RLL's Award-Winning Graduate Students
RLL's graduate students excel at teaching, research, and community involvement. Read on for details of their latest achievements.
Excellence in Teaching
L to R: UB President Satish Tripathi; 2023 Excellence in Teaching Awardee Jamison García Ramírez, RLL PhD candidate in Spanish linguistics; Peter Pfordresher, CAS Associate Dean of Academic Affairs; and Graham Hammill, UB Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School.
The graduate teaching assistant Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes exceptional ability in teaching across the university. Students are chosen based on on their commmitment to excellent academic standards in teaching through superior and innovative classroom teaching skills and dedication to mentoring and advising.
A number of RLL students have received this prestigious award in recent years, and we are pleased to celebrate them here!
- 2023-2024: Amelia Gayle, French Literature
- 2022-2023: Jamison Garcia Ramírez, Spanish Linguistics
- 2021-2022: Marie C. Dufay-Verbié, PhD, French
- 2020-2021: Marietta Fernández López, PhD, Spanish
- 2018-2019: Joëlle Carota, PhD, Spanish
UB Social Impact Fellows
Alex Bakke, 2nd from right, and the Social Impact Fellow cohort summer 2022.
Summer 2023: Niomarie Rivera (L) and Marie Celine Dufay-Verbié (Center), participate in a Legos icebreaking activity.
Through UB's Social Impact Fellows program, MBA and MSW students from the School of Management and School of Social Work, along with graduate students from the College of Arts and Sciences, create social innovation in Western New York. Together, students collaborate to address pressing social issues and make an impact. RLL is fortunate enough to have had five PhD candidates chosen as program participants: Alex Bakke (summer 2022); Marie C. Dufay-Verbié and Niomarie Rivera (summer 2023); Théo Ricardo and Wendy M. Vera (summer 2024).
Mark Diamond Research Fellowships
The Graduate Student Association initiated this fund in 1971 as the "Graduate Resource Access Development Fund" to assist students access funding to complete research by helping to cover expenses relative to their thesis or dissertion. It was renamed after Mark Diamond, a 1980s UB graduate student and fund director from 1981-1985 who was committed to continuing to make research funding accessible to graduate students.
Recent Mark Diamond Research Fund awardees include: Alex Bakke, PhD; Jamison García Ramírez, PhD candidate in Spanish Linguistics (2023-2024); and Sydney Jameson-Blowers, PhD candidate in Spanish Linguistics (2024-2025).
Congratulations on this fantastic accomplishment!
Arthur A. Schomburg Fellowship Program
The Schomburg graduate fellowship program supports underrepresented students pursuing full time graduate studies at UB. Dr. Paulin Toutche, who received his PhD in French Language and Literature from our department in 2024, is a member of the 2019 Schomburg program cohort.
CAS Diversity Fellowship Program
We are pleased to announce that PhD student in Spanish José Perez Vargas is a 2023 recipient of a CAS Diversity Fellowship. This program supports students who will contribute to the diversity of the student body and who have overcome challenges to success in higher education. We welcome José to RLL and congratulate him on this achievement!