Presenter Bios

Denise A. Ayo

Denise A. Ayo is the associate director of undergraduate programs at the Keough School of Global Affairs.

Before joining the Keough School, Ayo served as associate director of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures (CSLC), where she oversaw the majority of the CSLC’s signature programs. She holds a Ph.D. in British and Irish Modern Literature from Notre Dame. Ayo has taught courses and published essays on Irish, modernist, and digital culture, and has co-authored a book chapter on language center management and development. She also has digitized a selection of the work of the Irish-born American literary critic Mary Colum, found at marycolum.com.

 

Marcio Bahia

Born in Belém, Pará, right in the Brazilian Amazon Region, Professor Bahia specializes in Brazilian Literary and Cultural Studies. More particularly, his current research focuses on the tecnobrega music scene.
Tecnobrega, a musical genre that splices largely original work with popular music, is primarily created by poor populations in the Amazon regions of Brazil. Bahia studies how technology is adopted in the tecnobrega scene and how it is used in the ongoing process of cultural legitimization of the rhythm. On the topic, Professor Bahia has published “The Periphery Rises: Technology and Cultural Legitimization in Belém’s Tecnobrega.” in Ellipsis 13 (2015):33-54, the Journal of the APSA (American Portuguese Studies Association). He is also currently working on a book-length manuscript tentatively entitled “Tecnobrega and other revolutions: technology and cultural legimitization in the Brazilian peripheral music scene.”
Professor Bahia teaches courses in Portuguese Language and Brazilian Literature and Culture, such as Portuguese Language and Culture I (ROPO 10103), Brazilian Pop Culture (ROPO 30650) and Brazil Beyond Soccer and Samba (ROPO 40950).

 

Katie Boyle

Kathleen Crawford Boyle, received her B.A. in Latin and Greek from Indiana University at Bloomington. Her study of Italian, which began at IU-Bloomington, continued at the Italian School of Middlebury College where she studied for four years completing a M.A. in Italian literary studies. In 2013 she completed her Ph.D. in Romance Philology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she taught Italian language and culture courses for six years on campus and one year in Florence, Italy at the Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici (LdM). Her interests include the history of the Italian language and socio-historical aspects of language change, Italo-Romance linguistics and dialectology, second-language acquisition and language pedagogy, including the use of technology in the classroom, and traditions and representative texts of Liturgical Drama in Latin, Old French, Spanish, and Italian.

Prior to joining the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame, she taught Italian language and culture courses at the College of William and Mary where she also served as the Program Director of Italian Studies (2013-6) and the Adviser of the Casa italiana (2011-6).

 

Anita Chan

Anita Chan is a Program Officer in the East Asia and Pacific Fulbright Programs branch at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She is responsible for the Fulbright programs in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia and Taiwan. Previously she was a Program Manager at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, where she also worked on the Fulbright program and other educational exchange initiatives to promote mutual understanding and expertise between the U.S. and China.

Before joining the U.S. Department of State, Ms. Chan was an Associate Director at Trinity Wall Street where she developed and implemented strategies for public-private engagement in New York City’s public schools. She has over 10 years of non-profit experience specializing in youth and community development. Ms. Chan studied business management at the State University of Buffalo and received her MBA from Fordham University.

 

Chris Clark

Chris Clark works in the Learning Technology Lab helping faculty integrate technology into their courses. His current projects include Remix-T, an AASL award-winning website designed to help college teachers develop engaging activities that incorporate images, video, and sound. He is also converting the Kaneb Center’s Teaching Well Using Technology certificate program into an online course where graduate students have the option of earning a digital badge. In the undergraduate Applied Multimedia course that Chris teaches each year, students learn to create and critique a variety of media. Chris earned a BA in Spanish from Cornell and an MA in education from the University of Rochester; he also completed doctoral coursework in instructional design at Penn State. Prior to joining the Kaneb Center staff in 2001, Chris worked for four years in the OIT. He was previously Director of Educational Technology at the Culver Academies, but his original calling was as a high school Spanish teacher. Chris has presented workshops at national conferences and published a number of articles on educational technology. In 2012 he co-edited Teaching With Technology, Volume 2: The Stories Continue.

 

Nathan Elliot

Nathan Elliot has served in the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Notre Dame since 2006. He currently is part of the Divison’s Student Title IX Services Team and previously served in Residential Life as rector of University Village, student family housing, and Fischer, O’Hara-Grace Graduate Residences. Before returning to Notre Dame he lived in Tucson, Arizona where he worked in adult and secondary education, refugee resettlement, and community organizing. Nathan also served two-and-a-half years in Calle Larga, Chile with Holy Cross Associates, the former lay volunteer program of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in agricultural education from the University of Arizona. He has also, at various points of his career, been the primary caregiver and homemaker for his family.

 

Leonardo Francalanci

Dr. Francalanci’s areas of specialization are Comparative Romance literatures (Catalan, Occitan, Spanish, Italian and French), Romance linguistics and Textual Cryticism. His research interests include Medieval Catalan and Occitan literatures, the dissemination of Medieval Italian literature in the Western Mediterranean and European Petrarchism.

 

Judith Fox

Judith Fox is a Clinical Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School, where she teaches and practices consumer law. Since joining the Notre Dame faculty 1997, she has taught courses in consumer law, alternative dispute resolution, ethics and domestic violence. Prior to joining the law school faculty, Judy was the deputy director of Berrien County Legal Services in St. Joseph, Michigan. Judy graduated from Notre Dame Law School, magna cum laude in 1993. She was the articles editor of the Notre Dame Law Review. Prior to attending law school, Judy was a loan officer at banks in both Pennsylvania and Indiana. Ms. Fox runs the Economic Justice Clinic. Her advocacy and research focus on issues of predatory lending, primarily in the housing market. She is on the Advisory Board of the Indiana Foreclosure Legal Assistance Program, the predatory lending committee of the Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative and the National Association of Consumer Lawyers.

 

Christine Caron Gebhardt

Christine has been the Director of the Gender Relations Center at the University of Notre Dame since 2012. The mission of the GRC mission is to help students form healthy and safe relationships as they learn about who they are and how they want to be with others. In addition to her administrative duties, Christine is a First Year Moreau instructor and serves as a co-chair of the Committee for Sexual Assault Prevention, co-chair of the greeNDot violence prevention program, a Title IX Resource Coordinator and a Pregnancy & Parenting Support Specialist.

Christine brings a background in moral formation, education and church ministry to her work at the GRC. She received her B.A. in Multi-Disciplinary Studies and Pre-Medical Program, at the College of the Holy Cross – Worcester, MA. At the advice of her mentor, Christine left New England to study in Nashville, where she received an M.T.S. in Ethics and Pastoral Care & Counseling, from Vanderbilt Divinity School and her PhD in Theological Ethics with a focus on Biomedical Ethics, from the Vanderbilt University Graduate Department of Religion.

While pursuing her studies at Vanderbilt, Christine served as the Director of Education and Formation at Christ the King Church and the Principal of Christ the King Grade School for a total of 16 years. As an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University, Christine taught courses in the area of philosophy and theology with an interest in feminist and biomedical ethics. She has served as a professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University where she offered courses on Social Ethics, Catholic Social Teaching, Biomedical Ethics, Death and Dying, and Marriage & the Family. She has served as an Ethics Fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, where she provided education and ethical consultation regarding patient rights, death and dying, genetics & reproduction and health care access.

When not working, Christine enjoys spending time with her husband Carl and their two children, Jacob and Rachael. Her favorite activities are gardening, exploring new places especially those close to water and trying new restaurants.

 

David Gasperetti

Professor Gasperetti is the author of The Rise of the Russian Novel: Carnival, Stylization, and Mockery of the West (1998), A Reference Grammar for V puti (2006), and Three Russian Tales of the Eighteenth Century (2012). He is currently working on a monograph charting the poetics of Russian prose fiction from its origins in the seventeenth century to the the early-nineteenth century. His teaching interests include intermediate Russian language, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian literature, parody, and the relationship between narrative and systems of belief.

 

Azeb Hailesellassi

Prof. Haileselassie’s interests include French Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Conversation Analysis, Second Language Acquisition, College Foreign Language Pedagogy, and Contemporary French Culture

Before joining University of Notre Dame, she served as French Language Coordinator at West Virginia University (WVU) and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. So far in her professional career, she taught French Language courses, French Phonetics and pronunciation, French Grammar and Structure, General French Linguistics, College Foreign Language Methodology and Contemporary French Culture.

In 2010 she was presented with the French Department Award for Teaching Excellence from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in recognition of her contribution to French language teaching mythologies and TA training.

 

Darlene Hampton

Darlene Hampton is an academic advisor in the University of Notre Dame’s First Year of Studies (FYS) and holds the rank of visiting assistant professional specialist. She primarily advises students who intend to pursue majors in the College of Engineering, the College of Science, the College of Arts and Letters, and the Mendoza College of Business.

Hampton received Bachelor’s degrees in both Theatre Arts and English Literature from the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR where she went on to earn both Master’s and Doctoral degrees in English with a concentration in Film and Media Studies. Her scholarly work is focused on the study of gender and the representation, practices, and cultures of media fans. Using largely discourse analysis and theories of performance, she explores the significant role that mass media texts play in both American culture and our own lives as individuals and members of communities. She examines media fan practices as sites of cultural work and identity performance and is particularly interested in the relationship between patriarchal and post-feminist ideologies of gender and the valuing and policing of fan practices in the public sphere.

Hampton joined First Year Studies in the summer of 2015. In addition to her work as an academic advisor, she holds concurrent faculty appointments in American Studies and Film, Television, and Theatre where she enjoys teaching courses on gender, media, and fan cultures. Her current research focuses on both the significance of gendered representations of media fans and the role of social networking technologies such as Tumblr on the evolution of fan practices and cultures.

 

Hana Kang

Dr. Hana Kang is an Associate Professional Specialist / Associate Professor of the Practice at University of Notre Dame. She holds a joint appointment from the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) and the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures (CSLC). She received a Ph.D. degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures from The Ohio State University in 2011. She taught Chinese, Korean, East Asian Cultures and TESOL classes at The Ohio State University and Michigan Technological University. She also developed the Chinese Certification Program at Michigan Technological University. Dr. Kang’s research interests include foreign language acquisition, computer-assisted language learning, and language learner identity. She has presented research papers on the acquisition of Chinese characters by foreign language learners at various national conferences such as ACTFL and AAAL. Her current research projects include investigating foreign language learners’ writing processes and bilingual speakers’ identity construction.

 

Tara MacLeod

Tara MacLeod is a native Irish-speaker from Ceantar na nOileán in the Connemara Gaeltacht. She received a Bachelor of Social Science in Social Administration and Library and Information Studies from University College Dublin in 1991. Tara later earned a Masters in Social Work from University College Cork in 1997 and a Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge from the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2001. As an Associate Teaching Professor for the Department of Irish Language and Literature, Ms. MacLeod teaches Beginning Irish I, Beginning Irish II, Intermediate Irish and Ireland’s Edge, a course that studies the culture of Gaeltachts in Ireland. Her interests include second language acquisition and the development of students’ language skills in conjunction with an understanding of Gaeltacht culture.

 

Amber Monroe

Amber Monroe currently serves the University of Notre Dame as Manager for Student Title IX Services and Deputy Title IX Coordinator. Amber has worked for over 20 years as a Higher Education Administrator in the areas of Residential Life, Student Conduct, and Title IX. Amber received her bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in Psychology and Sociology-Criminal Justice and her Master’s in Education-Higher Education Counseling and Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

 

Micheal Pippenger

Michael Pippenger was appointed vice president and associate provost for internationalization at Notre Dame in 2016. He is charged with advising University leadership on global strategies and overseeing Notre Dame International, which broadens Notre Dame’s international culture, programs, reach, and reputation through study abroad, expanded international research, international collaborative projects, and strategic relationships with global partners.

Before coming to Notre Dame, Pippenger was dean of undergraduate global programs at Columbia University in New York. He served on the senior leadership team for the Columbia College, on the senior staff of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and worked closely with the School of General Studies.

As dean of undergraduate global programs, Pippenger merged and restructured two offices from different university divisions to create a centralized office for undergraduate global education. Concurrently serving as assistant vice president for international education, he led 22 study abroad programs worldwide and collaborated closely with Columbia’s eight Global Centers; other responsibilities included assisting Columbia faculty in securing internal and external funding for global research. Pippenger served at Columbia since 2006, previously holding the positions of associate dean of fellowships programs and study abroad and associate dean of academic affairs in the university’s Columbia College.

Pippenger joined Columbia from New York University, where he had been director of scholarship programs in the College of Arts and Science. In addition, he held positions as senior program officer and world area manager for the Asia/Pacific Fulbright Program at the Institute of International Education. A graduate of Carleton College, Pippenger holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English literature from Indiana University.

 

Brian Ó Conchubhair

Brian Ó Conchubhair is Associate Professor of Irish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame and serves as Director of the Center for the Study of Languages & Cultures since 2013. His monograph on the intellectual history of the Irish revival entitled Fin de Siècle na Gaeilge: Darwin, An Athbheochan agus Smaointeoireacht na hEorpa (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2009) received the 2009 Oireachas non-fiction award and Duais Leabhar Taighde na Bliana Fhoras na Gaeilge/ACIS Prize for Books in the Irish Language in 2010. Other edited publications include Gearrscéalta Ár Linne (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2006, 2010, 2013); WHY IRISH? Irish Language and Literature in Academia (Arlen House, 2008); Twisted Truths (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2011); Dorchadas le Liam Ó Flaithearta (Arlen House, 2011); The Midnight Court/Cúirt an Mheán Oíche: A Critical Guide (Syracuse University Press, 2011); (with Matt Cashore and Susan Guibert) Notre Dame’s Happy Returns: Dublin, the Game, the Experience (Notre Dame Press, 2012); (with Mike Cronin) Éire-Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Irish Studies: Special Issue – Ireland and Sport, Vol. 48: 1&2 Spring/Summer 2013; (with Amber Handy) The Language of Gender, Power and Agency in Celtic Studies (Arlen House, 2013); Darkness: Liam O’Flaherty’s Tragedy (Arlen House, 2013) and  Lost in Connemara: Stories from the Irish/Caillte i gConamara: Scéalta Aniar (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2014). Currently he acts as Vice-President of the American Conference for Irish Studies (2013-15) having previously served as Irish-language officer on the National Executive. He has also served as an officer of the Celtic Studies Association of North America.

 

Lisa Joy Oglesbee

Lisa earned her Master’s degree in TESOL and Applied Linguistics from Indiana University, and thereafter taught in the Intensive English Program at IU. She has taught English as a Second Language in multiple contexts, both stateside and overseas in China, Spain, and Lithuania. Her academic pursuits lie in aiding non-native speakers of English in their successful acquisition of the language and in training new TESOL teachers to do the same. Her research interests include the integration of Second Language Acquisition theories and practice, as well as the effects of perception training on production intelligibility and accentedness.

 

Kim Patton

Kim Patton has been in higher education for 26 years and has held various positions at three institutions: Purdue University, Saint Mary’s College and the University of Notre Dame. The majority of Kim’s higher education experience has been in the area of student services, mostly in career services, but recently has taken a position as a Human Resources Consultant for the University of Notre Dame. As a Human resources Consultant, Kim provides guidance and support to managers and employees of designated departments with special emphasis on issues related to performance management and employee relations. Kim graduated from Indiana University in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in business majoring in human resources and then received a master’s degree in education administration from Purdue University in 2000.

 

Guieswende Rouamba

Guieswende Rouamba works at the Center for Studies of Languages and Cultures to promote technology and guide language faculty on how to incorporate technology into teaching. He was an Instructional Design Technology Specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Prior to joining the Innovative Instructional Design team at UNL, he worked for West Virginia University Academic Innovation to develop interactive digital math content for high school engineering courses. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Foreign Languages and a Master of Arts in Public Administration and Healthcare Administration from West Virginia University. Currently, he is completing his Ph.D. in Instructional Technology. His primary research interests are developing online courses for low bandwidth, designing mobile applications for teaching and learning, and CALL (Computer-assisted language learning).

 

Kristi Rudenga

Kristi Rudenga, the Assistant Director of the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, helps Notre Dame graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty members to develop and grow as teachers. She consults with instructors on pedagogical approaches and facilitates seminar series and workshops on teaching and mentoring.  Kristi teaches in the neurscience major and in the first year experience course. Before joining the Kaneb Center, Kristi was Associate Director and Science Education Specialist at the Yale Teaching Center.  She earned her PhD in neuroscience from Yale University, studying central brain representation of taste and food reward.

 

Sandra Teixeira

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Professor Teixeira teaches courses in Portuguese language, and Portuguese and Brazilian culture. Her research interests include teaching language and culture with authentic material and mixed media resources as well as introducing short stories from Lusophone literature. She serves as the faculty advisor for both the Brazil Club and the Portuguese Language Club. Professor Teixeira also wrote a handbook in beginning Portuguese with the generous support of Title VI and the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

 

Maggie Vosters

Maggie is Assistant Director at the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures. Her background is in teaching English to speakers of other languages, having taught at universities domestically and at private language schools both domestically and in Spain and Brazil. Her publications include two textbooks titled University Success Reading Transition (Pearson, 2017) and University Success Reading Advanced (Pearson, 2018) as well as a number of articles for Cambridge Grammar Teaching Newsletter. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Arts degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Michigan State University.

 

Emily Weaver

Emily Weaver joined Notre Dame in March 2017. Emily received her Bachelors of Arts from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI in 2010. Emily attended a dual degree program at the University of Wyoming and received a Juris Doctorate and Master of Public Administration in 2015.

After law school, Emily joined the University of Wyoming, Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center, where she served as the HIPAA Privacy Officer and an Assistant Research Scientist. Emily established the Law Office of Emily Weaver, LLC and provided pro-bono services including assistance with guardianships, drafting and implementation of workplace policies and procedures, and legal advice on other employment issues. Emily also gained experience with Title IX issues and compliance in the K-12 school setting.

Emily has a strong interest in compliance in higher education, particularly Title IX and Equal Employment Opportunity compliance.

 

Hannelore Weber

A native speaker of German, Professor Weber specializes in second language acquisition and pedagogy. Her additional interests include German history and German music, with a focus on Lieder.  Professor Weber teaches beginning and intermediate language courses as well as Business German.  She has been a member of the Executive Board of the Indiana Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German since 1999 and is a member of the Goethe Institut’s Trainers group.

 

Yeonhee Yoon

Dr. Yoon is a Professor of the Practice of Korean Language and Culture and serves as a Korean Program Coordinator at the University of Notre Dame. She has taught many Korean courses, including Korean Language, Culture & Society, Current Media Research, and Business Korean at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Harvard University before she joined Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. Her teaching strengths include multimedia usage and experience in educating students in content-based and task-based language teaching methodologies. She has specially developed content course curricula for the Korean Society & Popular Culture and Exploring Korean Culture and History through Films at Notre Dame. Her current research interests include Intercultural Pragmatics, Korean Popular Culture and Migration, and Korean for Specific Purpose. Her recent publications include: “An Intercultural Communication Approach to Teaching Business Korean: A Case Study of a Mock Negotiation”, Global Business Languages Vol.17, Purdue University (2012), “Korean Society” in Essentials of Korean Culture, Korea University Press (2013), “Curriculum Development of Korean Language for Diplomacy” in Developing Courses in Language for Specific Purposes, University of Hawaii at Manoa (2015), and Korean Hedges in Spoken Discourse, Korea University Press (2016).

 

Pamela Nolan Young

Pamela Nolan Young was appointed Notre Dame’s first director for academic diversity and inclusion in 2016. In this role, Young directs efforts within the academy focused on diversity and inclusion, working with partners across all academic levels to ensure the University fosters an environment in which everyone may flourish. Her key responsibilities center on coordination, training and development, recruitment, retention, and communications, and she acts as the point person for colleges and departments as they implement the diversity and inclusion plans developed in response to the Faculty Experience Survey and aimed at enhancing Notre Dame’s faculty climate.

Young came to Notre Dame from PNY Consulting in Holyoke, Mass., where she advised colleges, businesses, and individuals on issues related to Title VII, Title IX, ADA, and FERPA. Prior to that, she was director of institutional diversity and equity at Smith College, administering the college’s affirmative action plan, exercising oversight of diversity and equity policies, and conducting discrimination and grievance investigations. Her experience in higher education also includes approximately five years as human resources director at North Shore Community College in Danvers, Mass.

As an attorney, Young has consulted for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and, from 1997–2000, served as an assistant district attorney in Hampden County, Mass. She has been an assistant city solicitor and a member of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, as well.

After graduating with a B.A. in government from Dartmouth College, Young received her J.D. from the Notre Dame Law School. In addition, she holds an M.Ed. in educational leadership from Salem State College, and she completed the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.