Awards & Recognition

Awards + Recognition

As evidence of our strengths, every year our faculty and students win numerous awards.

2023 - 2024 Spanish and Portuguese Faculty Accomplishments

Virgnia Carbonell received a Summer Instructional Development Fellowship from CITL to redesign the Department’s online S200 and S250 courses.

Leslie Del Carpio received a College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Grant in Support of Research and Creative Activity for her project entitled “Diverse voices and experiences: Insights from SHL students and instructors in the Midwest.”

Melissa Dinverno was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the 2024-25 academic year for her book project Mediating Memory: Federico García Lorca and the Legacies of the Past in Democratic Spain. She was also granted the Jean Monnet Faculty Travel & Research Grant from the Institute for European Studies for archival work on her co-curated exhibit Desde el exilio al centro: el archivo de la Fundación Federico García Lorca (opening in October 2024), as well as an IAS Collaboration Award in support of Mapping Material Stories: a Digital Network of García Lorca Archives. In May 2024, Professor Dinverno published an edited volume, Lorca y el archivo: diálogos con el porvenir (Iberoamericana Vervuert) to which she contributed the introduction and two chapters. She was also granted a 2023 MIND (Motivación, Inspiración, Dedicación) Award for Impactful Teaching. 

Cesar Felix-Brasdefer was selected as the recipient of the 2023 James P. Holland and Morley Award for Exemplary Teaching and Service. This award was created to recognize College tenure-line faculty who have proven to be outstanding teachers throughout their career and exemplified dedication to students coupled with innovative pedagogy. He has also been appointed Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.

Laura Gurzynski-Weiss was awarded a $1500 international mobility grant from OVPIA in support of her participation in the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) World Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (August 10-16 2024). Gurzynski-Weiss just completed her tenure as Secretary General of AILA.

Edgar Illas published his monograph, The Magma of War: An Ontology of the Global (Routledge, 2024).

Alejandro Mejias-Lopez published Contemporary Colonialities: Mexico and Beyond, co-authored with Kathleen Myers, Beth Boyd, Pablo Garcia Loaeza, and Cara Kinnally (University of Toronto Press, 2024).

Kathleen Myers published Un País de Pastores: Historias de Tradición e Innovación (Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, 2023), A Country of Shepherds: Stories of a Changing Mediterranean Landscape (Cambridge:  Open Book Publishers, 2024), and was the lead author of Contemporary Colonialities: Mexico and Beyond, co-authored with a handful of other IU faculty and former graduate students (Beth Boyd, Pablo García Loaeza, Cara Kinnally, and Alejandro Mejías-López, University of Toronto Press, 2024).  These projects were funded by the IU Presidential Arts and Humanities, CAHI, CLACS, and Institute for Advance Study. Professor Myers also helped host the International Nahuatl Studies Conference at IU in April 2024.

Sandra Ortiz was inducted to FACET, IU’s Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching. She was also awarded a Mosaic Fellowship for Active Learning in Online Learning Environments.

Jonathan Risner received a Jean Monnet Faculty Travel & Research Grant from IU’s Institute of European Studies and an IU Presidential Arts & Humanities Conference & Workshop Travel Grant which enabled him to attend a conference on home movies in Pamplona, Spain, in June 2024.

Steven Wagschal was awarded a Center for Latin and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) Title VI Research grant and an International Mobility Grant from the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs (OVPIA) to conduct research in Costa Rica and participate in a symposium at the Universidad de Costa Rica’s Centro de Investigaciones sobre Diversidad Cultural y Estudios Regionales (CIDICER) on human-jaguar interactions past and present. He was also a Career Connections Teaching Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences.

2023 - 2024 Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Honors and Awards

Núria Alishio-Caballero, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Literatures, received the College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award.        

Roberto Amado, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the Spanish and Portuguese Travel Grant.

Leonardo Amaral, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the J.M. Hill Prize for an Outstanding Graduate Student Paper.

Caroline Amodeo William, M.A. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received a summer FLAS to study Portuguese at the Universidad de Coimbra.

Santi Arróniz, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received the College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Fellowship (Completion) and Travel Award. Santi also received the Hadassah R. Weiner Pre-Dissertation travel Grant.

Nick Blaker, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received the Spanish and Portuguese AI Teaching Award.

Andreina Colina-Marin, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received the Irsay Graduate Fellowship (The Irsay Institute). Andreina also received the Spanish and Portuguese Travel Grant.

Ollin Garcia Pliego, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Literatures, received the Merle E. Simmons Research Award.

Rachel Garza, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received the College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award. Rachel also received the CRRES Graduate Student Research Award.

Jessica Jurado Eraso, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received the Spanish and Portuguese Travel Grant, the OVPIA Pre-Dissertation Travel Grant, and the College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award. Jessica also received the J.M. Hill Prize for an Outstanding Graduate Student Paper and the Fred W. Householder Best Research Paper Award from the Department of Linguistics.

Bruna Kalil Othero Fernandes, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the Doctoral Student Award for Academic Achievement. Bruna also received the Colins LLC Teaching Award, the International Enhancement Grant from the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, the Kinsey Institute Scholars of Sexology Fellowship, and the Jean Monnet Grant Travel and Research Grant from the Institute for European Studies.

Laís Lara Vanin, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the CAHI Graduate Capstone Research Award and the CRRES Graduate Student Research Award. Laís also received the Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Doctoral Research Award.

Leandro Martan, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the Center for Research on Race & Ethnicity in Society (CRRES) Grad Student Research Grant. Leandro also received the OVPIA Primary Partner Graduate Student Grant to do research at the Academia Brasileira de Letras.

Marcela de Oliveira e Silva Lemos, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the Spanish and Portuguese Travel Grant.

Matt Peisen, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Literatures, received the Spanish and Portuguese Travel Grant.

Estefany Sosa, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Linguistics, received the CLACS Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship.

Margo Stutz, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Literatures, received the College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Fellowship (Research). Margo also received the Timothy J. Rogers Summer Dissertation Fellowship.

Taís Xavier Carvalho, Ph.D. student in Portuguese, received the Colins LLC Teaching Award.

2023 - 2024 Spanish and Portuguese Outstanding Undergraduate Awards

Outstanding Undergraduate Community Engagement Award:

Trinity Barnes, Spanish, B.A. Psychology, Minor in Black Cinema and Media Studies, and Certificate in Clinical Psychological Science

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Achievement Award:

Rose Schnabel, B.A. Spanish, B.A. in Biology

Outstanding Graduating Senior Award:

Aida Ansari, B.A. in Spanish

2023-2024 Hispanic Honorary Society

Sigma Delta Pi

Nineteen Spanish majors were inducted into the IUB Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi National Collegiate Hispanic Honorary Society. Sigma Delta Pi recognizes the most outstanding students of Spanish on our campus and in the nation who have an impressive academic record, impactful service, and a strong interest in literature, culture, cinema and music. 

Fiyinfoluwa Ajayi
Zoe Barnsfather
Shelby Brown
Haidyn Clevenger
Reagan Dillman-Swaim
Emily Frey
Emma Rose Gallant
Hannah Gerstler
Sope Koya
Eliza Meyer
Sophie Nix
Emma Pletcher
Rowan Schilling
Faith Stimson
Mikayla Taylor
Liz Utley
Audrey Waite
Abigail Presson Wallace
Gabrielle Wonder

Phi Beta Kappa Electees

In the 2023-24 Academic Year, eleven of our majors were elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society for students in the arts and sciences:

Aida Ansari
Trinity A. Barnes
Belle Chatpunnarangsee
Heather Foster
Rylee K. Foster
Will Frost
Daniela Moloci
Allison M. Nelson
Grant Newman
Audrey Waite
Sarah Waters