Administration & Staff

Meet the Spanish & Portuguese Studies Administration & Staff

Department Leadership

Viestenz profile picture

William Viestenz

He/Him/His
Department Chair
612-625-0010
wviesten@umn.edu

Specialties

Contemporary Iberian Literature and Culture; Post-Secularism and the Sacred; Environmental Humanities; Neo-Ruralism; Iberian Studies; Political Theory

Carol Klee

Carol Klee

she/her
Director of Undergraduate Studies
612-625-9521
klee@umn.edu

Specialties

Spanish language and dialect contact; Spanish sociolinguistics; Content-based language instruction

headshot of Mandy Menke

Mandy Menke

she/her, ella
Director of Language Programs
menkem@umn.edu

Specialties

second language acquisition; multiliteracies instruction; bilingual and immersion education; second language phonology; L2 syntactic complexity

A man with short gray hair and glasses is wearing a brown corduroy jacket over a black collared shirt. He is standing indoors with a plant and a framed picture visible in the blurred background.

Luis Ramos-Garcia

Director of Graduate Studies
612-625-3039
laramosg@umn.edu

Specialties

Human Rights and Politics: Latin America and Spain; Human Rights Across the Disciplines: Theater, Art, Political Science, Literature.; Contemporary Latin American and Peninsular Theaters; United States Latino Theater and Cultures; Latin American Shantytown cultural manifestations: music, literature and popular discourse; Cultural Studies: Spain and Latin America; Contemporary Latin American and Peninsular literature: novel, poetry, cultural discourses; Andean Studies and Indigenous literature: Concentration in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia; Caribbean Spanish Studies: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic; Gender studies; Latin American popular music; Women's studies

Department Staff

A woman is seated on a stage next to a large sign that reads "Livestock Trivia" with a retro TV design in the background. The sign also mentions "Miracle of Birth Center" and "Christensen Farms' Stage." The woman is holding a notepad and pen, wearing glasses, a black top, yellow shorts, and checkered slip-on shoes.

Alison Hribar

She/Her/Ella
Graduate Program Coordinator
baile064@umn.edu

Specialties

Advising; Event production; Project managment; Design & communications; Resume & cv writing

Course Coordinators

@ La Alhambra

Michael Arnold

He/Him
Coordinator, SPAN 3015W, 3011W & 3015V
arno0055@umn.edu

Specialties

Contemporary Spanish peninsular literature; Film and cultural history; Contemporary Portuguese culture; Iberian Musics (popular, urban folk, indie); Hybridity; Cultural Musicology of Flamenco and Fado; Transatlantic studies; Subcultural studies

Sara Finney face with flowers in the background

Sara Finney

she/her
Coordinator, SPAN 1003
sfinney@umn.edu

Specialties

Foreign language pedagogy, multiliteracies pedagogy, social justice pedagogies, experiential learning, second language acquisition, and learner agency

A smiling professor with short hair on a blank background

Sara Mack

she/they
Coordinator, SPAN 1004
mack@umn.edu

Specialties

Second Language Acquisition; Sociophonetics; Career Readiness; Internationalized Teaching and Learning

Photo

Erma Nezirevic

Coordinator, SPAN 3105W
nezir001@umn.edu

Specialties

Contemporary Iberian Literature and Culture; Critical Genocide Studies; Memory studies; Biopolitics

Profile picture

Eva Palma Zúñiga

She/her
Lecturer / Coordinator SPAN 3104W
palma045@umn.edu

Specialties

Latin American, Indigenous and Environmental Literature; Memory Studies and Human Rights; Ecocriticism