Alumni News

The faculty and staff of the Department of Languages, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature are proud of our alumni’s remarkable accomplishments. As you will see from these profiles, our graduates are using the knowledge and experience they gained while studying with us to advance careers in many different fields, from government service, to teaching, to private enterprise, to graduate and Ph.D. degrees.

Andrea Cudworth, M.A. in Linguistics, 2014, is a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Marianna De Tollis, M.A. in Comparative Literature, 2011, is a Ph.D. candidate Comparative Literature at FAU.

Danielle Firmino, M.A. in French, 2008, is teaching French and Italian at St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton, Florida.

Malu Fandos Gomez, M.A. in Linguistics, 2014, is a Ph.D. candidate at Penn State.

Gwynne Gonzalez, M.A. in Linguistics, 2006, is a Ph.D. candidate in SLA at the University of Arizona and is in charge of Project Renew at Broward College.

Celine Guillerm, M.A. in French, 2008, is teaching French at American Heritage School in Plantation, Florida.

Corey Hancock , M.A. in Spanish, 2005, is an American diplomat in the Foreign Service of the United States with the United States Agency for International Development. Currently stationed in Lima, Peru, Mr. Hancock works in the Project Development and Program office, assisting in the reporting and budgeting functions of the mission. Previously, he worked as a Microenterprise Development Volunteer in Peace Corps Bolivia, implementing a community tourism fair in an indigenous village in the Andes Mountains, and a fully functioning bakery in an urban orphanage in the city of Cochabamba. In addition to his federal service, he has worked with several NGOs, in both the domestic and international contexts. He is an honorary member of Sigma Delta Pi, the Hispanic Honor Society, and he taught six semesters of beginning and intermediate Spanish as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton.  He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a minor in Spanish Business and Culture, as well as a certificate in Latin American Studies. He spent semesters studying abroad in LLCL programs in Salamanca, Spain, and in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Michelle Hardy, M.A. in Linguistics, 2012, is a Language Studio Coordinator at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) University for Creative Careers and teaches English for Art History in Hong Kong.

Rachel Harrison, M.A. in Linguistics, 2013, is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature Studies at FAU.

Amy Jonas , M.A. in Spanish, 2003, is the chair of the Department of World Languages anda Spanish teacher at the Pine School in Hope Sound, Florida. Since graduating from FAU, she has held leadership positions at several private schools in South Florida and North Carolina, and she spent a year teaching language and literature at Colegio Nueva Granada in Bogatá, Colombia. She is happy to be back in South Florida, where she has just begun pursuing a second M.A. in Educational Leadership at FAU and occasionally teaches as an adjunct professor of Spanish in our department.

Alessia Martini, M.A. in Comparative Literature, 2014, is a Ph.D. candidate in ITA at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Maynor Sanchez , M.A. in Linguistics, 2011, is a foreign language instructor at Seacrest Country Day School in Naples, Florida.

Jacob Skelton, M.A. in Linguistics, 2006, is an Assistant Professor of ESOL at Broward College.

David Tezil, M.A. in Linguistics, 2009, is a Ph.D. candidate in linguistics at Indiana University.

Peggy Schaller, Ph.D. in Comparative Studies, 2008, is an Assistant Professor of French at Georgia College & State University (www.gcsu.edu), south of Atlanta, Georgia. Before graduating from FAU, she taught a variety of French courses in our department as a GTA and adjunct professor.

Catalina Pire Schmidt , B.A. in French, 2013, is an M.A. candidate in Film Studies at Emerson College.

Todd Valdini , M.A. in Linguistics, 2007, is Executive Assistant at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.