Jessi Aaron
Jessi Aaron was selected to participate in the UnCommon Reads program and will teach an honors course in Summer 2025 titled “Purpose and Identity in Becky Chambers’s A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy.” She also received a grant from the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere for the speaker workshop “Language science approaches to capturing variation in human experience,” co-organized with Steffi Wulff, Helene Blondeau and Zoey Lui.
Joanne Britland
On March 11, Dr. Joanne Britland delivered the keynote lecture at the University of Maine as part of the McGillicuddy Humanities Center Symposium, “A Century of Stardom and Fandom in Hispanic Film and TV.” Her talk examined pivotal moments in Hispanic popular culture and their enduring influence on global media landscapes.
Dr. Britland, in collaboration with co-PI Trysh Travis, was also awarded a Mellon Foundation grant through the MLA Pathways: Recruitment, Retention and Career Readiness initiative. This project is dedicated to expanding academic and career development opportunities within the humanities. Learn More
In addition, Dr. Britland was selected to receive a CLAS Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Fund Award for summer 2025. Her most recent article, “From Print to Netflix: The Fariña Adaptations and Transmedia Storytelling during Times of Crisis,” has been published in the Hispanic Research Journal. Read the article
Analiz Faife Casas
Analiz Faife Casas was awarded a CLAS Dissertation Fellowship for the Spring 2025 semester.
Josh Higdon
We are proud to announce that Josh Higdon has been named a recipient of the 2024–2025 UF Graduate School Teaching Award. This university-wide distinction recognizes excellence in graduate teaching and underscores the vital role our teaching assistants play in delivering high-quality instruction. Josh’s dedication to student learning and commitment to pedagogical innovation make this award especially well deserved.
Su Ar Lee
The Institute for the Future of Education (IFE) Conference took place in Monterrey, Mexico, from January 28–30, 2025. As one of the leading events on educational innovation in the Spanish-speaking world, the IFE Conference brought together educators, researchers and policymakers from across the globe to explore forward-thinking strategies and collaborative solutions to educational challenges.
The University of Florida was proud to be represented at this international forum. Among the UF participants was Dr. Su Ar Lee, Senior Lecturer of Spanish, who joined colleagues in engaging with cutting-edge discussions on the future of teaching and learning.
Vicky Muñoz
Vicky Muñoz received the Edward H. Moseley Student Paper Award from SECOLAS for her paper, “‘En el origen fue la china’: rescatando la voz silenciada en la mujer de Martín Fierro en diálogo con el Martín Fierro.” She was also selected for the 2025 Graduate Student Summer Residency Program at the National Humanities Center. In addition, she participated in the inaugural cohort of the Office of Global Learning’s Virtual Exchange Training for Graduate Students in Fall 2024, alongside Zachary Mott and Sonia San Juan.
Zachary Mott
Zachary Mott took part in the inaugural cohort of the Office of Global Learning’s Virtual Exchange Training for Graduate Students in Fall 2024.
Sonia San Juan
Sonia San Juan participated in the inaugural Virtual Exchange Training for Graduate Students organized by the Office of Global Learning in Fall 2024. She also shared a class project from “Culture and Civilization of Spain” (Fall 2024), in which students created an interactive map collection for the UF Geospatial Showcase, exploring diverse aspects of Spain’s history and culture.
Antonio Sajid López
Antonio Sajid López published his novel La sombra púrpura del cielo roto with Editorial Gnomo in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Available here
Imanol Suárez Palma
Imanol Suárez Palma received the 2024–2025 CLAS Teacher of the Year Award. Read the article here
Paola Uparela
Paola Uparela published her book “Invaginaciones coloniales: Mirada, genitalidad y (de)generación en la Modernidad temprana “(Colonial Invaginations: Gaze, Genitality and (De)Generation in Early Modernity). The book received the 2023 Klaus D. Vervuert Hispanic Essay Award, granted by Iberoamericana Vervuert and the Cervantes Institute. Learn more about the book
She also received a grant from the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere to support her speaker series, “First Colloquium on Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala’s Work: Colonial and Indigenous History, Art and Literature Intertwined.”
Andrea Villa
Andrea Villa published an essay on Colombian visual artist and sculptor Doris Salcedo in the volume “The Other Fridas: The Lives and Works of Latin American Women Artists.” Learn more about the book
Georgina Wilson
Georgina Wilson was admitted into the Spring 2025 program of the prestigious Paleography and Digital Humanities online institute offered by UT Austin.