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The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures continues to thrive because of the generous contributions given to us. These contributions have allowed us to provide awards and prizes to outstanding undergraduate students.
Student Achievement Awards for Majors and Minors are presented to graduating majors and minors in Romance Languages and Literatures who have been nominated by our faculty and are considered exceptional in their studies.
The Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis in Romance Languages and Literatures is a competitive monetary prize. Students who are in the honors program and have successfully completed their honors thesis can be nominated by their faculty advisor who considers their work exemplary.
The Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages was created in memory of Chiara Levin, an RLL alumni who graduated with honors in 2006 and excelled in all four Romance languages taught here at UM. This award is meant to encourage exceptional students, like Chiara, to excel in more than one Romance language.
2021-2022 Recipients
Student Achievement Awards
Majors
French
Haven Essien
Eva McAlister López
Alexander Satola
Italian
Alexandra Chessare
Romance Languages & Literatures
Gabirana Farah
Spanish
Brandon Block
Jessica Czapla
Jade Parker
Vincent Pinti
Anjani Raja
Diana Ramo
Zhehao Tong
Stepan Topouzian
Thomas Wiaduck
Minors
French
Dania Jaamour
Kim-Van Pham
Arianna Seir
Italian
Anthony DiBello
Sara Trumza
Spanish
Cade Cantu
Caitlin Cohen
Ellie Johandes
Daisy Ramos-Herrera
Alayna Simonds
Alexandra Turfe
Amelia Vacante
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Hayden Graves - Romance Languages & Literatures Major
Languages: French, Italian, Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Jack Wisneski - Spanish Major, Honors
Thesis Advisor: Professor Javier Sanjinés
Thesis Title: "Ruido y barreras lingüisticas en la atención médica para personas hispanohablantes" (Noise and Language Barriers in Healthcare for Spanish Speakers)
2020-2021 Recipients
Student Achievement Awards
Majors
French
Maggie Bailey
Caitlin Marcus
Madeleine Ross
Martina Villalobos
Italian
Allison Young
Spanish
Katharine Carpenter
Ashley Carroll
Jean Cutter
Thomas Dutkiewicz
Shayna Greenley
Darius Moore
Angel Polzin
Aditi Priyadershi
Kathleen Sharkey
Karli Wulwick
Minors
French
Amirah Bin-Mahfouz
Jiahao Liu
Olivia Sedlacek
Italian
Pierce Hourihane
Spanish
Sophia Dunlap
Maria Hill-Carruthers
Yun Gi Hwang
Kate Kurlandsky
Katrina Padron
Maria Ulayyet
Divya Venkat
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Daicy Hexiao Yu, Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Amber Galvano, Spanish Honors
Faculty Mentor: Nicholas Henriksen
Thesis Title: Sound Change in Western Andalusian Spanish: An Acoustic Analysis of Phonemic Voiceless Stops
2019-2020 Recipients
Student Achievement Awards
Majors
French
Matthew Eby
Erin Kiessling
Austin Piontkowski
Romance Languages and Literatures
Julieta Duvall
Spanish
Antoinette Demerse
Kara Genther
Joanna Gerberding
Ella Horwedel
Sarah Hussain
Michael Russo
Sofia Smith
Annika Topelian
Samantha Tosa
Giselle Uwera
Minors
French
Morgan Bergstrom
Dayton Hare
Claire Peabody
Italian
Henry Ludwig
Portuguese
Lily Talmers
Spanish
Hallie Banc
Joseph Rickert
Benancio Rodriguez
Maria Uribe
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Jovany Dorsainvil, Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Hannah Parton, Spanish Honors
Faculty Mentor: Enrique García Santo-Tomás
Thesis Title: Un ethos compartido: la Rusia de Lope de Vegaen El gran duque
2018-2019 Recipients
Student Achievement Awards
Majors
| French | Spanish |
| Sabrina Angel | Emily Bacon |
| Sarah Bonello | Sean Lang |
| Catherine Keeling | Danielle Mullis |
| Griffin St Onge | Vivek Nair |
| Rebecca Schaenzel | |
| Italian | Maya Youness |
| Marielle Dewicki | |
| Francesca Terzoli | |
| Romance Languages and Literatures | |
| Hannah Ma | |
| Michael Ward |
Minors
| French | Spanish |
| Mina Al-Ansari | Brett Ivey |
| Logan Murphy | Vihangi Niyangoda |
| Ariana Vespa | Marina Ross |
| McKenna Turrill | |
| Italian | Olivia Velarde |
| Marielle Dewicki | |
| Francesca Terzoli | |
| Portuguese | |
| Kevin Barlow | |
| Courtney Caulkins |
Student Achievement and Community Engagement Award
Rachel Willis, French Honors
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Kelly Kendro, Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: Italian and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Sean Lang, Spanish Honors
Faculty Mentor: Lorenzo García-Amaya
Thesis Title: Cross-language influence between Afrikaans and Spanish: The phenomenon of filled pauses in spontaneous speech
2017-2018 Recipients
Student Achievement Award
| French Madeline Boyer Vinson Fan Morgan Ginter Brett Graham Sarah Harthun Michael Jones Sofia Squatriti Andrew White Julia Young
|
Romance Languages Spanish |
Spanish cont. |
Student Recognition Award
French Italian Portuguese |
Spanish Victoria Chapin Jennifer Choi Emily Damstetter Meredith Grupe Samuel Lopez Chloe Matovina Rhea Ninan Nishi Parikh Devika Reddy Amber Simmons David Stimson Jacqueline Tsontakis Taylor Vandenberg Kate Vogel Annamarguerite Zvetan |
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Cameron Flynn, Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Mariah Cardenas, Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Gareth Williams
Thesis Title: A Marxist-Catholic Friendship: The Curious Case of Nicaragua and El Salvador
Cameron Flynn, Romance Languages and Literatures
Faculty Mentor: Michele Hannoosh
Thesis Title: The Bohemian in the Modern City: Social Reality and Literary Myth
Aidan Parker, Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Cristina Moreiras-Menor
Thesis Title: The Caudillo and the Dissidents: Francoist Censorship and Spanish Leftist Cinema, 1950-1975
2016-2017 Recipients
Student Achievement Award
Majors
French
|
Spanish Zachary Arrington Adam Depollo Alexandra Fitzpatrick Mallory Fuller Perla Hernandez Marianne Khouri Alexandra Kuske Abby Madison Andrea Martin Daeja Marzette Connor McMann Alicia Morrish Meghan Samyn Brianne Sieja Shefali Sood |
|
Minors
French
Italian |
Spanish Emily Barish Katherine Baur Rick Berschbach Madeline Blocki Taylor Boes Alec Furstenberg Simon Hedges James Hendrickson Alexandra Jankulov Brittany Kashat Joe Kuderer Maria Ligeski Allison McWeeney Rogelio Padron Maria Robins-Somerville Liam Schilling Noah Swimmer Kamaria Washington Leo Zekelman |
|
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Maxim Aleksa, Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Nolan Kavanagh, Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Juli Highfill
Thesis Title: Invasive Parties: Explaining the Absence of Right-Wing Populism in Spain
2015-2016 Recipients
Student Achievement Award
Majors |
||
| French William Brewster Katerina Checkhovskiy Elena Friedberg Kelsey Kerr Saara Mohammed Kelly Nguyen Jenna Post Allison Reck Broghan Sagers Liyan Xu
|
Italian
Romance Languages & Literatures |
Spanish |
Minors |
||
French Italian |
Portuguese Spanish |
|
Outstanding Honors Thesis Award
Gabrielle Kirsch: French
Faculty Mentor: David Caron
Thesis Title: LGBT et Juif-ve- s à Paris: Une étude de l’association Beit Haverim
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Samuel Whaley: Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Gavin Buck: Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Nicholas Henriksen
Thesis Title: Systematic transfer of `uptalk' from English (L1) to Spanish (L2) for native English speakers: A developmental study
2014-2015 Recipients
Student Achievement Award
Majors |
||
| French Elyse Brusher John Foster Rachelle Linsenmayer David Mays Aryeh Perlman Danielle Schmidt Haley Soshnick Italian Romance Languages |
Spanish |
Spanish cont. |
Minors |
||
| French Elisia De Smet Nirbhay Jain Emma Sohlberg Emily Steinberg Erik Wilder Italian Portuguese |
Spanish Matt Burns Jaime Cameron Dominic Farchione Moira King Allison Kosaian Jacqueline Miller Kristin Rybski Jessie Sahakian Nicole Werner Callie Wilkinson |
|
Student Recognition Award
Majors |
||
| French Colin Frishberg Cristina Glakas Emma Lenke Katherine Man Taylor Modrowski Samantha Pinto Chloe Reyes Caroline Schaper Leah Stavenhagen Ryan Yucha Italian Romance Languages |
Spanish Maya Adamczyk Bryn Anderson Antonio Barron Erica Bauman Molly Block Benjamin Brenner Brinley Bruton Chandler Burch Brianna Christy Alison Climes Crystal Collier Maxwell Comparetto Rachel Delinger Barbara Dennis Sarah Diamond Ryan Dillon Nicholas Ellis Lindsay Ferguson |
Spanish Cont. Shelby Florida Adam Grinwis Taylor Harrower Michael Hipp Eric Huebner John Huff Zaryn Jennings Skyler Kragt Elaine Kussurelis Laura Lampron Caitlin Marinovich Enxhi Merpeza Shira Peress Christina Pu Audrey Sharp Parisa Soraya Michelle Tierney Michelle Zaydlin Zachary Zott |
Minors |
||
French |
Italian Phillip Marchese Anthony Mazur Portuguese Spanish |
Spanish cont. Jenna Kreitman Mckenzie Laudel Danielle Licht Andrew Lockman Giuliano Mancini Hannah Marcy Lauren McGee Nicola Montagna Mark Panhorst Cameron Summers Paige Taliaferro Rachel Torres Stephanie Varsha Michael Weinberg Emma Williams Yekaterina Zhupan |
Outstanding Minor Award
French Italian |
Portuguese Spanish |
Outstanding Honors Thesis Award
Ashley Mulcahy: Italian
Faculty Mentor: Vincenzo Binetti
Thesis Title: Zenobia e Radamisto
Bryan Frederick: Romance Languages and Literatures
Faculty Mentor: Lorenzo García-Amaya
Thesis Title: La influencia del contexto de aprendizaje en la adquisición de la lenición en
español como L2
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Bryan Frederick: Romance Languages and Literatures
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Elyse Brusher: French
Faculty Mentor: George Hoffmann
Thesis Title: Une révolution de paroles: une analyse de trois mots intraduisibles.
Étude comparative du français et de l’anglais
2013-2014 Recipients
Student Achievement Award
| French Daniel Brown Andrea Byl Allison Epstein Maia Gleason Angela Haddad Caroline Hutcheson Michael Lerner Agne Sriubaite Clare Toeniskoetter Molly Vandenberg
|
Romance Languages Spanish |
Spanish cont. |
Student Recognition Award
| French Alaina Butner Sally Davis Audrey Easterwood Deirdre Jones Lauren King Lilliana Lin Chloe Logan Wayne Ng Kwing King Eva Pullano Sarah Squillante
Romance Languages |
Spanish Katherine Appleman Alexander Bader Drew Barnes Antonio Barron Samantha Bolz Matthew Brandewie Lauren Bruder Lena Carleton Katherine Corbit Eric Cosky Danielle Dubois Neil Dwivedi Jennifer Eisenberg Elizabeth English Rayna Foster Hayley Glauben Mary-Catherine Goddard Alea Groshek |
Spanish cont. |
Outstanding Honors Thesis Award
Rebecca Cao, Romance Languages and Literatures
Faculty Mentor: Nicholas Henriksen
Thesis Title: Stress, dispersion, and variability of Catalan, French, and Spanish vowels
Erin Russ, Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Juli Highfill
Thesis Title: En busca del duende: Lorca y su “Juego y teoría del duende”
Chiara Maria Levin Award for Breadth and Excellence in the Romance Languages
Kyra Hauck, Double Major in Romance Languages and Literatures Honors and Arts and Ideas
Languages: French and Spanish
Agnes Nicolini Vincenti Award for an Outstanding Honors Thesis
Eric Cosky, Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Julie Highfill
Thesis Title: El cine traumático: La recuperación de las memorias perdidas en España y Argentina
Interested in supporting RLL students?
Donations to the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL) allow us to offer scholarships, awards, prizes, and internship stipends that would not be possible otherwise. Every gift makes a difference, and allows us the opportunity to support and recognize our exceptional students.
To make a donation to the department please click here.
Thank you for your support!
