Faculty Directory

Learn from scholars shaping global conversations

Faculty in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures are internationally recognized scholars, teachers and mentors whose work explores language, literature, culture, film, linguistics and global communication across the Romance-language world. Students work closely with faculty in small classes, research projects and discussion-based learning environments that encourage curiosity, collaboration and critical thinking.

  • Carlos Amador.

    935 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Wednesdays from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. and by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0553

    carlosam@buffalo.edu

    Director of Graduate Studies
    Associate Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    935 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Wednesdays from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. and by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0553

    carlosam@buffalo.edu

  • Barbara Avila-Shah.

    910 Clemens Hall

    Phone: (716) 645-0867

    bia@buffalo.edu

    Language Coordinator
    Adjunct Assistant Professor of Spanish
    French (100-level) and Spanish (100-level) Advisor
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Language Education; Alternative Grading; Sociolinguistics in Caribbean Spanish; Second language acquisition and teaching; Spanish for heritage speakers; Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Caribbean Spanish

  • Colleen Balukas.

    931 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2–3 p.m. held by Zoom or in-person.

    Phone: (716) 645-2794

    cpbaluka@buffalo.edu

    Assistant Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Linguistics
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Affiliated Faculty
    Department of Linguistics
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Bilingualism, pedagogy, phonology, code-switching, sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics

    931 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2–3 p.m. held by Zoom or in-person.

    Phone: (716) 645-2794

    cpbaluka@buffalo.edu

  • Henry Berlin.

    911 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 2:30–3:30 p.m. (Zoom), Wednesdays 12–1 p.m. (in-person)

    Phone: (716) 645-2243

    hsberlin@buffalo.edu

    Associate Professor of Spanish
    Spanish (200+ level) Advisor
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: History and theory of the emotions; Medieval rhetoric and poetics; Literature, philosophy and theology; Iberian Studies

    911 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 2:30–3:30 p.m. (Zoom), Wednesdays 12–1 p.m. (in-person)

    Phone: (716) 645-2243

    hsberlin@buffalo.edu

  • David Castillo.

    929 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:30–12:30 p.m. or by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0869

    dc63@buffalo.edu

    Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Co-Director
    UB Center for Information Integrity

    Scholarly Interests: Inflationary Media and Disinformation; Cervantes; Early Modern Literature; Fantasy and Horror/Terror; Cultural Theory

    929 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:30–12:30 p.m. or by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0869

    dc63@buffalo.edu

  • Laura Chiesa.

    927 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 3–4 p.m. (Zoom) and Thursdays 3:30–4:30 p.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-0872

    lchiesa@buffalo.edu

    Italian (200+ level) Advisor
    Associate Professor of Italian and French
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Modern and Contemporary Italian and French Studies; Critical Theory; Architecture; Film and Visual Studies

    927 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 3–4 p.m. (Zoom) and Thursdays 3:30–4:30 p.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-0872

    lchiesa@buffalo.edu

  • Colleen Culleton.

    905 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:30-4:30 p.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-0861

    culleton@buffalo.edu

    Associate Chair
    Associate Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Modern Spanish and Catalan literature and culture; Ecocriticism; Spatial analysis; Theories of narrative

    905 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:30-4:30 p.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-0861

    culleton@buffalo.edu

  • Marco Faini.

    901 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays and Fridays, 2–3 p.m., in-person or by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-2101

    mfaini@buffalo.edu

    Associate Professor of Italian
    Italian (100 level) Advisor
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Early modern Italian literature and religious life; satire, comic, and mock-heroic literature; early modern doubt; history of the book; literature and the visual arts.

    901 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays and Fridays, 2–3 p.m., in-person or by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-2101

    mfaini@buffalo.edu

  • Amy Graves Monroe.

    924 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: available by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0880

    acgraves@buffalo.edu

    Professor of French (on sabbatical)
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Wars of Religion; Print Culture and History of the Book; Early Modern Philosophy and Political Thought; Satire and Irony; Intellectual History and Literary Theory

    924 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: available by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0880

    acgraves@buffalo.edu

  • Fabiola Henri.

    907 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9–10:30 a.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-0933

    fabiolah@buffalo.edu

    Associate Professor of French
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Adjunct Associate Professor
    Department of Linguistics
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Interests: Creole Languages; Descriptive & Theoretical Linguistics; Linguistic Typology; Extensible Lexical databases and Corpora; Experimental data; Language Change; Language Acquisition; Morphological Complexity

    907 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9–10:30 a.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-0933

    fabiolah@buffalo.edu

  • David E. Johnson.

    712 A Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays, 10–10:50 a.m. and by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0854

    dj@buffalo.edu

    Chair
    Professor
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    712 A Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays, 10–10:50 a.m. and by appointment

    Phone: (716) 645-0854

    dj@buffalo.edu

  • Melissa McCarron.

    938 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 2–3 p.m. (938 Clemens),

    Thursdays 2–3 p.m. (938 Clemens),

    Thursdays 6–7 p.m. (264 Pharmacy Building)

    & by appointment.

    Phone: (716) 645-1735

    mjmccarr@buffalo.edu

    Assistant Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Affiliate Faculty
    Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science

    Research and Teaching: Healthcare communication; language access and health equity; applied linguistics; linguistic anthropology; public health and the health humanities; Spanish for the Health Professions; multilingual care systems; Caribbean Spanish; Spanish in clinical and community health contexts; language ideologies in healthcare; interpreter-mediated communication; trust, consent, stigma, and vulnerability in patient-provider interaction; community-engaged research; ethical AI and language-learning technologies; culturally responsive clinical simulations; critical approaches to Languages for Specific Purposes.

    938 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 2–3 p.m. (938 Clemens),

    Thursdays 2–3 p.m. (938 Clemens),

    Thursdays 6–7 p.m. (264 Pharmacy Building)

    & by appointment.

    Phone: (716) 645-1735

    mjmccarr@buffalo.edu

  • Fernanda Negrete.

    921 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Wednesdays 3–4 p.m. (Zoom by appointment only),

    Thursdays 1–2 p.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-2244

    fnegrete@buffalo.edu

    French (200+ level) Advisor
    Associate Professor of French
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Director
    Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis & Culture
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Literature and the Other Arts; Psychoanalysis, Modern Literatures (in French, Portuguese, Spanish, English) and Philosophy; Sexuality Studies and Critical Theory; Women Writers and Film Directors; Art, Art Theory, and Aesthetics; the Ethics of Psychoanalysis and Schizoanalysis; Environmental Art.

    921 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Wednesdays 3–4 p.m. (Zoom by appointment only),

    Thursdays 1–2 p.m.

    Phone: (716) 645-2244

    fnegrete@buffalo.edu

  • Justin Read.

    925 Clemens Hall

    Phone: (716) 645-0878

    jread2@buffalo.edu

    Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese (on sabbatical)
    Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Urbanization and Modernization of Latin America since 1850; Critical Border Studies; Political Theory; Latin American Cultural Theory; Post-Humanism and Media Theory; 19th and 20th century Latin American literature and culture; Critical theory; Poetics; Modernism and Avant-Garde; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico

  • Adrián Rodríguez-Riccelli.

    923 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3:30–5:30 p.m. (in person)

    Thursdays, 3:30–4:30 p.m. (in person)

    Alternative appointments may be available via Zoom or in person. Contact the professor to arrange an appointment.

    Phone: (716) 645-3820 | On Leave 2025-26

    arriccel@buffalo.edu

    Assistant Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Variationist socio-linguistics; Contact linguistics; Morphosyntax; Language change; Afro-diasporic Romance vernaculars; Pidgin & Creole languages; Spanish in the United States

    923 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3:30–5:30 p.m. (in person)

    Thursdays, 3:30–4:30 p.m. (in person)

    Alternative appointments may be available via Zoom or in person. Contact the professor to arrange an appointment.

    Phone: (716) 645-3820 | On Leave 2025-26

    arriccel@buffalo.edu

  • Elizabeth Scarlett.

    913 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays, 11–11:50 a.m. (in person) and Wednesdays, 11–11:50 a.m. (Zoom). Other times available on request.

    Phone: (716) 645-0873

    scarlett@buffalo.edu

    Professor of Spanish
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Modern and Contemporary Spanish Peninsular Literature and Film; Romanticism; Realism; Avant garde movements; Feminism

    913 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays, 11–11:50 a.m. (in person) and Wednesdays, 11–11:50 a.m. (Zoom). Other times available on request.

    Phone: (716) 645-0873

    scarlett@buffalo.edu

  • Stephanie Schmidt.

    909 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 1–2 p.m. (Zoom); Tuesdays, 1–3:30 p.m. (in-person)

    Phone: (716) 645-0864

    ss573@buffalo.edu

    Director of Undergraduate Studies
    Associate Professor of Spanish
    Spanish (200+ level) Advisor
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Colonial Latin American literature; Nahuatl Studies; Early Modern Spanish literature

    909 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 1–2 p.m. (Zoom); Tuesdays, 1–3:30 p.m. (in-person)

    Phone: (716) 645-0864

    ss573@buffalo.edu

  • Adam Schoene.

    908 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (in-person) and Fridays 2–3 p.m. (Zoom)

    Phone: (716) 645-0149 | On Leave

    schoene3@buffalo.edu

    Assistant Professor of French
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences
    Affiliate Faculty
    School of Law, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of English, Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, Department of History, Department of Psychology, Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science

    Scholarly Interests: Administrative Law; Civil Procedure; Constitutional Law; Contracts; Corruption; Despotism; Discrimination; Ethics; French and Francophone Studies; Global Migration; Health and Environmental Justice; Human Rights; Indigenous Law; International and Comparative Law; Labor and Employment Law; Law and Humanities; Legal and Political Theory; Legal Research and Writing; Property

    908 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (in-person) and Fridays 2–3 p.m. (Zoom)

    Phone: (716) 645-0149 | On Leave

    schoene3@buffalo.edu

  • Stéphane Térosier.

    924B Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 2–4 p.m. or by appointment.

    Phone: 716-645-4132

    sterosie@buffalo.edu

    Assistant Professor of French
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Syntax; Syntax-semantics interface; Syntax-pragmatics interface; Creole languages; Martinican Creole; Regional varieties of French

    924B Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays 2–4 p.m. or by appointment.

    Phone: 716-645-4132

    sterosie@buffalo.edu

  • Paola Ugolini.

    915 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays and Fridays, 2–3 p.m. (in person). Appointment preferred.

    Phone: (716) 645-0865

    ugolini@buffalo.edu

    Italian Advisor
    Associate Professor of Italian
    Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Early modern Italian literature, culture and conduct manuals; Satire; Chivalric poems; Gender studies

    915 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Mondays and Fridays, 2–3 p.m. (in person). Appointment preferred.

    Phone: (716) 645-0865

    ugolini@buffalo.edu

  • Brian Whitener.

    903 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Wednesdays 2–4 p.m. (in person) and Fridays 2–3 p.m. (Zoom) and by appointment.

    Phone: 716-645-2119

    bwhitene@buffalo.edu

    Associate Professor of Spanish
    Romance Languages and Literatures
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Scholarly Interests: Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Studies; Poetics; Indigenous Studies; Trans and Gender Studies

    903 Clemens Hall

    Office Hours: Wednesdays 2–4 p.m. (in person) and Fridays 2–3 p.m. (Zoom) and by appointment.

    Phone: 716-645-2119

    bwhitene@buffalo.edu