Amber Brian is Associate Professor of Latin American literary and cultural studies and Chair of the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at the University of Iowa. Her primary areas of research are colonialism and historiography, Indigenous intellectual history, and translation studies.

Horacio Castellanos Moya is a writer and a journalist from El Salvador. For two decades he worked as editor of news agencies, magazines and newspapers in Mexico, Guatemala and his own country. As a fiction writer, he was granted residencies in a program supported by the Frankfurt International Book Fair (2004-2006) and in the City of Asylum program in Pittsburgh (2006-2008). He has also taught in the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2009, he was guest researcher at the University of Tokyo with a fellowship granted by the Japan Foundation.

Roxanna Curto is Chair of the Department of French and Italian and Associate Professor of French and Spanish at the University of Iowa.

Ana E. Fernández Bravo has been teaching at the University of Iowa for more than 20 years. Her current on-campus classes include Spanish Language Skills: Speaking and the course she created, Medical Spanish in Contemporary Society. Ana is also the organizer of the series “Talks About Medicine in Spanish” and the conversation event “Cafecito Cervantes.” In 2021, she received the CLAS Collegiate Teaching Award.

Denise K. Filios is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa. She enjoys teaching courses about such topics as Fitness cultures in Spain, the Music of the Hispanic world, and medieval Iberian literature and culture. She is the author of Performing Women in the Middle Ages: Sex, Gender, and the Iberian Lyric. Her current research studies the Camino de Santiago and other medieval-based long-distance walking routes and cultural itineraries in Spain.

Brian Gollnick works on modern Mexican and Latin American cultural history from a perspective broadly influenced by the thinking of Antonio Gramsci. He is particularly concerned with the interactions between cultures and with how cultural expression relates to social justice. These interests also influence his teaching, which aims to expose students to historical perspectives through objects of study including music, film, art, and literary texts. The study of literature forms part of a Liberal Arts education aimed at helping students find new interests and encouraging the skills and passions necessary for a life of sustained learning and development.

Becky Gonzalez is a linguist specializing in multilingual language acquisition. She works in the area of syntax, with a focus on argument structure, and is especially interested in the factors (linguistic and non-linguistic) that influence linguistic outcomes in different types of multilinguals. Her research combines theoretical and experimental approaches and she works predominantly with speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

Rachel Klevar is the supervisor of the GE CLAS Core elementary Spanish courses and teaches a wide variety of Spanish classes, including Elementary Spanish I & II and Elementary Spanish Review online. She holds a Ph.D in Early Modern Spanish Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rachel's research interests include Spanish picaresque literature, cultural geography, and more recently, pedagogical best practices for flipped and online language classrooms.

Dr. Pilar Marcé is an Associate Professor of Instruction, who specializes in Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP). She is also currently the Director of Curriculum in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa.

Luis Martín-Estudillo is Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa, specializing in modern and contemporary Spanish cultural and intellectual history and criticism. He has also published broadly on early modern topics and visual culture.

Ana Merino is a Full Professor of Hispanic Studies and 2016 Collegiate Scholar. In 2009, Merino left her position at Dartmouth College to create the Spanish MFA program at the University of Iowa. She was its director since her foundation in March 2011 until December 2018. Between 2001-2011 she was a Member of the ICAF (International Comic Arts Forum) Executive Committee; and between 2004 and 2014 Directors Board Member at The Center for Cartoon Studies.

Dr. Kristine Muñoz's research and theory are centered in the ethnography of speaking based on fieldwork in Colombia. She works on topics related to peace education and health humanities, specifically the use of health narratives in teaching and publicly engaged scholarship of health care and caregiving.

Luis Muñoz was born in Granada, Spain. In his hometown, he directed the University of Granada’s Aula de Literatura (1992-2000), as well as the poetry magazine Hélice, from its founding until its closure (1992-2002). Between 2001 and 2012, he worked in Madrid as an advisor to the Residencia de Estudiantes.

Professor Newman’s research and teaching focuses on Latin American, Chicano, and Spanish cinemas as well as on theoretical questions regarding the relation between fictional narrative and politics and the relation between cinema and globalization.

Maricelle was born and raised in San José, Costa Rica. She joined the University of Iowa after receiving her PhD. She also works as a French and Spanish interpreter for the Iowa City Community School District. Her teaching responsibilities include Portuguese and Spanish Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.

Claudia Pozzobon Potratz has a MSc in Teaching/Learning Foreign Languages from la Universidad de los Andes in Mérida, Venezuela, and a PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of Iowa. She is an experienced instructor and researcher in higher education and teacher education in both Venezuela and the US. She is skilled in biliteracy, multilingual literacy, and teaching Spanish as a heritage language (HL).

Ana M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa, specializing in Early Modern Spanish Literature.

Christine Shea is interested in how age, experience and the native language sound system interact with the perception and production of a second language. Adult second language learners approach their second language with a first language already in place. She investigates how experience with a previously acquired language affects the way learners perceive and produce a second (or third) language.

Suzanne has lived, worked, and studied abroad extensively. In addition to Iowa, she has lived in South America, Africa and Europe and speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, with a considerable background in Arabic as well. She is associated with the Union des Français à l’Étranger and leads a weekly French conversation group through the organization. Her passion for her UI teaching is inextricably tied to her countless international experiences and linguistic endeavors. She deeply believes in the power of language and cross-cultural experiences and brings that frame of reference to the classroom each day, while inspiring students to follow a unique path of their own.

Ruth Westfall is a lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her areas of academic interest include linguistics, applied linguistics, pedagogy and course development. At Iowa, she teaches a variety of courses, including Spanish Language Skills: Writing, Spanish Language Skills: Speaking, Spanish in the U.S., and Spanish Pronunciation. She currently developing a new online version of Advanced Spanish Grammar.

Giovanni Zimotti is the Director of Spanish Language Instruction at the University of Iowa. His research interests include second language acquisition, technology for language acquisition, and pragmatics. He is curating various VR projects to expose students to transcultural contact. Dr. Zimotti is also a big proponent of OER (Open Educational Resources) materials to make college education more accessible and affordable. He has authored two OER textbooks for Spanish for the professions; Salón de Clase, which was released on December 3, 2021, and Maletín Médico. Dr. Zimotti is also the president of HEROE-S, an organization that brings together Spanish language educators to create, develop, and share high quality educational resources.