Languages Literatures and Linguistics (LLL)

Last Wednesday, LLL gathered for our annual Gerlinde Ulm Sanford End of Year Celebration, where we honor graduating students and congratulate ourselves on another year of hard work! This year we celebrated at the Inn Complete on South Campus, where we recognized our outstanding undergraduate and graduate students and honored one of our own with the annual Gerlinde Ulm Sanford Award! This year’s honorees are:

Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement in LLL Programs:
Classics – Hannah Murphy
Classical Civilization – Aren Ding
French – Amanda Long
German – Alexander Dawallu
Italian – Frank Gambino
Linguistic Studies – Ava Downey
Russian – Anna Meehan
Spanish – Eadin Matthew Block
Spanish – Teja Sai Nara

Douglas Shaheen Award for Excellence in Russian:
Prestmann Agraz
Leela Amarasiri
Colette Orwan
Bismarck Pacheco

The Milkatu Garba Memorial Award for Field Linguistics:
William Kezerian

Outstanding LLL Teaching Assistant:
French – Marie Lozano
Linguistic Studies – Tamara Svehla
Spanish – Isabel Santacruz

Outstanding Master’s Degree Student:
French – Pierre Lacaille
Linguistic Studies – Stella Clymer
Spanish – Arianna Contreras

The Gerlinde Ulm Sanford German Student Award:
Manuela Goes Hees

The Gerlinde Ulm Sanford Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award:
Anna Meehan (Russian)

The Gerlinde Ulm Sanford Faculty/Staff Award for Loyalty and Dedication to the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics and Syracuse University:
Katie Clinton (Spanish)

The Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics gives special thanks to Emeritus Professor Harold Jones for creating the endowment to fund the Gerlinde Ulm Sanford Award.

Wishing all our students, colleagues, and friends a wonderful summer!

ALL NEW IN SANTIAGO: Environment, Health & Policy program 🇨🇱

Chile ranks among the region’s leaders in environmental legislation, public health reform, and urban sustainability. This new program will explore the intersection of these issues through special courses and field trips, including visits to Machu Picchu, Patagonia, Buenos Aires and more. Plus, our new spring course will focus on local health practices Latin America.

🗺️ This spring English-language program is ideal for students who have basic Spanish-language skills and are interested in exploring Latin America.

💰 All students studying in Santiago in spring 2027 will receive a $2,000 location grant automatically applied to program costs, no additional application required.

🔗 Link in bio to learn more, applications open on May 15

Please join us in congratulating two of our LLL MA students, Arianna Contreras (Spanish ) and Zeynep Lloyd (Linguistic Studies), who will each be awarded one of the Outstanding Master’s Student Awards from the College of Arts and Sciences this year. Arianna and Zeynep will be recognized at the Master’s Convocation on May 9, 2026. 

Congratulations, Arianna and Zeynep! 🎉🏅

Congratulations to our LLL researchers! Today was the annual Undergraduate Research Festival, where students presented their research projects via poster sessions or oral presentations. Here are just few snaps of a few of the 14 LLL students who participated this year — we’re so proud of all of you!

Last night, the Italian program 🇮🇹 hosted their annual Torneo di Briscola — Italian Card Game Tournament. A record number of students turned out to learn how to play this iconic game, eat pizza, and participate in the tournament. Congratulations to our winners!! We can’t wait to host you all again next year! 🤩🏅

Scenes from today’s 27th Annual French Colloquium!
Here, undergraduate French student Amanda Long presents her paper “Le Zombi Haitian: de la figure folklorique au symbole politique”. Congratulations to the French program and all the French graduate students for their hard work putting together this amazing event! 👏

Big congratulations are in order for Madgelín Montenegro, Spanish instructor , who was recently recognized by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) as part of their annual One University Assessment Celebration. This event honors and celebrates faculty and staff for their efforts to examine and enhance student learning and operational success.

Magdelín won this year’s “Course Feedback Champion” award, part of the IE Champions Awards which celebrate members of the campus community who demonstrate a strong commitment to fostering a culture of improvement through meaningful assessment and engagement. These individuals advocate for using evidence to enhance learning and the student experience, model reflective practices, and inspire others to participate fully in university initiatives.

Muchas felicidades, Magdelín! 👏🎉

Join our ever growing community of polyglots!! 🌎🍊

Thank you to American Association for Italian Studies - AAIS and AATI - American Association of Teachers of Italian for their support of the Syracuse University Italian Program (Italian at SU).

We have undergone some restructuring of our programs here in LLL and are introducing a new World Languages & Cultures major which will house all many of major and minor programs, including the Italian Major track.

We have heard from many of you all over the world concerned about the recent NYT headline. We are so grateful for our allies across the languages & humanities, we welcome your questions and comments! Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

See program details here: https://artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/languages-literatures-and-linguistics/italian-language-literature-and-culture/