Spanish Graduate Programs - George Mason University

04/11/2025

There is still time to register for our Graduate Virtual Open house today (April 11, 2025 - 12-1pm EST)! Register here: https://gmu.zoom.us/meeting/register/iZJOCyhXTPyNym7W3J-e9A

04/07/2025

Don't forget: TOMORROW (aka Tuesday April 8th) Josh Prada will give the last talk in George Mason's 2024-25 online lecture series, sponsored by our graduate certificate program in Spanish Heritage Language Education. All are welcome!!
As usual, I will record the talk and send the link to everyone who registers (though its always nice to see folks 'live'!)

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EDT: Click for registration link.

03/24/2025

Tuesday, March 25, 2025 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EDT: Click for registration link.

03/15/2025

Registration is FREE for the National Symposium on Spanish as Heritage Language that will be hosted at Northwestern University May 12-14, 2025 and feature keynote talks by Dr. Claudia Holguín Mendoza, Dr. Julio Torres, & Dr. Myrna García 🤩🤩🤩 ¡No se lo pierdan!

03/14/2025

Dr. Jennifer Leeman, Professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at George Mason University and founding Director of our online Graduate Certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education, gave an invited talk this week hosted by the Observatorio de la lengua española y las culturas hispánicas en los Estados Unidos at Harvard University titled “Critical Language Awareness in the Teaching of Spanish: Expanding Antiracist and Social Justice-Oriented Pedagogies.” https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/es

12/26/2024

To celebrate the end of the semester, our graduate students in the M.A. program and Cultural Studies Ph.D. program gathered to enjoy cookies, tea, coffee and holiday cheer 🍪🫖💝🎊

12/25/2024

We are proud to celebrate our five fabulous graduate students who graduated this Fall 2024! We are so very honored to be part of your journey as students, educators, and scholars.

✨¡FELICITACIONES A TODAS!✨

>> Jackelyn Mendez, M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies - Social Justice Concentration and Graduate Certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education (SHLE)

>> Carolina Santiago Cintrón, M.A. in Foreign Languages - French & Spanish Concentration and Graduate Certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education (SHLE)

>> Enedina Flores-Correa, M.A. in Foreign Languages - Spanish Concentration and Graduate Certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education (SHLE)

>> Sofía Perin M.A. in Foreign Languages - Spanish Concentration and Graduate Certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education (SHLE)

>> Emily Lynn Johnson, M.A. in Foreign Languages - Spanish Concentration

12/25/2024

On December 10th, 2024, the Spanish program in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at George Mason University celebrated the inaugural induction ceremony welcoming 30 new undergraduate and graduate student members and honorary Spanish faculty members to the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Sigma Delta Pi!

The Mu Pi Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi was originally founded 47 years ago in 1977 at Mason and this year inducted 23 undergraduate students, 3 graduate students, and 4 honorary faculty members. Several new members read selected readings during the ceremony and Dr. Rei Berroa, Emeritus Professor of Spanish, read a selection of his poetry. Dr. Berroa, along with Dr. Ellen Serafini and Dr. Colleen Sweet, presided over the ceremony proceedings and Faculty Advisor, Dr. Burns, and student Editor-in-Chief, Valeria Veliz-Vargas, distributed copies of the latest edition of the student-run journal, Hispanic Culture Review, to all attendees. New members enjoyed a lively reception following the ceremony generously sponsored by MCL.

Professor Ellen Serafini will serve as the Mu Pi chapter’s faculty advisor and will work with students to elect student officers in Spring 2025. In order to become members, inductees are required to meet certain GPA requirements in Spanish and their other coursework, have taken at least 3 semesters of advanced college-level courses in Spanish, and show a demonstrated interest in Spanish-language literatures and cultures. Members enjoy access to benefits such as study abroad funding, leadership opportunities, national awards, and more.

🎉¡Felicitaciones a quienes ahora forman parte de Sigma Delta Pi - Capítulo Mu Pi!🎉

10/11/2024

NEXT WEEK! Our first speaker in George Mason's 2024-25 online lecture series in Spanish Heritage Language Education is Dr. Alicia Luque. Wednesday October 16, 4:30 pm (Eastern US time). Register to receive the Zoom link and/or get access to the video recording. You don't want to miss it!

See the rest of the line-up in the comments.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EDT: Click for registration link.

09/27/2024

¡Feliz !

Happy Teach Spanish Week 2024!

¿Cuántos años lleva enseñando español?



Fotos: Grupo de profesoras de español en la orientación docente de otoño y en el congreso de Innovations in Teaching and Learning (ITL) en George Mason (https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/programs/annual-conference-itl/)

09/26/2024

*STUDENT SPOTLIGHT*

Kelly Rodas Hernández Advances Latinx Advocacy and Outreach Initiatives and Volunteers at the Virginia Latino Higher Education Network (VALHEN) STEM summer Academy held at George Mason

El semestre de la primavera 2024 Kelly tuvo la oportunidad de investigar sobre instituciones de servicio a la comunidad hispana (HSI institutions) en su trabajo como GPA en Latinx Adocacy & Outreach, aprendiendo sobre las cualificaciones para tal designación y los programas y esfuerzos que instituciones en el área están haciendo, especialmente la universidad de Marymount y el colegio comunitario del norte de Virginia, para promover asistencia latine en instituciones postsecundarias. Por medio de esta investigación pudo conectarse con personas y organizaciones que promueven esta meta.

A través de su trabajo como GPA, este verano participó en calidad de voluntaria en la Academia STEM de VALHEN que toma lugar en el campus de George Mason. La academia STEM del verano es gratis para estudiantes minorizades en el noveno y décimo grado del estado. En total casi 40 alumnes fueron reclutades y cada equipo de 8 fue retado a pensar en un problema global, ecológico o social, y formar una solución a él. Los dos grupos con las mejores presentaciones ganaron becas universitarias.

El trabajo de los voluntarios consistía en llevar a les estudiantes a conferencias universitarias y ayudarles a formar una presentación para dar frente a jueces. Más que todo, se trataba de encontrar voluntaries de comunidades minorizadas, estudiando en George Mason, para darles consejos, motivación, y para que ellos tuvieran una persona como elles a quien acudir con sus dudas.

During the Spring semester of 2024, Kelly had the opportunity to research Hispanic Serving Institutions as a GPA in Latinx Adocacy & Outreach, learning about the qualifications for this designation, alongside the programs and efforts that postsecondary institutions in the area are enacting, namely, Marymount University and Northern Virgina Community College, to promote latino student enrollment.

Through this research as a GPA, she was able to connect with individuals and organizations that promote this goal, and this summer she volunteered at the VALHEN STEM Academy that took place at George Mason’s campus.

The summer STEM Academy is free for minoritized students in 9th and 10th grade in Virginia. Almost 40 students were recruited and each group of 8 was challenged to think about a global, ecological, or social problem, and to propose a solution for it. The two groups with the best presentations would win university scholarhsips.

The volunteers were responsible for taking students to university conferences and helping them create a presentation to give in front of a panel of judges. Overall, there was an effort to find volunteers from minoritized communities studying at George Mason and give the high school students advice, motivation, as well as someone they could relate to and consult.

09/26/2024

*FACULTY SPOTLIGHT*

Spanish professor, Dr. Jennifer Leeman, receives 2024-2025 U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar Award

Dr. Jennifer Leeman, professor of Spanish linguistics in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at George Mason University, has been selected as a recipient of a 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholar Award. Leeman will spend the fall semester at the Universidad de Murcia in Spain, where she will lecture on topics in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics as well as aid in the supervision of doctoral students. She will also carry out a research project, an empirical study of language attitudes among international university students studying in Murcia, Spain.

Next Spring 2025, Dr. Leeman will offer FRLN 575 – Heritage Language Education (https://mcl.gmu.edu/courses/frln575), which is a required core course for the online graduate certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education. The course provides a comprehensive overview of the field of heritage language education, Including consideration of the linguistic and sociocultural characteristics of heritage language students, empirical research on heritage language education, and a range of instructional approaches, including critical pedagogy.

08/26/2024

Don’t miss our 2024-25 Online Lecture Series sponsored by the graduate certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education! We have three great speakers this year, and all virtual talks are free and open to the public. Register via the links provided on this page: https://spanish.gmu.edu/events/category/shle-online-lecture-series

08/22/2024

Mark your calendars (and register) for these three great talks in George Mason's 2024-25 Spanish Heritage Language Education online lecture series!

Free and open to the public. (Video recordings will be available for 30 days following the talk for all those who register)

The online lecture series, now in its fourth year, brings cutting-edge, critical scholarship to hundreds of in-service and pre-service language...

05/16/2024

¡Felicidades a nuestras estudiantes fenomenales que se graduaron este año! Nicole Durán, Suzanne Cox, Niulka Franco Marin, Carolina Santiago Cintrón y Melissa Yankowski - Qué gran honor y orgullo haber formado parte de su camino. ¡Que sigan los éxitos! 🎉👏🔥

03/12/2024

One week from today! Tuesday March 19 4:30-5:30 PM (Eastern) Register now to receive the Zoom link.

In the final talk of George Mason's online lecture series in Spanish Heritage Language Education, Dr. Cervantes-Soon will discuss the necessity to center a vision of critical solidarity in dual-language bilingual education (DLBE). Two-way immersion programs, a model of DLBE, integrate English-dominant students and speakers of a partner language in the same classroom with the goals of bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and the development of sociocultural competence through content-based bilingual immersion. Due to the claimed benefits for all students, including the potential to promote equity, DLBE programs’ popularity has quickly become widespread. Unfortunately, research has made it increasingly clear that not all students in these programs reap the same benefits due to issues of racial, linguistic, and class inequalities found across educational contexts, ultimately leading to the reproduction of social injustices. Dr. Cervantes-Soon will build on her work on critical consciousness as the foundation for DLBE to argue that in order to build programs that are truly transformative, a vision of critical solidarity, rather than simply language, academic, and cross-cultural goals should serve as the visionary framework for DLBE.

All registrants will receive a link to a recording of the talk

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EDT: Dr. Cervantes-Soon will discuss the necessity to center a vision of critical solidarity in...

03/09/2024

Learn more about our in-person and online MA programs and graduate certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education at our virtual open house next Friday, March 15 (12-1pm)!

Register here: https://gmu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0rdeGvqDsuE9UZSL88O7031sn2I--rPlDI #/registration

03/08/2024

Join us for a virtual open house next Friday, March 15 (12-1pm)! Register here: https://gmu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0rdeGvqDsuE9UZSL88O7031sn2I--rPlDI #/registration