Graduate Student Profiles

The Hispanic Studies program provides a warm, supportive, and inclusive atmosphere for everyone. I'm truly thankful for this valuable opportunity!

Our department is a pool of diverse people, cultures, experiences, and points of view!

What I like the most about Western are the community and the interdisciplinary atmosphere.

I love being a Spanish instructor, meeting students from all kinds of backgrounds and watching them learn and thrive.

I love the multicultural scenarios and contexts from the program. Diversity and pluralism.

I think this program offers many opportunities to postgraduate students to grow personally, academically and professionally.

I love the cultural diversity that Western offers. It is a beautiful experience to share with so many people from different countries.

Studying Linguistics at Western has been a great experience!

My favourite part of the program is to share and learn with so many different people of diverse backgrounds and disciplines.

I really enjoy the atmosphere at the Department of Languages and Cultures, and the quality and warmth of the teachers and administrative staff.

I really appreciate the breadth of topics we are introduced to in Western's Hispanic Studies program.

I really like the amazing community of international students who help you with various aspects such as paperwork, English proficiency and living in London.

The program is excellent. It is very well structured and allows the student to handle essential academic concepts in scientific research.

I chose Western because of its great Spanish program. I think Western has one of the best Spanish programs in Ontario.

I am PhD student in the CulturePlex Lab, studying social media activism and gender movements in the Hispanosphere.

I love the community I've been part of in the Department.

One of my favourite aspects of the program is that I am constantly learning something new, working alongside other faculty members and students whose research interests are distinct to mine.

My favourite part about Western is the beautiful campus, especially in the fall!

I think the student-centric perspective of the Hispanic Studies program makes it easier for students to thrive in their academic, professional, and personal lives.

Hispanic Studies program has provided me the opportunity to shape some of the research topics I’m most curious about, and for that, I’m grateful to my professors.

My research interests include language attitudes and policies in Catalonia, language contact and (morphosyntactic) change, L3 and Ln acquisition of Romance morphosyntax, Peninsular Spanish, (minority) Romance languages, and (Iranian) Persian.

First-year MA student at Western University exploring foreign language teaching with a focus on motivation and the Students as Partners model in Spanish classrooms. Previously completed undergraduate Honours Specialization in Spanish at the same institution.

With the guidance of the Hispanic Studies program, I´ve learned both how to develop my research through an interdisciplinary and critical approach as well as start developing my career as an academic.

Maylin Ortega Zulueta, PhD candidate in Hispanic Studies at the University of Toronto, also holds a BMus, BEd, and MA from the same institution. She teaches Spanish and music for the Toronto District School Board and explores emotional intelligence's impact on Cuban musicians' professional development in Toronto. Publications include works in Nostalgia bajo cero, Proyecto Sherezade, and the Latin American Music Review Journal.