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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)
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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)
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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)
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Tatiana Tagirova is currently Assistant Professor of Language, Literature & Communication at Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina. |
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Elsa Luciano Feal. Dissertation: "Caribbean women writers in exile:Dionne Brand, Jamaica Kincaid and Pauline Melville" (December 2006)
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Elsa Luciano Feal teaches English
at the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo |
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Ada Haiman Arena. Dissertation: "The discourses of childhood: A child-centered critique of Anglo-Caribbean literature" (December 2006)
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Ada Haiman, Nalini Natarajan, Diane Accaria & Nicholas Faraclas. Ada was Professor of English
at the UPR, School of General Studies and is now retired.
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Clifton D. Armstrong. Dissertation: "Stress, sonority, and the syllable in creoles and other languages" (December 2006)
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Mervyn Alleyne, Emily Krasinski, Clifton D. Armstrong & Yolanda Rivera. Clif is currently working for Santillana Press and the Universidad Metropolitana in Moca.
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Magda Ramos Isern. Dissertation: "The discourse of race as reflected in the press of St. Croix in the 1970s and 1980s" (March 2007)
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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.
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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)
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Profs. Natarajan, Sander, and Faraclas with Mae Teitelbaum after her dissertation defense |
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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)
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Profs. Emily Krasinski, Nicholas Faraclas, and Alma Simounet with Víctor Vázquez (second from left). Victor currently teaches English at the University High School.
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Jo Anne Harris Fiveash. Dissertation:"Uncovering creole representations of empire in eighteenth-century Barbados: From Caribbeana (1741) to Creoleana (1842)" (May 2008)
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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.
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Suzanna Engman. Dissertation: "Quantum ghosts: Gateway to the imagination in the novels of Wilson Harris" (May 2008)
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Profs. Faraclas and Stanchich with Suzanna Engman during defense. (Librarian Rosa Rivera in rear). Suzanna is currently the UPR's institutional grant developer. |
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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)
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| 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)
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Nereida Prado with her committee members,
Profs. Kuwabong and Accaria (Prof. Collins, not pictured) |
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Miriam Plata. Dissertation: "Phonological features of Crucian Creole." (Dec. 2008)
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Miriam Plata and Magda Ramos. Miriam taught English at the UHS (University of Puerto Rico High School) until she retired. |
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Steve Beauclair.. "Hauntings of Haitian History: Marking Political Terror in the Writings of Edwidge Danticat." (2009)
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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)
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Geissa Torres triumphant after her successful defense. Geissa teaches English at the UPR in Arecibo. |
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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)
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Orville Villanueva responding to a question
during his doctoral defense |
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Edward Mitchell. Thesis: "St. Lucian Kwéyòl in St. Croix: A Study of Language Choice and Attitudes." (March 2009)
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Edward Mitchell, Associate Professor of English at Macau Polytechnic University, in front of golden lotus.
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Don Walicek. Thesis: "Pathways of Language and Memory: The Origins of Anguillian in Sociohistorical Context" (May 2009).
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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. |
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Pedro Pérez Osorio. Dissertation : “Caribbean worldliness: The search for a globalized poetics in the poetry of Lorna Goodison and Victor Hernandez Cruz" (May 2009)
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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)
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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.
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Raquel Puig. Dissertation:"The Impossible Glamour: Cinema in the Narrative Fictions of Roger Mais, Earl Lovelace, and Luis Rafael Sánchez" (April 2010)
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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.
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Lydia Platón. Dissertation:
"Caribbean Performances: Dancing Transformation in Katherine Dunham's and Maya Deren's "'Haitian excursions'" (Sept. 2010)
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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. |
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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)
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Aida Luz Rodriguez (in red) with Profs. Mirerza Gonzalez, Maritza Stanchich, Maria Soledad Rodriguez, and Lowell Fiet at her dissertation defense. |
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Anamari Irizarry. Dissertation: “Attitudes of Anguillian teachers toward the use of Anguillian ‘dialect’ in school.” (May 2011)
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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.
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Rhoda Arrindell. Dissertation:
“Language, Culture and Identity in St. Martin.” (May 2011)
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Rhoda Arrindell is currently
Minister of Education
of St. Martin. |
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Sally Everson. Dissertation:"Suffering Subjects of the Mulatto Caribbean: Historical Context and the Emergence of Trinidadian Literature, 1824-1854" (April 2012)
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Sally Everson (center) surrounded by her committee: Dr. Lowell Fiet,
Dr. Nalini Natarajan, Dr. Mervyn Alleyne, and Dr. Reinhard Sander
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Catherine Blackburn. Dissertation: "Curable Wounds: Indigenous Healing Rituals in Australian Aboriginal and Caribbean Anglophone Literatures" (April 2012)
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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.
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Katherine Miranda. Dissertation: "Mash it up, ¡coño!: Emerging Literatures from Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba.” (May 2012)
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Katherine Miranda (black jacket) with her committee:
Drs. Dannabang Kuwabang, Maritza Stanchich & Mayra Santos Febres.
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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)
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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)
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Dr. Brenda Domínguez-Rosado,
professor of English at the UPR-Bayamón.
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Cynthia Pittman. Dissertation: "Interactive autobiography: Placing aspects of communication in Jamaica Kincaid's autobiographical writing within literary legacies" (March 2013)
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Dr. Cynthia Pittman,
professor of English in General Studies at UPR, Rio Piedras.
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