photo of Duke LibraryThe UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies is pleased to invite applications for the 2024 College Educators Research Fellowship.

The UNC and Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, with funds from the U.S. Department of Education, provides college educators the opportunity to work as visiting research scholars with the Latin American and Caribbean library collections at Duke and UNC. Fellows are chosen in a competition targeting regional faculty from institutions of higher education in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, with preference for regular faculty from community colleges and HBCUs. The project must have a clear focus on Latin America or the Caribbean. Priority is given to proposals that create a new course or add substantial content to an existing course at the applicant’s institution. More details can be found on the eligibility and application link.

CERF Eligibility and Application

Read about our 2023 CERF Fellows

Javier Alvarez-Jaimes, PhD is an Associate Professor of Spanish at North Carolina Central University where he teaches courses on Latin American literature and culture as well as Spanish language. With a background in art, Javier infuses art into his courses. He holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies from the University of British Columbia, and his diverse research interests range from second language pedagogy to exploring cultural representations of ethnicity, race, and peripheral identities in Latin American art and literature, with a keen focus on street art.  

Project title: “Searching for Meaning and Justice in Walls: Street Art and Politics in Latin America”.

Kelly McEnany, MA, is a department chair of Behavioral Sciences and a Sociology Instructor at A-B Tech Community College. Her scholarly interests include globalization, transnational families, immigration, culture, and social movements. She holds a MA in Education from Western Carolina University and a BA in Sociology and Political Science from UW-Madison. She has been teaching project-based Sociology courses for 24 years with global themes. 

Project Title: “Indigenous Women as leaders of social movements in Latin America”.

Manuel Medina, PhD, is a Professor of Spanish, Latin American Studies, and Jewish Studies in the Classical and Modern Languages Department and Director of the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Louisville. His research interests include Latin American and US Latinx Cultural Studies, Latin American and Latinx Film. Latin American Literature. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Kansas and an M.A. in Spanish from Brigham Young University. He teaches courses in Spanish and English on Latin American and US Latinx culture centering on topics related to border studies, the representation of gender, the body, and urban spaces.

Project Title: “Decolonization and the underrepresented voices and gaze in Latin America before 1900”. 

Silvia M. Peart, PhD, (Texas Tech University) is a Professor of Spanish and Second Language Acquisition and the Associate Chair of the Languages and Cultures Department at the United States Naval Academy. Professor Peart was awarded the prestigious Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award in spring 2022. This is awarded to civilians in the Department of the Navy for meritorious service or contributions resulting in high value or benefits for the Navy or the Marine Corps. She is the recipient of the 2020 and 2021 Admiral Jay L. Johnson Professorship in Leadership and Ethics. Professor Peart has published articles and book chapters in leading journals and edited volumes in her field. She is the recipient of the prestigious Minerva and Office of Naval Research Grants and the United States Naval Academy has recognized her research with the Volgenau Fellowship in 2020 and 2023 to support her investigations on language and immigration.

Professor Peart teaches courses on Latin American Culture, Spanish, and Seminars on Language and Migration. Her research focuses on instructed second language acquisition and pedagogy; and identity construction in second-generation immigrants.

Project Title: “Social Justice through Culture in Lower-Level Spanish Courses” (Co-applicant with Dr. Hilda Salazar).

Hilda Salazar, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Co-Advisor of Sigma Delta Mu at Wake Tech Community College. She has a Master’s Degree in Romance Languages and a Ph.D. in Contemporary Latin American Literature from Texas Tech. Her academic pursuits are in second-language acquisition and pedagogy within the Spanish language. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Currently, she is focusing on exploring the integration of culture into the second-language classes. She teaches elementary and intermediate Spanish face-to-face and online at Wake Tech. Dr. Salazar has redesigned online Spanish courses enhancing them with cultural content and engaging communicative activities. 

 

Project Title: “Social Justice through Culture in Lower-Level Spanish Courses” (Co-applicant with Dr. Silvia M. Peart).