LLC PhD Students

Current LLC PhD Students and their research.

Visit our Alumni page to see a selection of our grads and what they've been doing.

 

Current LLC PhD Students

Irlanda Álvarez

Irlanda Álvarez
About Irlanda Álvarez
About Irlanda Álvarez

Spanish: Hispanic Literature

Dissertation research: I am interested in research about Hispanic and Caribbean authors that portray the ideology of contemporary society

Jenny Barranco

Jenny Barranco's
About Jenny Barranco
About Jenny Barranco

Spanish: Hispanic Literature and Cultural Studies

Dissertation research: Collective Memories: Panamanian literature, music, and film concerning the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama

Amber Bradley

Amber Bradley
About Amber Bradley
About Amber Bradley

Spanish: Spanish cultural studies and literature minor

Dissertation research: Bilingual Life Writing in Latinx Memoirs

Currently working full time as a Labor Services Representative Spanish Language.

Victoria Chizuk

About Victoria Chizuk
About Victoria Chizuk

Dissertation research: To be determined

Claudia Cubiles Almaguer

About Claudia Cubiles Almaguer
About Claudia Cubiles Almaguer

Spanish: Linguistics 

Dissertation research: To be determined

Caitlin Fanning

About Caitlin Fanning
About Caitlin Fanning

Spanish: Sociolinguistics, Dialectology, Grammaticalization, Verb-Semantic change over time, Morphosyntax, Immigration and Media Studies 

Dissertation research: Novel morphosyntactic structures in Central American Varieties of Spanish (tentative title)

Catalina Garcia Faundez

About Catalina Garcia Faundez
About Catalina Garcia Faundez

Spanish: Spanish Sociolinguistics

Dissertation research: Variación y actitud en el español de Chile: una comparación entre Santiago y Los Lagos

Karol Ibarra Alvarado

Karol Ibarra Alvarado
About Karol Ibarra Alvarado
About Karol Ibarra Alvarado

Dissertation research: To be determined

Nyssa Knarvik

About Nyssa Knarvik
About Nyssa Knarvik

Spanish: Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Heritage Language Acquisition, Language Variation, Languages for Specific Purposes

Dissertation research: Lexical complexity in the speech of second language and heritage speakers of Spanish

Currently an Instructional Consultant at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Learning, and Online Education at the University at Albany.

Victor Lucio

 


 

Madalina Man

Madalina Man.
About Madalina Man
About Madalina Man

Spanish: Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Language Contact

Dissertation research: Ethnolinguistic Vitality of the Romanian Language in Spain: A Study in the Community of Valencia

Publications:

  • “Lengua y poder en Guinea Ecuatorial: Una perspectiva glotopolítica.” Review of Lengua, cultura y glotopolítica en Guinea Ecuatorial: Una mirada histórica by Susana Castillo-Rodríguez. Revista de Antropología Social. (2026)

Presentations (2026): 

  • Vitalidad etnolingüística del rumano en España: Un estudio en la Comunidad de Valencia”, LLC Seminar Series Spring 2026, University at Albany, SUNY
  • Language Contact in Valencia, Spain” UAlbany Showcase, Albany, New York.
  • Vitalidad etnolingüística del rumano en España: Un estudio en la Comunidad de Valencia”, RoSal: 80 años de Rumanística at Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.

Benjamin Mielenz

Benjamin Mielenz
About Benjamin Mielenz
About Benjamin Mielenz

Spanish: Variationist sociolinguistics

Dissertation research: Grammaticalization and morphosyntactic variation in conditional constructions in Peninsular Spanish

Christopher Miller

About Christopher Miller
About Christopher Miller

Spanish: Second Language Acquisition, and Learner Ideology of Dialectal features in Spanish

Dissertation research: To be determined

Michelle Monaco

LLC PhD Student
About Michelle Monaco
About Michelle Monaco

Spanish: Latin American Literature

Dissertation research: How the Greek monster is reimagined in Latin American literature and film to challenge power, oppression, and societal norms through mythological rewriting.

PhD candidate and Teaching Assistant, with a published book review in Ámbitos Feministas, a forthcoming co-authored linguistics article, and a literature article currently under review at Hispanic Review.

Danny Pintado Sacaquirin

About Danny Pintado Sacaquirin
About Danny Pintado Sacaquirin

Spanish: Linguistics 

Dissertation research: To be determined

José Romero

Jose Romero
About José Romero
About José Romero

Dissertation research: To be determined

Maria Alice Seixas

About Maria Alice Seixas
About Maria Alice Seixas

Spanish: Linguistics, Language Contact between Portuguese and Spanish

Dissertation research: Spanish in Rio de Janeiro: Issues in Bilingualism and Language Contact

Bianca Zazzarini-Leon

About Bianca Zazzarini-Leon
About Bianca Zazzarini-Leon

Spanish: Literature

Dissertation research: How fantastical elements and technology manifest as violence in women’s bodies in Caribbean literature

Edgardo Zea

Edgardo Zea
About Edgardo Zea
About Edgardo Zea

Dissertation research: To be determined