News and Events

1. The Department wishes to congratulate Dr. Armando Romero, the Charles Phelps Taft Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, who has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens, Greece. A widely acclaimed critic, poet, and novelist, Romero is the first member of the Department to receive such an honor.

2. Monique Jindal, who graduated from UC with a major in Spanish and pre-medicine in June 2008, has been awarded the university's Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence. Before attending medical school, she plans to take a year off of school to volunteer at a medical clinic in Peru. “As a future physician, I plan to implement programs that prevent and control health risks prevalent within the Latino community, such as diabetes,” she says. “I would like to provide educational programs which focus on holistic care and prevention. Through my experiences and accomplishments at UC, I am now positive that these dreams can be realized.” The UC Honors Student was co-founder and vice president of Serve Beyond Cincinnati, an organization created by UC students. Serve Beyond Cincinnati strives to build an emerging, civic-minded generation by providing national and international service experiences for UC students. Jindal led three alternative break trips to various parts of Mexico and Louisiana. During summer 2006, Jindal volunteered as a translator for doctors and nurses during appointments with Spanish-speaking patients.

3. The Department is pleased to announce the appointment of two assistant professors starting in 2008: Patricia Valladares Ruiz (PhD, Université de Montréal, 2005) and Daniel Walker (PhD, University of Colorado, 2008). Dr.Valladares Ruiz is a specialist on Caribbean literature and Hispanic cultural studies. Her dissertation, "Subjectividades sexuales y nacionales en la narrativa cubana (1990-2003)," examines how the representation of sexual minorities in contemporary Cuban fiction challenges hegemonic notions of Cuban national identity. Dr. Walker is a specialist on twentieth-century Spanish literature, especially modernism. His dissertation, "'Las horas ambiguas de los crepúsculos': Modernist Chronotypes in the Works of Ramón María Valle-Inclán," situates the Spanish author Valle-Inclán in the broader context of European modernsity by addressing the importance of time and space in contemporary scientific, philosophical, cultural, and literary discourse.