Members

Dr. Richard Cameron is Professor of Hispanic Linguistics. He works in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis/pragmatics with professional interests in TESOL and second language acquisition. In sociolinguistics, he pursues quantitative research with the goal of applying or testing linguistic and social theory. Among social topics, he is interested in age, gender, social class, and the question of what counts as a social fact.

Irene Finestrat Martínez is a PhD student in Hispanic Linguistics. Her research interests include second language acquisition, first language attrition, and the pragmatic competence and cultural systems of bilingual heritage speakers in Chicago.

Sandra Marin is a Master’s student in Hispanic Linguistics and instructor in the Spanish Basic Languages Program. Her research interests include sociolinguistics in relation to bilingualism (particularly in the region of the Basque Country in Spain), code switching and social language codes and language in gender.

Dr. Bernardo Navia is a lecturer in the Spanish for Heritage Speakers Program. He earned his PhD in Hispanic Literature from UIC. His work is published in a diverse range of academic publications including La Gaceta, Fe de erratas, and Descontexto. He has published several books of poetry and short stories including Doce muertes para una resaca; Vocesueltas: Cuatro cuentistas de Chicago; and Viaje en dos jornadas, among others. He is currently working on a creative writing manual in Spanish. (En español)

Dr. Kim Potowski (LICO founding director) is Professor of Hispanic Linguistics. She is interested in language and ethnicity, language use and shift, transnationalism and immigration, Spanish in the United States, and the teaching of heritage languages.  For more about her research, publications, and public talks, see http://potowski.org

Alejandra Prieto-Mendoza is a PhD student in Hispanic Linguistics. Her research interests include variationist analysis and discourse analysis in relation to direct quotations in the different dialects of Spanish. She is also interested in language and gender.

Victoria Tissera a native of Córdoba, Argentina is a Master’s student in Hispanic Linguistics and an instructor in the Heritage Language Program. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language attitudes, folk linguistics, language and gender and heritage language instruction.

Agnieszka Wieczorek is a Master’s student of Latin American and Latino Studies at UIC. She obtained her B.A. in Sociology, Iberian Studies and a Master’s in Latin American Studies from the University of Warsaw in Poland. Currently she is doing research on Polish-Mexican families in Chicago. Her primary interests are: national/transnational identity, cultural citizenship, globalization, transnational processes, migrations, cultural entrepreneurship,  education and language, families in global transition, cross-cultural families, intermarriage.

Vanessa Cortez is an undergraduate student majoring in Spanish.  Her research interests include code-switching, language acquisition and Spanish variation in the U.S.

Elizabeth McHugh is an undergraduate Spanish major with a minor in International Studies. Her research interests include Spanish education, intercultural communication, culture and language, sociolinguistics, multilingualism and Spanish in the United States.