Faculty

Faculty by Section

Department Chair: Barbara Riess

* Language Section Head

Arabic:

Sami Alkyam  B.A., Yarmouk University, Jordan; M.A.,  Jordan University of Science and Technology; M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison. Modern Arabic literature and cultural studies; trauma and war novel; Arabic dictator novels; film and television studies; postcolonial and literary translation theory; second language acquisition (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language).

*Reem Hilal  B.A., M.A., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison. Contemporary Arabic Literature, Arab American literature, identity, diasporic Muslim and Arab communities.

ASL:

Jill Lewis  ASL – American Sign Language.

Chinese:

*Xingzhi He  B.A.,  Hengyang Normal University, Hunan, P.R. China; M.A., Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. Cross-cultural Awareness and Communication, Teaching Mandarin to Other Language Speakers, English Pedagogy, Languages in Social Context.

French:

*Briana Lewis  B.A., Furman University; M.A., Boston University; Ph.D., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 19th-century literature, narrative and narrative forms, women in literature.

German:

*Julia Ludewig  B.A., University of Frankfurt/Oder; M.A., University of Freiburg; Ph.D., Binghamton University. Literary theory and history of literary criticism, graphic novels, pedagogy of current issues in German politics and culture.

Spanish:

Wilfredo Hernández  B.A., Universidad Central de Venezuela; M.A., Ph.D., University of Connecticut.   Contemporary Latin American production; Venezuelan literature; Gender and Transgender Studies; Hispanic cinema; and the culture of illicit drugs in the Americas.

Teresa Herrera-de la Muela B.A., Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; M.A., Ph.D., University of Kentucky. Theatre of the 19th and 20th centuries, popular culture.

*Barbara Riess  B.A., M.A., University of Connecticut; Ph.D., Arizona State University. 20th-century Latin American culture, literature of the Cuban Revolution, Latin American women’s literature, translation studies, feminist and postmodern debates.

Tommy Conners  M.A., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; B.A., Ithaca College

International Teaching Assistants

Faculty Emeriti

Linda C. DeMeritt B.A., Michigan State University; M.A., University of Illinois; Ph.D., Michigan State University.
Courtenay Dodge B.A., Juniata College; M.A., Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University. Modern French poetry; generative grammar.
Peter Ensberg B.A., Universität Köln; M.A., Universität Trier; Ph.D., Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz. Aesthetic theory, 19th- and 20th-century literature.
James C. Hogan B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Ph.D., Cornell University. Classical Studies.
Karen Richter B.A., M.A. Syracuse University. Center for Language and Culture.
Jochen Richter Philosophicum, Kiel University; M.A., Ph.D., Syracuse University. German language, 20th-century German literature; applied linguistics.
Mary C. Wagner B.A., Louisiana State University; M.A., M.Phil., Columbia University. French language and Francophone studies.
Phillip Wolfe B.A., Hamilton College; M.A., Ph.D., Princeton University.

The Legacy of Dr. Blair Hanson 

Blair Hanson was Professor of French at Allegheny for forty-two years (1939-81), and chairperson of the Department of Modern Languages for over a quarter of a century (1954-81). Her bequest to the Department, together with additional funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Allegheny College, created the Language Learning Center (LLC) in 1998, in renovated space on the third floor of Ruter Hall, the second building erected on the Allegheny campus, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This space currently accommodates a high-tech classroom, two workstations with printers open to all students, offices, restrooms, as well as a lounge/reading area.

The spirit of Dr. Hanson lives on as we continuously strive to improve facilities in the department she loved and served so well.