Department of Global Languages & Cultures
Faculty and Staff
Meet the faculty and staff of the Department of Global Languages and Cultures.
Faculty
Dr. Marina Bonilla Conejo
Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish
Hauck Hall 205
T. 407-646-2477
B.A. Universidad de Málaga, Spain
M.A. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ph.D. State University of New York at Albany
Prof. Bonilla Conejo earned her B.A. in English studies with a minor in Italian languages and cultures from Universidad de Málaga, Spain. During her M.A. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she taught upper and lower division Spanish courses, as well as participated in the department’s language fair teaching Italian mini lessons. At the State University of New York at Albany, she has taught a wide range of Spanish courses for the heritage and non-heritage speakers’ track, from elementary to advanced level.
Dr. Bonilla Conejo has published the book review “Introducción a la lingüística hispánica” and is currently collaborating in various research projects including a socio-phonetic study in Melilla (Northern Africa), a study on language variation regarding dialectal differences between Puerto Rico and Panama and a project on second language acquisition, which focuses on differences in the production of gender marking in L2 learners of Spanish. Her research and teaching interests include Spanish dialectology, and second language acquisition and instruction of heritage speakers of Spanish."
Dr. Rosana Díaz-Zambrana
Professor of Spanish
Hauck Hall 208
T. 407.646.2143
B.A. University of Puerto Rico
M.A. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Ph.D. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Trained in Comparative Literature, Dr. Díaz Zambrana focused her studies on Modern Latin American Literature, more particularly, on contemporary Brazilian and Southern Cone narratives. Before coming to Rollins, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She has presented papers in national and international conferences on memory, exile and the notions of home in contemporary authors. She has published numerous articles in a wide range of academic journals, and she is the author of three cinema anthologies, Cinema paraíso: Representaciones e imágenes audiovisuales en el Caribe hispano (2012), Horrofílmico: Aproximaciones al cine de terror en Latinoamérica y el Caribe (2014), and Terra Zombi: El fenómeno transnacional de los muerto vivientes (2016). At Rollins she teaches courses on Latin American film and culture, gender and race relations, fictions of fear, and literary masterworks.
Jennifer Fischer
Spanish Adjunct
Hauck Hall 104
T.407.646.2623
B.A. Furman University
M.A. Florida State University
Earning an undergraduate degree at Furman University and a Master´s at FSU, Jennifer Fischer has more than 15 years teaching experience. She has taught 100 and 200 level courses at Florida State University, Rollins College, and Seminole State College. She believes in the communicative approach to learning languages and fostering a supportive community of learners within the classroom. She has experience extending that methodology not only to in person classes, but also to both synchronous and asynchronous online classes.
Nouha Gammar
Visiting Assistant Professor of French
Hauck Hall 204
T. 407.646.2289
Agrégation, Faculty of Arts of Manouba, Tunisia
M.A. University of Virginia
Ph.D. University of Virginia
Dr. Nouha Gammar’s research explores how we record performance(s) from medieval times to the digital age in the French-speaking world. Her diverse teaching experience in the United States and in Tunisia takes root in cultural immersion and performance, through authentic materials, real-world situations, and intercultural reflection. Dr. Gammar taught all proficiency levels of French courses at the prestigious École normale supérieure of Tunis, at the University of Virginia and at Northeastern University. While at the École normale supérieure of Tunis, she coordinated and expanded the French and the Summer School programs. Dr. Gammar also actively collaborated with the International Student Office and taught in the Media Studies Program in Virginia. Before coming to Rollins, she was a Visiting Lecturer at Northeastern University, where she focused on developing an even more engaged and inclusive learning experience of the French language and Francophone cultures.
José Holguín-Intriago
Spanish Lecturer
Hauck Hall - Room 207
T. 407.691.1081
B.A. University of Central Florida
M.A. University of Central Florida
José Holguín-Intriago’s teaching philosophy is that, in order for students to learn a language successfully, they must be challenged and immersed in the language and culture. His academic interests include teaching with technology, creative writing, and gender studies in Spanish and Latin American literature. At Rollins Prof. Holguín-Intriago teaches intermediate level Spanish language courses.
Margareth Kupetz
Senior Spanish Lecturer
Casa 102B Iberia
T. 407.691.1069
B.A. University of Central Florida
M.A. University of Central Florida
Rachael Lilienthal
Senior Spanish Lecturer
Hauck Hall 205
T. 407.646.2752
B.A. University of Pittsburgh
M.A. Florida State University
Rachael Lilienthal has taught Spanish at Valencia Community College, Florida State University, and Reading Area Community College. She has also taught English as a Foreign Language and has served as a volunteer in Ecuador through Harvard University’s WorldTeach program. As an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Mexico and also attended a Semester at Sea through the University of Pittsburgh. Her academic interests focus on Latin American literatures and cultures. Currently, aside from teaching language courses at the basic level, Prof. Lilienthal offers Intersection courses in Spanish language.
María Paniagua-Tejo
Senior Spanish Lecturer
Casa Iberia 102
T. 407.646.2386
B.A. Rollins College
M.A. University of Central Florida
Prof. María Paniagua-Tejo has teaching experience at Pitzer College (SILC), Vanderbilt University, and University of Central Florida. Her research interests include Medieval Spanish Literature, Contemporary Spanish Literature, and Hispanic Culture. Currently, she teaches an array of language courses at the basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. She also participates in the RFLa program with a course titled Masterchef Spain.
Dr. Alberto Prieto-Calixto
Department Chair / Professor of Spanish
Casa Iberia 100
T. 407.646.2217
Licenciado en Filosofía y Letras Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
M.A. Arizona State University
Ph.D. Vanderbilt University
Dr. Prieto-Calixto’s main areas of research include Golden Age, Colonial and Asturian studies. In addition to numerous articles and presentations on literature, film, culture, history, immigration and pedagogy, he has published a book about the theme of captivity during the XVI-XVII centuries in the Hispanic world, Héroes, prisioneros y renegados. El cautiverio en la narrativa hispánica de los siglos XVI y XVII (2009). His current research projects include a book about the Asturian immigration to the US, a study about Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and a book project on the presence of jai alai in the US. Professor Prieto-Calixto is Director-in-Residence of Verano Español (Rollins’s Summer program in Spain).
Lili Ren
Chinese Han Ban Scholar
Hauck Hall 103
T.407.646.2623
B.A. Capital Normal University
M.A. Capital Normal University
Lili Ren received her M.A from Capital Normal University of China. As a professional Chinese teacher, Lili taught Chinese as a second language at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) from 1999. In 2002, she taught Intensive Chinese Oral & Character Courses at Zurich University of Switzerland. Lili also taught Chinese as a visiting professor in the Modern and Classical Languages Department of George Mason University from 2013 to 2016. Lili majored in Chinese Teaching Pedagogy, and is widely published in related fields. Her main areas of research include, but are not limited to, teaching Chinese as a second language, methods of teaching Chinese characters, and cultivation of intercultural communication ability. At Rollins, she teaches at array of Chinese language courses at all levels.
Dr. Sana Alaya Seghair
Assistant Professor of French
Hauck Hall 106
T: 434.806.3412
DEUG. Institut Préparatoire aux Études Littéraires et Sciences Humaines de Tunis.
MAÎTRISE École Normale Supérieure de Tunis.
AGRÉGATION. École Normale Supérieure de Tunis and the University of Arts and Humanities of Manouba, Tunisia.
Ph.D. University of Virginia.
Prof. Seghair has a broad teaching experience and professional background in the United Stated and abroad. After passing the prestigious agrégation exam in French Literature, Language, and Civilization at the University of Arts and Humanities of Manouba (Tunisia), she worked at the University of Arts and Humans Sciences, Kairouan (Tunisia), The National Institute of Applied Science and Technology, INSAT (Tunisia) and the University of Virginia ( USA) where she taught graduate and undergraduate students at all proficiency levels. She works actively to immerse her students in courses that nurture their growth, proficiency and intercultural sensitivity through a focus on technology and exploration of various authentic Francophone materials with an underlying cultural value. Her academic interests focus on francophone cultures in Metropolitan France, North-Africa and the Middle-East. She is currently working on articles inspired from her dissertation entitled “The Islamic State of Contemporary literature in France and the Maghreb” to demonstrate how the rise of Islamism in various countries impacts differently the imagination of contemporary writers and how their novels reflect, reshape, and recycle "social discourse".
Yona Smith
Senior Spanish Lecturer
Casa Iberia 103
T. 407.646.2680
B.A. University of Central Florida
M.A. University of Southern Mississippi
Yona Smith earned her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Central Florida and her Master of Arts in the Teaching of Language from the University of Southern Mississippi, focusing not only on the Spanish language, but also language acquisition and methodologies of teaching language. Smith also holds a national board certification in world languages other than English (emphasis Spanish) as well as a professional teaching certificate in Spanish for the state of Florida. Her academic interests include second language acquisition and the pedagogical strategies of language instruction.
Dr. Patricia Tomé
Professor of Spanish (Sabbatical 2022-2023)
Casa Iberia 100
T. 407.691.1379
B.A. Rutgers University
M.A. University of Kansas
Ph.D. University of Kansas
After completing her bachelor's degree, Prof. Tomé worked as a journalist at Univisión, a Spanish-language TV network in New York. During her completion of her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Kansas, she was able to participate in programs teaching at Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Oklahoma City Community College, and Instituto de Línguas in Vitória (Brazil). She has coauthored three cinema anthologies, Cinema paraíso: Representaciones e imágenes audiovisuales en el Caribe hispano (2010), Horrofílmico: Aproximaciones al cine de terror en Latinoamérica y el Caribe (2012), La gran pantalla dominicana: Miradas críticas al cine actual (2017). Her teaching interests include language acquisition, 20th and 21st century Latin American Literature, Cuban and Cuban American literatures and film, and modern Latin American and Peninsular drama.
Dr. Constance Vottero Castillo
Visiting Assistant Professor
Hauck 202
T. 407.646.2410
B.A. Université Catholique de Lyon
M.A. University of Oregon
Ph.D. Boston University
Dr. Vottero Castillo is a native of Lyon, France, where she earned a Bachelor in French literature. She went on to pursue her research in the US, at the University of Oregon (MA) and Boston University (Ph.D.), with a comparative, transnational focus on the literary history and tradition of the Black Diaspora. She has taught a wide range of French courses, from the elementary level to more advanced cultural and literary classes, both at the college level and at Alliances françaises in the US and in France.
Her research and teaching interests include second language acquisition, francophone literature and films, comparative literature (especially North American and French literatures), and intercultural communication.
Li Wei
Chinese Lecturer
Hauck Hall 206
T. 407.691.1066
M.A., M.Phil., Columbia University
A native of Shanghai, Li Wei received his M.A. and M.Phil. at Columbia University. As an ethnomusicologist-turned language teacher, Li Wei has broad interests in culture, language and music. His research interests include computer-assisted technology in Chinese language teaching, language ideology, globalization and world music, and hybridity. His articles and reviews have appeared in Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Ethnomusicology, Yearbook of Traditional Music, and Asian Music.
Dr. Yan Yan
Visiting Assistant Professor of Asian Studies
Hauck Hall 206
T. 407-646-1066
B.A. Peking University, Beijing, ChinaM.A. University of Arizona
PH.D. University of Connecticut
Rigorously trained in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Dr. Yan enjoys the opportunities to teach a broad array of courses, such as Chinese language at all levels, film genres, pop culture, film theory and history, Asian cinema and media studies. Such worthy teaching experience is aligned with her academic goal, cultivating her into a researcher and a teaching professional.
Currently, Dr. Yan’s research endeavors to channel the nexus between film and other
disciplines, such as digital media, cognitive linguistic theory and digital culture; she has been actively involved in research, and worked with other scholars on projects addressing topics such as Chinese film, popular culture, digital culture and humanities. She also takes great interest in exploring the intersection between film genres and psychoanalysis and social engagement; as well as the cultural exchange values of contemporary Asian cinema.
Ruth Jackson
Administrative Assistant
Hauck Hall 201
T. 407.646.2623
B.F.A. College Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati
Ruth began working at Rollins on Valentine’s Day, 1984 and says it has been a Rollins love affair ever since. Ruth found her first Rollins passion working in Student Government and Student Activities, and came to Global Languages in 1995, where she enjoys working with faculty from around the world. She is the recipient of the Sister Gibney Humanitarian Award and the Helen Crossley Distinguished Service Award from Rollins.