On November 20, 2025 students and faculty gathered in Carlton Commons to watch and participate in two theatre performances created by Associate Professor of Spanish Federico Pous’ Spanish 4500 Innovation/Social Protest Theatre Class.

Associate Professor of Spanish Pablo Celis-Castillo’s SPN3300 “Spanish Speaking World Through Media” class was in attendance, as well as Associate Dean of ������Ƶ College David Buck and Associate Professor of Spanish Nina Namaste.

The performance was “forum theater,” an interactive performance that centers around a social issue. After watching the performance, audience members are asked questions about the issue they saw and how to solve it, and they are then invited to join the scene, replacing an actor and changing the way their character handles the situation.

The class is composed of nine students who performed two plays entirely in Spanish. The first group of students’ performance was centered around feminism. The production, titled “We Can Do It,” centers around a college class where two boys do not contribute to the group project, and the girls are forced to do all the work and are given lower scores than the boys. Throughout the theatre performance, the girls try to figure out how to get justice.

The second performance, titled “First Word, Last Day,” takes place in an office, where a new female employee learns quickly that she is silenced whenever she voices her suggestions in a male-dominated advertising company, where she feels that “they are a team and I am alone.” In this performance, the other employees dismiss her idea and presence, which makes the work environment unpleasant and extra difficult for her to feel valued in. The boss dismisses her idea saying, “You’re new and don’t have much experience, listen to him and listen to me.”

Both performances depicted misogynistic issues that can arise in both academic and professional settings. Professor Pous engaged the audience by asking thought-provoking questions to examine these systems of power critically. He asked, “What was the conflict?” followed by “What do you think could solve it?”

After the discussion, audience members were invited to step in and replace the problematic character in a scene that they wished to change. In the first play, an audience member volunteered to support one of the female group members to talk to the professor and confront her male counterparts. In the second play, two audience members stepped in, one replacing a passive coworker and the other replacing the boss.

Several audience members participated in each of the performances, replacing characters and changing various scenes in an attempt to solve the issue originally presented. Many creative ideas were presented, which led to engaging discussions about the social issues presented.

The National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Sigma Delta Pi, recognizes students who excel in the study of the Spanish language, literature and cultures—and who foster understanding, appreciation and respect for the Spanish-speaking world. Its motto, Spanías Didagéi Proágomen, means “to continue under the inspiration of the Spanish language.”

Eighteen students were inducted into ������Ƶ’s Rho Eta chapter during a ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 5:30 p.m. in Lakeside (2nd floor). The event was a team effort planned and organized by Assistant Teaching Professor Ricardo Mendoza, Program Assistant Annetta Womble (World Languages and Cultures & Interdisciplinary Programs), WLC student assistants, WLC faculty and students, and community collaborators Raquel Johanna Giraldo and Helen McLeod.

The ceremony was led by Ricardo Mendoza, assistant teaching professor and president of the Rho Eta chapter, and presided over by ������Ƶ students Stephanie Mirsky and Izzy Greenstein. Alumna MacKenzie Martinez ’21 offered words of encouragement, sharing how Spanish has shaped her professional path in border-region advocacy. Martinez, a proud Jewish Chicana from Richmond, Virginia, double-majored in Spanish and Anthropology with minors in Gender Studies and Latin American Studies. She has served with Al Otro Lado and the International Rescue Committee and is currently Advancement Manager at Alliance San Diego.

The program featured live music by Raquel Johanna Giraldo (Colombia). Parents, relatives and friends joined the celebration via Zoom. WLC faculty Ketevan Kupatadze, April Post, Nina Namaste, Mayte de Lama, Bethanny Sudibyo, Pablo Celis-Castillo, Federico Pous and Ricardo Mendoza participated and shared remarks with the inductees.

Congratulations to the Fall 2025 inductees:
Faith Almond, Sofie Cate Suzanne Crabbe, Lindsey Grace Dwyer, Miranda Justine Fitch, Jinelle Alexa Gonzalez, Olivia Christine Guarino, Erin Elena Howard, Natalie Hudson, Ella Kathryn Kinman, John Cooper Carlos Ludlow, Archibald Meskhidze, Logan Marlene Miller, Samuel Potter Montgomery, Molly Moylan, Allison Orozco Rosaldo, Annabelle Kay Richardson, Logan McAdam Scott and Amelia Summers.

Eligibility: To join Sigma Delta Pi, students must complete three years of college-level Spanish (18 semester hours) or the equivalent, including at least three credit hours at the junior level in Hispanic literature or Hispanic culture/civilization.

She presented the work of the Diocesan Commission for the Defense of Nature (CODIDENA), an organization that advocates for the restoration of the identity and spirituality of the Xinka Indigenous people of Central America while protecting nature against extractivist mega-projects. Lemus talked in detail about the case of the peaceful resistance to the Escobal mining project, and their everyday struggles against the government and the mining corporations.

During the talk, she shared the values of her community to protect the earth and how they recognize themselves as Xinka by recovering their language and their culture. She also expressed the difficult reality faced by her community in rural areas as well as the challenges faced by organizers advocating for the Xinka land rights. The talk explored how they were able to stop the development of the mining project after three years of struggle, based on the Indigenous and Tribal People Convention, an international agreement acknowledged by the International Labour Organization, in which indigenous people must be consulted in case of any project affecting their population. In this case, after consulting with the Xinka people, they decided to reject the mining project given the multiple threats to their health and the environment.

Lemus also showed her grassroots initiative with young scientists in the Xinka community to address water contamination issues provoked by mining operations. This project not only capacitates the new generations, but also advocates for an intergenerational collective growth of the whole Xinka people. As a result of this initiative, community members created a system for measuring the degree of contamination in the water, empowering communities to defend themselves in their fight for environmental justice.

Over 50people attended the event. Students from peace and conflict studies, Latin American studies, as well as from different Spanish courses, the Core Curriculum, and philosophy classes learned about the complexity of current environmental struggles in Guatemala. After the talk, students asked several questions regarding the role of the Guatemalan government in this conflict and the recognition of the Xinka identity, engaging in a very fruitful dialogue about the importance of advocating for indigenous rights and environmental justice in peaceful demonstrations. The conference was conducted in Spanish with interpretation performed by Emily Rhyne from the organization Witness for Peace.

Lemus also participated in a roundtable discussion in Spanish with other human rights activists at El Centro. The roundtable focused on Guatemalan history and cultural diversity, generating a constructive dialogue among students learning about Latin American indigenous identities. The speakers talked about the work of their organizations at the local, national and global level, emphasizing the need to construct strong networks of solidarity. Students from the Spanish program engaged in a vivid conversation during the event, learning about the intercultural richness of Central America and the political relevance of the region in relation with the U.S. government today.

This visit was co-organized by the Peace and Conflict Studies program and the Latin American Studies program, and it was sponsored by the Department of World Languages and Cultures; El Centro; the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning; International and Global Studies; Isabella Cannon Global Education Center; Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies; the Department of Philosophy; and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

This cohort of eight upper-level Spanish students–Raquel Berrocal de Castro, Ally Cisar, Lorenzo Tibolla, Merritt Edwards, Hunter Siegel, Izzy Greenstein, Tobias Coker and Anne Rhodes, all in Professor Pous’ class, had spent the previous month immersing themselves in the history and functions of participatory theatre. Also called Forum Theatre, this concept of theatrical performance sprung out of the “Theatre of the Oppressed” movement in 1970s Brazil (Augusto Boal).

Forum Theatre seeks to bring attention to relevant social issues and themes through a 5-10 minute sketch followed by an open conversation with audience members about what the social conflict represented. Lastly, the audience members are invited onstage, where they have the opportunity to engage directly with the material by replacing an actor of their choice and bringing in a different interpretation/action/solution to any scene they choose. The original and newfound actors then improvise the rest of the scene to flush out different nuances, choices, and directions the play can take.

Pous’ students fully wrote and produced two, approximately 10 minute works. “Una familia perfecta,” or “A Perfect Family” focused on conflict and family dynamics after a recent college graduate moved back into her house while “Dinero o moralidad” or “Money or Morality” explored questions of morality through a graduating college senior balancing a job offer from the industrial weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

Both of these plays were developed to engage the audience with universal situations of conflict and morality so that they could discuss these issues, think about how they would respond, then gain the opportunity to go in and bring their perspectives to the conversation through acting.

The student performers were enthused to bring their course themes of examining the Magical Realist literary movement’s mixing of reality, imagination, history and magic to the stage.

“Fede’s class about Magic Realism really ties to participatory theatre,” said Hunter Siegel. “They are both about how people use imagination and theatre, whether through literature, movies, TV, music, or plays to reflect, process, and give commentary on real-world situations that could otherwise be more difficult or painful to face without a creative or imaginative medium. Putting on this play has not only been a lot of fun and a big accomplishment, I am glad to have seen the participants engaging in discussion about useful themes and maybe learning more about themselves in the process.”

The audience members were also enthused to see and participate in this project.

“I had so much fun attending Teatro Foro,” said Emma Kennedy. “I loved that it was all about controversial topics related to experiences we have as college students. It was easy to understand everything going on and the students were expressive actors! The interactive element was so much fun because it really made me think about the situation and how I might resolve it.”

Fifteen students were inducted into Sigma Delta Pi Chapter Rho Eta Hispanic Honor Society during a ceremony held on Tuesday, Nov. 12 in the Numen Lumen Pavilion’s McBride Gathering Space.

The ceremony is a team effort, planned and organized by Lecturer in Spanish Ricardo Mendoza, Program Assistant for World Languages and Cultures and Interdisciplinary Programs Ronnie LoCash, WLC student assistants, WLC professors and students and members of the community Oscar Oviedo and Helen McLeod.

The Sigma Delta Pi Honor Society recognizes students who foster an understanding, appreciation and respect for the peoples, cultures and societies of the Spanish-speaking world, and honors those who have promoted and contributed to a better understanding of the Spanish-speaking world for all.

The honor society’s motto – Spanías Didagéi Proágomen – means to “continue under the inspiration of the Spanish language.”

The ceremony was led by Lecturer in Spanish and President of the Hispanic Honor Society Sigma Delta Pi Chapter Rho Eta Ricardo Mendoza and was presided over by ������Ƶ students Camilla Bondy, Merritt Edwards, Pheriby Bryan and Lorenzo Tibolla. The induction ceremony included words of encouragement from ������Ƶ alumni Ethan Krone ’23, who lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Krone shared how he is using Spanish to make a difference in the lives of others.

There was live music from Oscar Oviedo, who is from Colombia, and parents, relatives and friends of the new inductees were able to participate through Zoom. Finally, WLC faculty members Elena Schoonmaker-Gates, Mina García, Bethany Sudibyo, Federico Pous and Ricardo Mendoza shared words of advice for the inductees.

Congratulations to the newest inductees of Sigma Delta Pi Fall 2024:

Sarah Caroline Allen 
Virginia Isabel Campbell 
Samantha Coleman
Jillian Dolman
Kyla Joy Farrell
Anna Marie Grupp
Anna Riley Gutierrez
Lucy Julia Horn
Claire Marie Jablonski
Emily Maher
Ryan John Maier
Stephanie May Mirsky
Annabelle Marie Roberts
Devon Elizabeth Sweeney
Annelise Weaver

To join Sigma Delta Pi, students must have completed three years of college-level Spanish (18 semester credit hours) or the equivalent thereof, including at least three semester hours of a course in Hispanic literature or Hispanic culture and civilization at the junior (third-year) level.

During their visit, the ������Ƶ community had the opportunity to view Guérette’s film “L’audience” (The Hearing) which documents a Congolese family’s journey immigrating to Canada. The screening was followed by a Q and A session with Carballo and Guérette. Both visitors spoke extensively about their experience with the Canadian immigration system and the process of applying and being granted refugee status in Canada. ������Ƶ students and faculty also enjoyed conversations with Carballo who offered insights about her experience as a writer, translator and interpreter, as well as an immigrant.

Both Carballo and Guérette graciously spoke to classes and interacted with ������Ƶ students. This was a wonderful opportunity to engage students with diverse voices and perspectives on immigration narratives.

The visits were made possible by the generous support from and collaboration with the Fund for Excellence Grunt from ������Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences, Sigma Delta Pi Honor Society, Global Neighborhood and the Department of World Languages and Cultures.

Runestad’s presentation, “Feeding Mothers, Making Citizens: Japanese Clinic Meals as Treatment, Care and Identity,” was based on her peer-reviewed article published in Verge: Studies in Global Asias fall 2023 special issue on food and foodways. Namaste’s presentation, “Delineating Identities: Teaching Food as a Marker and Transgressor of Boundaries,” was based on her forthcoming publication in Teaching Food & Literature (a Modern Languages Association volume) and on-campus course, IDS 2040 Edible Ideologies: Food, Power & Identity. Travel was supported by and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

The Umbra Institute food conference values the intersection between research and pedagogy and included three pedagogy sessions and several pedagogy-related individual papers. The theme this year was hybridity, and it provoked rich discussions about intersections, combinations and fusions. Runestad has participated and presented at the conference previously, while this was Namaste’s first time attending.

Runestad valued the focus on relationality and connection between people and places, particularly for applications within Asian Studies. Applying relationality to Japan (as opposed to often-used and problematic lenses of collectivism and group mindedness) helps explain socio-cultural trends in general. Relationality is also useful for teaching and conducting research in the anthropology of food because attention to place-based connections can address human factors in a way that a focus on the seasonality of food production cannot.

Namaste enjoyed the variety, depth and interdisciplinary nature of the research presented as well as learning about the extremely varied ways in which food studies courses are taught at other institutions.

Runestad and Namaste were also able to participate in a dinner event at Numero Zero, a restaurant that specializes in supporting neurodiversity in the community, and a tour of Perugia that highlighted the food history of Perugia as linked to local architecture and artistic expression.

Adam Taylor Brown didn’t mince words when he initially critiqued Matt Newberry’s student entry in the .

“I was prepared to hate this when I read ‘10 different typefaces,’” the judge wrote of Newberry’s “” submission. “But it’s actually really good. The brilliant trick being executed here is diffusing so many aesthetic styles such that chaos becomes the leading look. The accompanying visual elements and colors hold it all together super well. Frankly, this is damn near professional.”

That is high praise from Brown who works for Marrow, a brand consultancy in Lexington, Kentucky.

On the judges’ recommendations, Newberry’s entry won the competition’s General Design category and was recognized during VIM Fest’s March 8 virtual award presentation as part of AJEMC’s Southeast Colloquium. But the communication design and Spanish double major wasn’t done. His logo redesign concept, titled “Mi Familia Vota,” earned an honorable mention in the contest’s General Design category, and his immersive, guerrilla marketing concept, titled “Sonos Headphone Booths,” was also named an honorable mention in the Advertising category.

“Matt clinching three separate awards is a testament to his exceptional talent and dedication in design,” said Assistant Professor of Communication Design Shannon Zenner, who serves as head of the AEJMC Visual Communication Division and helped launch the new peer-reviewed competition. “His entries were notably clever and smart conceptually, with his Gold Award for branding of the ‘La Tomatina’ festival standing out as a prime example.”

On the heels of its outstanding showing at the AAF Triangle’s American Advertising Awards gala, Live Oak Communications won a Gold Award in the contest’s Small School (<10,000) School-Wide/Multi-Class Multimedia Advertising category. The student-run agency was recognized for its , an extensive undertaking that featured new merchandise, revamped menus, a fresh photoshoot, and other strategies to enhance the Burlington restaurant’s family-friendly atmosphere. It is also noteworthy that Newberry served as Live Oak’s creative director during the campaign.

Finally, Assistant Professor of Communication Design Rebecca Bagley also captured a Gold Award in VIM Fest’s General Design category, recognized for her logo design for the Dublin (NC) Golf Expo.

Persistence pays off

Newberry’s award-winning designs are affirmation that persistence can pay off.

As part of Zenner’s fall 2022 Design of Visual Images class, Newberry began his initial work on his “La Tomatina” project, challenging himself to create a solely typographic logo that incorporated several different typefaces. It was design that pushed him far “outside of my comfort zone,” he said.

Zenner was impressed with Newberry’s vision for the project and the imagination he showed. What really stood out? His tomato goggles for the Spanish tomato throwing festival. “It epitomizes Matt’s ability to blend creativity with practicality,” she said.

While he devoted hours to the project, Newberry admits his early work never fully became what he envisioned. As a result, when he began compiling portfolio pieces last fall in Associate Professor Ben Hannam’s Design Strategies and Solutions course, Newberry revisited the project.

“I completely revamped it with a more grunge, brutalist approach,” Newberry said. “This technique finally gave it the punchy energy that I was searching for earlier, so it became a project that really represents my growth as a designer.”

AEJMC wasn’t the only organization to take notice of Newberry’s work on his “La Tomatina” project. His artwork recently , one of the world’s most prestigious annuals with award-winning work from international students in design, advertising, art/illustration and photography.

Newberry credits Zenner and Hannam, as well as Bagley – his honors thesis mentor – for their continuous direction and support. As he prepares for graduation, Newberry thanked Hannam for his thoughtful advice that impacted his portfolio site, which will be an instrumental piece in his employment search.

“For each project, Professor Hannam’s feedback helped me develop my pieces even further,” he said. “He also provided me with the confidence I needed to challenge myself with each design.”

Simple, but effective

There are few recommendations stronger than good word-of-mouth.

That is how Bagley got involved in creating a logo for the 2023 Dublin (NC) Golf Expo.

Having previously completed work for nonprofit organizations and events in Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, Bagley was approached by the expo’s organizers with a clear goal for the project: simplicity – with a hat tip to their respective sport.

“They wanted to integrate some kind of golf reference in the logo and with the “L” in the word Dublin, and it worked out beautifully for a typographic logo,” Bagley said.

While she found it initially difficult to pinpoint the right typeface, Bagley eventually landed on Optima, which went well with the concept and fit with the golf club illustration.

For history buffs, Optima is a humanist san serif that was developed in 1958 by Hermann Zapf in Germany. Brands such as Aston Martin, Jaguar, Nordstrom and Yahoo all .

“The logo was simple, yet fun and I went on to design posters and some apparel for the event,” Bagley said. “This is also a good logo to animate, which I may do in the future.”

Zenner applauded her colleague in the Department of Communication Design for her award-winning work, noting Bagley’s talent for design. “Professor Bagley’s recognition with a Gold Award … further highlights the exceptional talent within our community, showcasing our collective excellence and innovation,” Zenner said.

VIM Fest

The new AEJMC Festival of Visual & Interactive Media or VIM Fest contest was created by the Visual Communication division, in partnership with several AEJMC divisions. It is an opportunity to have one’s creative research, or student work, vetted in a blind-juried, peer-reviewed international competition. Gold, Silver and Bronze are awarded in each category. Gold student winners receive a $50 award.

Spanish Professors Ketevan Kupatadze and Mayte de Lama presented at the XXXV Congreso Internacional de Literatura y Estudios Hispánicos held in Oaxaca, México on March 10-12, 2024.

Kupatadze’s presentation “The Ethics of Writing Fiction in an Unjust World: Valeria Luiselli’s ‘Lost Children Archive and Tell Me How It Ends’” was part of a panel on Migration, Afrolatinidad and Transmutation in Hispanic prose.
de Lama presented her work “Saldando cuentas pendientes: Victims and Victimizers in Marina Mayoral’s narrative,” where she analyzed the novel Crimen Perfecto (2007). The protagonist in such a novel oscillates between being a victim and an agent of victimization in an hetero-normative and patriarchal society.

On the occasion of this presentation, a select group of academics that included Professor of Spanish Mina Garcia was invited to explore New World dramaturgy and its interactions with drama in Spain.

“La monja alférez” is the story of Guzmán, a woman, who flees a convent in Spain dressed as a man, travels to The Americas, and becomes a renowned soldier throughout Latin and South America. In Perú, Guzman falls in love with Doña Ana, then leaves her because they cannot consummate the relationship.

Teatro Círculo was launched in 1994 by Founding Artistic Director José Cheo Oliveras to revive the Spanish Golden Age Theatre. They approach themes of Spain’s Golden Age plays not only as universal, but also relevant to the social justice issues of our time, with such contemporary concerns as social mobility, women’s rights, equity, and justice. By pairing both Golden Age experts and practitioners, this symposium brought together theatrical history, heritage and cultures for a fruitful discussion in New York City.