Hispanic Studies Graduate Assistants

 

Mauren Cortazar 

Mauren is from Colombia, where she was raised and received her BA in Occupational Therapy. She worked in the educational field for seven years before moving to the EEUU. Upon arrival, she started working as a preschool teacher where she implemented some activities in Spanish with her students, making her more interested in deepening her knowledge in the Spanish language's culture, linguistics and literature. She is currently enrolled in a MA in Hispanic Studies to help future students to be successful at acquiring Spanish as a second language. 

Kassandra Gonzalez-Ramos

Kassandra Gonzalez received her BA in French and Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin in December 2016. Upon graduation, she moved to Cagnes-sur-mer, France where she lived with a French family as an Au Pair to continue her language learning in French. On her return to the U.S., Kassandra worked as an Intervention and ESL teacher for 3 years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She primarily focused on Elementary and Middle School education. She is now pursuing her MA in Hispanic Studies with a concentration in Linguistics at the Louisiana State University.

Vivian Iles 

My name is Vivian Iles, I have a BA in Spanish and Literature from the Technological University of Pereira in Colombia. I have a diploma in Virtual Education as well as diploma in Colombian sign language level III. Junior researcher of the research group ''Language and Education Studies'' Category A1 of Minciencias, collaborator of the PRESEEA-Pereira team and of the master's degree in linguistics at UTP. I have dedicated myself to the creation and advice of academic, institutional and business projects. I directed the research and cultural area of ​​the El Abad Foundation for two years and was an English and Spanish teacher in Southeast Asia for a year, as well as a literacy teacher in two post-armed conflict zones (Las Eras, Huila and San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá) complemented with theater and radio training to contribute to rural projects. These experiences have led me to the transformative work of communities from education and language. I carry out a personal project called: Expedition Happiness, which brings together neurolinguistic research, biodecoding and creative writing, so I currently aspire to complete a master's degree in linguistic concentration to complement my educational, research work and keep growing as a person. 

Collin Lightell

Collin is a recent graduate of LSU, with their bachelor’s degree in Spanish as well as Music Education. Collin has long maintained interest in both pedagogy and language-learning and is now pursuing a master’s in Hispanic Studies with a concentration in linguistics. Their goal is to broaden their understanding of second language acquisition so that they may better teach future students.