Two graduate teaching assistants in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Teresa Greppi and Cristina Mostacero Pinilla, have been recognized with the 2019-2020 LAS Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for Graduate Teaching Assistants.
Mariselle Meléndez, Professor and Head of Spanish and Portuguese commented, “This is a very competitive award given to the most outstanding graduate teaching assistants in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. These assistants have shown sustained excellence in undergraduate teaching and have had an overall positive impact on undergraduate student learning.”
Greppi’s research interests include 19th and 20th century Spanish (Iberian) literature, film, and culture, human-animal studies, gender and women's studies, ecofeminist theory, translation studies, and Catalan Studies. She received an MA in Spanish Literature and Culture from the U of I in 2014 and is finishing her Ph.D dissertation in the same area. Among the most recent courses she has taught we find “Modern Spanish Culture through Human-animal Relationships”. She is currently serving as a TA in Professor Mimi Nguyen’s course, GWS 275, “The Politics of Fashion”.
Mostacera Pinillo also received her MA from the U of I in 2014, in Hispanic Linguistics. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, bilingualism, pragmatics, interlanguage pragmatics, and second language acquisition. She has taught numerous courses in the department since 2015, among them, “Spanish in the U.S.” (SPAN 308), “The Structure of Spanish” (SPAN 305), “The Sounds of Spanish” (SPAN 303), and “Spanish Composition” (SPAN 228). She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics.
In addition to the recognition by LAS, both Cristina’s and Teresa’s nomination packets have also been submitted to the campus level, where they will be considered for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.