CLACS 2024-25 Award Recipients

Funding, News  |  

We’re pleased to announce that during academic year 2024-25 we supported 30 UWM faculty, UWM students, and regional faculty with over $65,500 in funding. These funds supported conference presentations, field research, and less-commonly taught language studies.

Congratulations to all our faculty and student awardees!

We are able to offer this funding thanks to a grant program at the U.S. Department of Education: jointly with our colleagues at UW-Madison, CLACS is a proud National Resource Center (NRC) for Latin America. The NRC program reflects a United States commitment to building domestic expertise in foreign language and world area studies, thereby advancing knowledge about all major world areas at universities and in the broader national community.

Student Awards

This academic year we awarded over $57,000 in funding to 16 undergraduate and graduate students:

Graduate Research-Conference Award

  • Stephen Boluwaduro (African & African Diaspora Studies)
  • Marissa Cudworth (Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding)
  • Amy Klemmer (Anthropology)
  • Allison Kusick (Geosciences)
  • Cole Schmidt (Geosciences)
  • Alma Vazquez-Smith (Clinical Psychology)

Ruggiero-Handelman Field Research Award

  • Edwin Guevara (Public Health)
  • Billie Harrison (Biological Sciences)
  • Kaitlyn Lund (Conservation Science/Geography)

Donald Shea Study Abroad Scholarship

  • Anna Gonzalez (Political Science)
  • Eliana Monfre (Business)
  • Kristian Zenz (English)

Foreign Language & Area Studies Summer 2025 Graduate Students

  • Grace Files (Women’s and Gender Studies) – Florida International University’s Haitian Summer Institute, Haitian Creole
  • Eric Schmitt (Engineering) – Tulane University’s Summer in Brazil Program, Portuguese

Foreign Language & Area Studies AY 2024-25 Undergraduate Students for the study of Brazilian Portuguese

  • Anna Gonzalez (Political Science)
  • Lucca Marcello (Film Production)

 

UWM Faculty Research-Conference Awards

9 UWM faculty and teaching academic staff received support for their field research/presentations, totaling $6,000:

  • Susana Antunes (Spanish & Portuguese)
  • Sarah Davies Cordova (Global Studies, French & Francophone Studies)
  • César Ferreira (Spanish & Portuguese)
  • Pamela Harris (Mathematics)
  • Brian Mueller (History)
  • Gabriela Nagy (Clinical Psychology)
  • Jessica Nelson (History)
  • Gabriel Rei-Doval (Spanish & Portuguese)
  • Alex Wier (Music, Percussion)

Regional Faculty Research-Conference Awards

5 Regional Faculty from both public and private institutions received support for their field research and conference presentations, totaling $2,500:

  • Adam Coon (Spanish, University of Minnesota Morris)
  • Gustavo Fares (Spanish, Lawrence University)
  • Michelle Medeiros (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Marquette University)
  • Astrid Ochoa Campo (Global Cultures & Languages, UW-La Crosse)
  • Michelle Pinzl (English & World Languages, Viterbo University)