The Sigma Delta Pi chapter Beta Omega Initiation Ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 1, and was a real success.

Thanks to the extensive efforts of Professor Seth Graebner, Daria Carson-Dussan, and Cassie Brand, Olin Library has recently purchased the Pascal Pia Collection of French literature. Named after the pseudonym of poet and literary critic Pierre Durand (1903-1979), this major collection of rare works includes 1000 items in French literature and criticism published between 1800 and 1977 and acquired by Pia. The collection includes, among other works, a significant amount of unique Surrealist ephemera.

Professor William (Billy) Acree received the Graduate Student Senate’s 2019 Outstanding Faculty Mentor award. The GSS Outstanding Faculty & Staff Awards are given out annually to recognize faculty and staff members who “make significant contributions to the graduate student experience.”

Lecturers from each language section of our department—Erika Conti (Italian), Rebeca Fromm Ayoroa (Spanish), and Vincent Jouane (French)—have all been promoted to Senior Lecturers after many years of outstanding teaching at Washington University.

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Javier García-Liendo on his promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure.

The department recognizes two of our graduate students, Francesca Dennstedt and Emma Merrigan who, along with Erika Rodriguez from Comparative Literature, formed The Association of Gender Minority and Women Graduate Students. The GeMWGS was established to advocate for the interests of gender minority and women graduate students at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as to promote their professional development and social interactions. We address intersecting concerns and interests that relate to gender minority and women graduate students, including issues of race, ethnicity, citizenship, sexual orientation, class inequality, disability and access.

The Department congratulates Assistant Professor of Spanish William Acree, who has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship for his project, entitled, “The Creole Circus and the Making of a Theatergoing Public in Uruguay and Argentina, 1860-1910.”

The Department congratulates two alumni of our Spanish Graduate Program, who are recipients of awards at this year’s Latin American Studies Association conference. Iván Eusebio Aguirre Darancou and Alexander Sotelo Eastman were each presented with the following 2018 LASA honors.

In the 1880s, a new kind of performance became the craze in Argentina and Uruguay. These wild "Creole dramas" glorified country life and the occasionally violent exploits of gauchos*, or Argentinian cowboys. In addition to being hugely fun to watch, the stories appealed to audiences experiencing rapid modernization and waves of immigration.

PhD candidate in Spanish Alexander Eastman researches Cuba’s forgotten abolitionist and civil rights journalism.