Romance Languages News

As 2026 Keegan Traveling Fellows, seven Vanderbilt students will embark on immersive global experiences designed to deepen their academic interests and broaden their perspectives through independent travel. Read More

The class met a tour guide at the airport upon arriving in Panama. Some students may use Fall Break as an opportunity to catch up on rest, see the fall foliage, or carve pumpkins. Students in Principal Senior Lecturer Lori Catanzaro’s class spent their break touring tropical… Read More

Atlanta-based artist Susan Ker-Seymer and Robert Barsky For those experiencing writer’s block, or just looking for inspiration, journeying outside and spending time in nature may be the answer. The natural world has a cadence that helps us relax and refocus, allowing creativity to flow. This was the case for Professor… Read More

Robert Barsky, a professor of French, European studies, Jewish studies and law at Vanderbilt University, is among an accomplished group of 180 artists, writers, scholars and scientists awarded a 2022 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.  Read More

Andrea Mirabile, associate professor of Italian, has been awarded a Ragusa Foundation for the Humanities grant for his current project “Lucio Fontana: Immagini e parole.” Mirabile will be on research leave spring 2025 and will use the grant to work in archives in Milan. Read More

This year’s exceptional postgraduate fellows are Sydney Featherstone, Rachel Lee, William Romero and Kaitlin Spiridellis. Read More

The Class of 2024 was celebrated at a senior reception, where the following departmental awards were presented: The Gardner Prize: Chloe Hord and Cullen Allen The Book Prize, sponsored by the government of Quebec/French Embassy in the U.S.: Sam Curtis, Elliott de Boer, Warren Levy, Charlotte Mauger, Quinn Muscatel, Sofia… Read More

On March 4th, 2024, the following French Undergraduate students were initiated into the French honor society, Pi Delta Phi: Alec Freedman Alexa Abrams Ava Hendrickson Cullen Allen Daniel Putnam Elliott de Boer Jordan (McKay) Lucas Madalyn Bergman Sofia Prieto William Parrack Yisu Yang Zoe Shulman Honorary Inductee: Professor Alexis Finet… Read More

Principal Senior Lecturer in French and American Studies, Susan Kevra, published an article “The Man Who Changed the Climate: Frédéric Back’s Film Adaptation of The Man Who Planted Trees” in The Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall | Automne… Read More

The Modern Language Association of America awarded Elsa Filosa, assistant professor of the practice in Italian at Vanderbilt University, an honorable mention in the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies for her book Boccaccio’s Florence: Politics and People in His Life and Work, published by the University of… Read More

José Luis de Ramón Ruiz, Spanish and Portuguese, was one of five students to receive a 2023 Graduate Leadership Anchor Award. Read more about the award here. … Read More

Dan Church, professor of French, emeritus, and former director of the Vanderbilt Language Lab, died October 9, 2023 in Nashville. He was 84. Church was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1939 and grew up in North Wilkesboro and Statesville. He received his bachelor’s degree in French from Wake… Read More

Faculty members Becky Peterson and Virginia Scott (emerita) were recently honored by the Tennessee World Language Teachers Association. Professor Scott received a lifetime achievement award, and Becky Peterson won the Jacqueline Elliott prize for outstanding service to language education. 2023 Jacqueline Elliott Award Winner Becky Peterson is famous throughout the… Read More

Enrique Pupo-Walker, Centennial Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and former director of the Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies, died September 25 in Nashville. He was 90. Read More

When sixth-year Spanish and Portuguese Ph.D. student Elvira Aballi Morell came to Vanderbilt to work with her mentor, William Luis who serves as a Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish, she realized the importance of creating artistic spaces for Latinx communities. Aballi’s research is primarily about Afro-Cuban religions and how… Read More

Discussing a diagnosis with a doctor can be scary and confusing even under the best of circumstances. But when a language barrier is involved, the likelihood of a misunderstanding is far greater. Medicine, health and society and Spanish double major Lauren Cerda hopes someday to alleviate that problem as a translator and bilingual physician. “The idea of collaboration is so important because I want to be a comfort for the patient to understand their illness, but also help the health care provider to understand the patient as a whole person,” said Cerda, who grew up in Houston. Read more Read More