Ph.D. program alumni

(In chronological order)

Serafín Roldán-Santiago. Dissertation: "Literary strands, transference, and colonial discourse in V.S. Naipaul's writings" (April 2006)

Serafín Roldán is an English instructor at the University of Florida. He is also a consummate librarian and folklorist.

Edgardo Pérez Montijo. Dissertation: "Earl Lovelace: Performance writer" (May 2006)

Edgardo Pérez is Professor of Spanish at the University of Puerto Rico's Arecibo campus.

Tatiana Tagirova. Dissertation: "Claude McKay's liberating narrative: Russian and Anglophone Caribbean literary connections" (May 2006)

Tatiana Tagirova is currently Assistant Professor of Language, Literature & Communication at Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina.

Elsa Luciano Feal. Dissertation: "Caribbean women writers in exile:Dionne Brand, Jamaica Kincaid and Pauline Melville" (December 2006)

Elsa Luciano Feal teaches English at the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo

Ada Haiman Arena. Dissertation: "The discourses of childhood: A child-centered critique of Anglo-Caribbean literature" (December 2006)

Ada Haiman, Nalini Natarajan, Diane Accaria & Nicholas Faraclas. Ada was Professor of English at the UPR, School of General Studies and is now retired.

Clifton D. Armstrong. Dissertation: "Stress, sonority, and the syllable in creoles and other languages" (December 2006)

Mervyn Alleyne, Emily Krasinski, Clifton D. Armstrong & Yolanda Rivera. Clif is currently working for Santillana Press and the Universidad Metropolitana in Moca.

Magda Ramos Isern. Dissertation: "The discourse of race as reflected in the press of St. Croix in the 1970s and 1980s" (March 2007)

Alma Simounet, Alicia Pousada, Magda Ramos & Mervyn Alleyne. Magda was Assistant Professor in the Business English Department of the UPR, Rio Piedras prior to her retirement.

Mae Teitelbaum. Dissertation: "The complicit intellectual: The (mis)representation of politics and history in three contemporary Caribbean narratives of Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica" (March 2007)

Profs. Natarajan, Sander, and Faraclas with Mae Teitelbaum after her dissertation defense

Víctor Vázquez. Dissertation:"Reading and writing life: Discourse analysis and a sociology of language inquiry into the effects of Protestant literacy efforts within the slave communities of the Danish West Indies and Jamaica" (May 2008)

Profs. Emily Krasinski, Nicholas Faraclas, and Alma Simounet with Víctor Vázquez (second from left). Victor currently teaches English at the University High School.

Jo Anne Harris Fiveash. Dissertation:"Uncovering creole representations of empire in eighteenth-century Barbados: From Caribbeana (1741) to Creoleana (1842)" (May 2008)

Profs. Kuwabong, Natarajan, Pedreira with Jo Anne Harris (second from left) after her defense. Jo Anne is currently completing a post-doctoral degree in Digital Pedagogy at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Suzanna Engman. Dissertation: "Quantum ghosts: Gateway to the imagination in the novels of Wilson Harris" (May 2008)

Profs. Faraclas and Stanchich with Suzanna Engman during defense. (Librarian Rosa Rivera in rear). Suzanna is currently the UPR's institutional grant developer.

Marta Viada. Dissertation:"Matelots, metis, and maroons meet mass comparison and the matrix: Possible influences from the indigenous languages of the Caribbean on the grammars of Caribbean creoles" (May 2008)

Profs. Faraclas, Simounet, Sued Badillo with Marta Viada after her defense. Marta directs the Languages & Literatures Department at the Inter-American University in San German.

Nereida Prado. Dissertation:“African Caribbean Spirituality in West Indian novels:
From realism to spiritual realism”  (Dec. 2008)

Nereida Prado with her committee members, Profs. Kuwabong and Accaria (Prof. Collins, not pictured)

Miriam Plata. Dissertation: "Phonological features of Crucian Creole." (Dec. 2008)

Miriam Plata and Magda Ramos. Miriam taught English at the UHS (University of Puerto Rico High School) until she retired.

Steve Beauclair.. "Hauntings of Haitian History: Marking Political Terror in the Writings of Edwidge Danticat." (2009)

Professor of English,  Grand Rapids Community College,                                     Grand Rapids, MI

Geissa Torres. Dissertation: "Attitudes of Crucian Students and Educators toward Crucian Creole as a Language of Learning" (March 2009)

Geissa Torres triumphant after her successful defense. Geissa teaches English at the UPR in Arecibo.

Orville Omar Villanueva Feliciano. Dissertation: "A Contrastive Analysis of English Influences on the Lexicon of Puerto Rican Spanish in Puerto Rico and St. Croix" (April 2009)

Orville Villanueva responding to a question during his doctoral defense

Edward Mitchell. Thesis: "St. Lucian Kwéyòl in St. Croix: A Study of Language Choice and Attitudes." (March 2009)

Edward Mitchell, Associate Professor of English at Macau Polytechnic University, in front of golden lotus.

Don Walicek. Thesis: "Pathways of Language and Memory: The Origins of Anguillian in Sociohistorical Context" (May 2009).

Don Walicek (center) with his committee: Profs. Nicholas Faraclas, Alicia Pousada, and Mervyn Alleyne. Don is now Assistant Professor of English in the College of General Studies, UPR, Rio Piedras.

Pedro Pérez Osorio. Dissertation : “Caribbean worldliness: The search for a globalized poetics in the poetry of Lorna Goodison and Victor Hernandez Cruz" (May 2009)

Pedro is currently teaching in the English Department of the UPR in Rio Piedras.

Denise López Mazzeo. Dissertation: "Making Connections and Associations: Caribbean Writers Recreating Subjectivities in New York City" (Dec. 2009)

Denise López Mazzeo and her doctoral committee—Profs. Reinhard Sander, María Soledad Rodríguez, and Maritza Stanchich (via Skype). Denise currently directs the English Department in General Studies, UPR, Rio Piedras.

Raquel Puig. Dissertation:"The Impossible Glamour: Cinema in the Narrative Fictions of Roger Mais, Earl Lovelace, and Luis Rafael Sánchez" (April 2010)

Raquel Puig with her committee (Profs. Diane Accaria, Maria Cristina Rodriguez, and Maritza Stanchich via Skype). At present, Raquel teaches at the InterAmerican University Metropolitan campus.

Lydia Platón. Dissertation: "Caribbean Performances: Dancing Transformation in Katherine Dunham's and Maya Deren's "'Haitian excursions'" (Sept. 2010)

Lydia Platon is a part-time instructor in Comparative Literature and in the Maestría de Administración y Gestión Cultural at the UPR in Rio Piedras.

Aida Luz Rodriguez. Dissertation: "The Liaison of Memory, Dream and Fantasy: Strategies and Approaches in Paule Marshall’s and Zee Edgell’s Fiction" (Feb. 2011)

Aida Luz Rodriguez (in red) with Profs. Mirerza Gonzalez, Maritza Stanchich, Maria Soledad Rodriguez, and Lowell Fiet at her dissertation defense.

Anamari Irizarry. Dissertation: “Attitudes of Anguillian teachers toward the use of Anguillian ‘dialect’ in school.” (May 2011)

Anamari Irizarry (in orange) and her committee (Profs. Mervyn Alleyne, Alicia Pousada & Emily Krasinski). Anamari is currently the Director of the Programa de Idiomas y Cultura of the Division of Continuing & Professional Education of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras.

Rhoda Arrindell. Dissertation: “Language, Culture and Identity in St. Martin.” (May 2011)

Rhoda Arrindell is currently Minister of Education of St. Martin.

Sally Everson. Dissertation:"Suffering Subjects of the Mulatto Caribbean: Historical Context and the Emergence of Trinidadian Literature, 1824-1854" (April 2012)

Sally Everson (center) surrounded by her committee: Dr. Lowell Fiet, Dr. Nalini Natarajan, Dr. Mervyn Alleyne, and Dr. Reinhard Sander

Catherine Blackburn. Dissertation: "Curable Wounds: Indigenous Healing Rituals in Australian Aboriginal and Caribbean Anglophone Literatures" (April 2012)

Catherine Blackburn (holding flowers) with her committee: Dr. Dannabang Kuwabong, Dr. Nalini Natarajan, & Dr. Reinhard Sander. Catherine is an English professor at the Universidad del Turabo in Caguas.

Katherine Miranda. Dissertation: "Mash it up, ¡coño!: Emerging Literatures from Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba.” (May 2012)

Katherine Miranda (black jacket) with her committee: Drs. Dannabang Kuwabang, Maritza Stanchich & Mayra Santos Febres.

Ana María García. Dissertation: "Ideological Inversion in the Cinematic Adaptations of Memories of Underdevelopment and Wide Sargasso Sea: A Study Based on Narratology and Adaptation Theory from a Postcolonial, Feminist Perspective." (May 2012)

Professor, School of Communication,                                     UPR, Río Piedras.

Brenda Domínguez Rosado. Dissertation: "Language and identity: The study of a possible ongoing change in attitudes towards American English and Puerto Rican Spanish in Puerto Rico." (October 2012)

Dr. Brenda Domínguez-Rosado, professor of English at the UPR-Bayamón.

Cynthia Pittman. Dissertation: "Interactive autobiography: Placing aspects of communication in Jamaica Kincaid's autobiographical writing within literary legacies" (March 2013)

Dr. Cynthia Pittman, professor of English in General Studies at UPR, Rio Piedras.