, Mexico, and Iceland, and I have continued developing my career. I deeply enjoy “living the dream” of traveling and hope that others dare to do the same.

Learning another language (or two) not only opens doors to new opportunities, but also helps enrich our understanding of other cultures and enables a more tolerant, diverse community. My personal recommendation: learn a language, and dare to dream!

Alumni Profile: Cindy Brantmeier (PhD ’00)

Before I talk about some of my professional endeavors since I graduated with the PhD in 2000, I wish to recognize and express my gratitude to the outstanding faculty in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at IU. The knowledge, wisdom, and encouragement of the professors in the department were integral to my academic journey. More specifically, I fondly recall the language acquisition projects that I completed as part of Professor Russell Salmon’s literature courses, where he taught me how to carry out a diachronic analysis of written language. This served as a foundation for me to work with Professor James F. Lee, who devoted endless hours teaching me how to conduct empirical investigations on reading across languages and cultures. I remember the strong support Professor Diana Frantzen gave me when I realized my passion for the development and analysis of data collection instruments for testing language, and I recall the discussions I had with Professor Edward Friedman about how to combine my interests in quantitative inquiry with reading and language learning. Also, I cannot forget the valuable advice that Professor Kimberly Geeslin gave me when I went on the job market. I hold dear memories of the intellectual and personal discussions I had with so many of the faculty members in the department, which certainly served as the impetus for me to leap forward and accept the position at Washington University in St. Louis.

I am currently Professor of Applied Linguistics and Education at Washington University in St. Louis. I am also Director of Applied Linguistics, which includes the PhD in Applied Linguistics in Education and the undergraduate major/minor, and Co-Director of the Graduate Certificate of Language Instruction, an interdisciplinary PhD certificate for students in literature. I was the recipient of Washington University's 2012 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award, and I have been a four-time winner of the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, a recognition given to a select few professors in the Arts and Sciences each year. For 13 years, I held supervisory positions in the department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Washington University, and those positions included freshmen language placement, language program assessment, and teaching assistant training.

Since my appointment in the fall of 2015, I have served as Co-editor of Reading in a Foreign Language, a leading journal housed at the University of Hawaii. Recently, I was named Distinguished Visiting Professor of Applied Linguistics at the School of Foreign Languages, Northeast Normal University (NENU), Changchun, China (2016-2021), where I lead collaborative experiments on language acquisition. Founded in 1946, NENU is considered one of China’s leading centers for scholarship in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.

I have been the plenary speaker for several prominent national and international events that focus on an increased understanding of the role of language in human affairs, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s third international symposium on literacy (Chile, 2017) where I was asked to report the findings of my 17 years of experimental research on second language reading across languages and cultures. I offered corresponding implications for UNESCO’s central mission that literacy is a fundamental human right. I was the opening speaker for Startalk 2013 and again in 2015, a convention sponsored by the President of the United States National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) that emphasizes the teaching and learning of strategic languages.  I have given invited presentations of my research in Argentina, Nicaragua, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Republic of Georgia, the Netherlands, Oxford (UK), and at universities in the United States.

I am principal investigator in the Language Research Laboratory at Washington University. My published work consists of experiments that examine variables involved in second language reading, language research methodology, and language testing and assessment. I hold affiliate appointments in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and I am a core faculty member of the Program in International and Area Studies. I have been a visiting faculty member of the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii and an Oxford University Roundtable Scholar.

Before beginning my PhD studies at Indiana University in 1995, I had extensive experience teaching Spanish and ESL/EFL in the United States, Nicaragua, Mexico, Spain, and Costa Rica to students of all ages. In 1990, I earned my state teacher certification from Wisconsin for English, Spanish, and ESL (K-12). I have held many different positions with language program direction in the United States and abroad. I was the creator and Director of SPEAC, an English Language Center in Estelí, Nicaragua, a center that won an international award for outstanding program development between the United States and other nations.

More important than all of the above is that I am a proud mother of two amazing children, Anja and Gavin, who are now almost 10 years old. I think that one of the most enduring gifts I have given my children is that of multilingualism.

Alumni Profile: Malcom Compitello (PhD ‘79)

It all started with Sputnik! The Soviet launch of that satellite stimulated the United States to invest heavily in international studies and language instruction. This included K-12 programs like the pilot one in the Manhasset School District on Long Island, New York that would offer middle school instruction in languages to students. To match students to languages, the very rational Manhasset educators ranked all the students in the sixth grade at its three elementary schools by academic abilities then charted that to languages by order of difficulty starting with Russian and ending with Spanish. . .  I was placed in Spanish. That decision changed my life, since the most accomplished teacher, most skilled at motivating students, was the one I had throughout all of my classes in middle school and high school. It was the quality of that instruction and the encouragement that Señora de Ross provided that motivated me to major in Spanish in college.

Now, many decades later, as I get ready to step down as head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese after 23 years in that position, I look forward to enjoying a few years of what drew me to a career in teaching Spanish from the beginning. To return to working more directly with students on a day to day basis, to watch them grow and encourage them the way Mrs. Ross encouraged me.

I began doing that as an MA student at St. John’s University after completing my BA at the same institution. My years as a graduate student allowed me ample opportunity to teach and expand my intellectual horizons through the study of Hispanic Literatures and Cultures and Comparative Literature and to forge lasting friendships and professional relationships with many people. The Fulbright grant that I received began my decades long connection with Spain. While still a student at Indiana I had the opportunity to work as assistant editor and later contributing editor of a new academic journal, The Amerian Hispanist, a ground-breaking experiment in publishing.

I moved to Michigan State University in 1977 and remained there as assistant, associate and finally full professor over the next 18 years with various administrative responsibilities including director of the Basic Language Program in Spanish, director of Graduate Studies, and eventually associate chair of the Department of Romance and Classical Languages. I also helped forge my department’s connections around campus through my work with Overseas Study, Latin American Studies and the newly minted MA program in Comparative Literature. In 1995 I was recruited as Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona.  

As an administrator my work has been guided by several basic principles, the most important of which is to assure that what we do serves the needs of our students by offering them the most up-to-date, relevant and rewarding curricular opportunities possible. To do this I have worked hard in extending my department’s interdisciplinary collaborations, advancing major curricular innovation, expanding our overseas study offerings, and designing comprehensive professional development programs for both undergraduate and graduate students. Recently this has included championing the MLA’s Connected Academics movement and arguing that this initiative should be extended to undergraduate students. It has also included working with donors to raise a significant amount of money for scholarships to support our study abroad programs.  Signing international memoranda of agreements to offer dual graduate degree programs with partners around the globe has also been a priority I have pursued vigorously. This has led to agreements with the University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain, the Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile, and the University of Verona in Italy, with others in the works.

During my 23 years as head, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese has grown to be one of the largest comprehensive programs in the United States, with a total enrollment that is consistently among the highest in the nation, as well as producing among the highest number of PhDs. During my tenure as head, 7,624 students have graduated with minors in Spanish, and 1,980 students have graduated with undergraduate majors in Spanish and Portuguese. Additionally, 197 students have graduated with the MA and 135 have obtained their PhDs.

As a teacher and scholar I have helped push the boundaries of inquiry in Hispanic Studies through my work in Hispanic Narrative Fiction and Film, and over the last several decades in Cultural Studies and Critical Geography. In addition to my writing, these efforts include my work as the founding editor of the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, now one of the premier places for cutting edge scholarship in our field. I also serve on the editorial boards of a number of other journals and book series, including the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, Revista de ALCES XXI: Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature & Film, MVM: Cuadernos de Estudios de Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, and the Palgrave Macmillan Series on Hispanic Urban Cultural Studies. I have also collaborated extensively with local K-12 and community college instructors and with colleagues across campus in Comparative Cultural and Literary Studies, Latin American Studies, Geography, Digital Humanities and the Honors College. Off campus I have worked extensively with the Modern Language Association and the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. I have proposed and taught, both at Michigan State and Arizona, a number of interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses, and have advised and mentored countless undergraduate and graduate students, the latter including serving on more than 65 dissertation committees and directing more than 40.

Throughout the years, recognition for my accomplishments have come my way including a number of grants and invitations to serve as visiting scholar at institutions around the world. I am particularly proud of three of them. The first was to be invited to deliver the 20th Annual Merle E. Simmons Distinguished Alumni lecture in Bloomington in 2015. The second was being named the 2016 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession from the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. The third is a 2012 volume in my honor by former students and colleagues: Capital Inscriptions: Essays on Hispanic Literature, Film and Urban Studies.

If Sputnik put it all in motion, Indiana made it operational. I trace whatever success I have had throughout my career to the years I spent in Ballantine Hall in Bloomington, to the faculty with whom I studied, to my fellow graduate students and all the undergraduate students who I had the privilege of teaching. It was in Bloomington that I met my wife, Patricia Brooks, also a doctoral student in Spanish who would become the director of External Relations for the College of Humanities in Arizona. In Michigan and Arizona, we raised a family of humanists as both of our children now have rewarding careers in the arts. As one of my former teachers said, “There is no place else like Bloomington.” For me, that is certainly the case!  

Alumni Notes

We gratefully acknowledge the support of our alumni through different initiatives and contributions that foster the excellence of our department. We are excited to share the updates we have received and look forward to continuing to hear about the endeavors of our alumni.

Please keep in touch! Email: lagaceta@indiana.edu.

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Bonnie Hildebrand Reynolds (BA ’65, MA ’67) I will be returning to Hanover College (from where I retired) as visiting professor for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Nancy Jones Villalobos (BA ’67) The flyer on the bulletin board in the Spanish Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder drew my immediate attention: study abroad with Indiana University in Mexico, Spain, or Peru. Wow! Foreign study with my own state university seemed like a dream come true. I’d wanted to get as far away from my home in Evansville as possible, so I’d chosen Boulder for my freshman year, but I was paying out-of-state tuition and already feeling restless by the beginning of my second semester. Something wasn’t right for me at CU. As a Spanish major, the IU flyer gave me hope for a drastic change: Peru! My parents would love the chance to pay in-state tuition, and I would love to study even farther away from home...on another continent! I was delighted when Dr. Merle Simmons accepted me into the program.

During that seminal year, I fell in love (almost immediately) with Rolando (Tito) Villalobos, the son of my host family. I married him the month after my graduation in 1967, and lived with him in Lima for the next 20 years. After his untimely death, I stayed in Peru with my four young children until 1987 when the violence and bloodshed caused by the Shining Path insurgency (punctuated by an extortion call) caused me to decide to leave my adopted country and relocate to California, where I became a bilingual elementary school teacher.

I retired in 2011 and began a new career as a writer. My life in Lima is the subject of my (hopefully) soon-to-be-published memoir, Peru: My Other Country. A chapter of that was just published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Empowered Woman.

My connection with the Peru ’65 group continues at our frequent reunions, hosted by our fearless leader, Dr. George Zucker, who still refers to us as “his Peru kids”. In 2015 we celebrated our 50th anniversary in Bloomington. At 73, I continue to nurture the friendships forged at IU and made during that year abroad when I was 20.

Vicki Mayfield (BA ’70, MA ’71) I attended last year's 50th anniversary and reunion in Madrid! Kathleen Sideli and her team created a well-organized event that was fun for alums and non-alums alike. I didn't know whom to expect to see from my year (1968-69) and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the only other attendee from my year was my roommate, Margo Persin, who also gave a lovely talk about her experiences. In chatting with other attendees from the 'Franco era', I discovered that we seemed to have had similar academic and personal experiences, experiences that are so different from those of today's students. After all this time, I am still happy that I took advantage of the opportunity to participate in IU's program in Madrid! 

Dan Bolen (BA ’70) This is my first communication with you. I graduated in May 1970 with a major in Spanish that included a summer in Mexico City and a year in Peru. IU was great! Wonder whatever happened to Moody, Gitlitz, Dorf, etc. Just retired from a career in education that included helping to start bilingual, Spanish immersion, ESL, dual language, and FLES programs. Have been married to Luisa (we met in Lima in 1969) for 44 years! There’s more but that’s enough. Sure have used my Spanish!

Greg Johnson (BA ’74) Nice to hear from IU’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese! Little did I know way back in ‘74 that MANY years later I would be employed in a job where I teach and facilitate small group instruction in Spanish—which is what I’m doing right now in Lima, Peru. Since 2010, I have been teaching operational planning courses on behalf of (US) Joint Special Operations University to military and police in Peru mostly, but also have worked in Chile, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, Belize, and several NATO countries. I also learned Portuguese and did some work in Brazil as an Army Foreign Area officer. A good part of my Army career was in Latin America, including tours in Colombia and Bolivia. So, I have been staying busy. Our team also conducts courses in Spanish for US Army Civil Affairs units whose regional orientation is Latin America. Our young captains and sergeants in those courses are absolutely outstanding—better than I was at their age! The Spanish Department at IU probably has more opportunities than ever for your students to employ their language of choice, especially if they gain other skills to complement the language.

Janet Dudley-Eshbach (BA ’74) After 22 years as a university president (at Salisbury University, Maryland), beginning July 1, 2018, I am taking a year-long sabbatical. Following my leave, I am excited to be returning to the classroom to teach Spanish and Spanish-American literature, culture and civilization courses.

José “Pepo” Delgado (BA ’82, MA ’84) was recently promoted to the rank of professor in the Department of Modern Languages at Ohio University (Athens). During his 27-year tenure, Delgado has directed student-led stage productions, a study abroad program in Puerto Rico, the Latin American Studies program, co-directed the Annual Spanish Spring Colloquium, and twice chaired the graduate program. He fondly remembers professors Enguídanos, Salmon, Dávila, Impey, Alborg, Beltrán, Barnstone, Ricapito and Torchinsky.   

Tiago Jones (BA ’85) just celebrated 15 years at Campbell University and 10 as chair of the Department of Foreign Languages. 

Kristine Markovich Alpi (BA ‘95) I am excited to share that while working full-time, I completed my PhD in Educational Research & Policy Analysis at North Carolina State University in May 2018. Additionally, the Medical Library Association awarded me its Librarians without Borders® Ursula Poland International Scholarship for my project on international availability of veterinary pharmacy literature which kicked off at the International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists in Budapest, Hungary in June.

Bryan Cameron (BA ’00) is currently assistant professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. After finishing his PhD in Hispanic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Bryan held appointments at Bryn Mawr College and New York University where he also served as managing editor of the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies. Bryan's research centers on modern Spanish literature, Spanish cinema from the 1960s to the present, and protest movements in the context of crisis and post-crisis Spain.

Eric Grossmann (BA ’05) This summer, I‘ve worked in Chicago as a temporary contract attorney while exploring career opportunities in bilingual education (having recently completed a state licensure exam). I continue to practice Spanish through book and conversation clubs. My favorite new discoveries over the last year have been works by Benito Perez Galdos, Miguel Delibes, & Mario Vargas Llosa - as well as recent article in El País (“La cocina de toda la vida”).

Priyanka Dube (BA ’11) Since graduationg from IU, I completed my masters in integrated physiology from IU School of Medicine and received my doctorate in 2016 from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. I am now in my residency training where I use my Spanish to interact with patients from Spanish-speaking backgrounds.

Lana Spendl (MA ’12) My chapbook of flash fiction, We Cradled Each Other in the Air, was published in 2017. My short stories, essays, and poems have appeared in The Greensboro Review, The Cortland Review, Hobart, Notre Dame Review, Zone 3, Front Porch, ​and other literary magazines. Some of my work can be found online at lanaspendl.com/publications/​. I'm still living in Bloomington and working on a novel that takes place in my native Bosnia.

Kelly Kreutz (BA ’15) On May 24, 2018, I participated in the Fulbright Advocacy Day in Washington D.C. in order to lobby Congress. I personally met with representatives from Utah, Wisconsin, and Alabama and shared my personal experience while also discussing the negative repercussions of budget cuts to the Fulbright program. A 71 percent budget cut has been proposed for the Fulbright program for 2019. I am a 2016 Fulbright alumni. After graduating from IU, I completed an English Teaching Assistantship at the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil. I am committed to spreading the word about potential budget cuts to the Fulbright program.