Month: May 2009

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that Ms. Vineeta Singh, an  
undergraduate student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese as well as
Neurobiology, has been selected as Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar.

This is an excerpt of the letter from Donna B. Hamilton, Associate Provost
for Academic Affairs and Dean for Undergraduate Studies: 
“Vineeta Singh, a rising senior in the College of Arts and Humanities, has
been chosen as a 2009-2010 Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar. Professor Ana
Patricia Rodríguez, from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, was named by 
Vineeta Singh as the faculty mentor who has made the most impact on her 
academic achievement. The Philip Merrill Presidential Scholarship recognizes
academic excellence in our students and the important role that teachers and
faculty have as mentors.” 

Congratulations to Ms. Singh, whose future plans include attending medical 
school so she can work with underserved communities.

Please join the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in congratulating our
colleague, and Professor Emerito, José Emilio Pacheco. He has been awarded
the “Premio Reina Sofía”, one of the most prestigious poetry prizes in the
Spanish speaking world. Attached is the article published in El País

On May 5, which is a day of celebrating “mexicanidad” we enjoyed the 
inauguration of a new lecture series focusing on writers and scholars 
who are students or former students of the Department of Spanish & 
Portuguese  (“Writers and Scholars from SPAP-UMCP”). The first lecture 
was presented by Ph.D. candidate Álvaro Enrigue currently working in the 
Ministry of Publications for the government of Mexico (Dirección General 
de Publicaciones, del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 
CONACULTA).  Álvaro received the prestigious Joaquín Mortiz prize for 
his first novel, La muerte de un instalador (1996), and has authored El 
cementerio de sillas (2002), selected as the best book written in México 
in 2002.  Virtudes capitales (1998) was his first short story 
collection. Hipotermia, based on his experiences in Maryland, received 
the Premio Anagrama (2005). A new novel, Vidas perpendiculares was also 
published by Anagrama (2008).  The last two books have been translated 
into French and published by the eminent Gallimard Press (2009), and 
English translations are also in progress.

 Alvaro’s impressive lecture, “El sueño de la República produce
cursis” showed a broad knowledge of Latin American poetics and a sense of humor 
that reached faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students alike. The 
lecture reflected on nineteenth Mexican intellectuals and the birth of 
the middle class alongside the rise of a new modernista language.

Wheaton Woods 5^th graders came to visit our Spanish for Native Speakers class (Span 306) on April.

As part of a project that seeks to engage University of Maryland students with the community, the class of Hispanic heritage students invited 5^thgraders from Wheaton Woods Elementary School. The goal was to share their experience as university students and to play together games involving aspects of their Hispanic culture. Our guests enjoyed some exciting activities, as they danced salsa, played jeopardy and bingo and even learned how to make guacamole. Thanks to the Span 306 students for their involvement and energy organizing this event!