Meet our graduate students and alumni . . .
Luis Pradanos
Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures
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My name is Luis I. Prádanos (Iñaki) and I am a PhD Candidate in Spanish Literature. I am from Spain and I completed my BA in the University of Alcalá (Madrid). I applied to the TTU graduate program in Spanish Literature in 2004. Since then, I have constantly taught courses in Spanish during my time at Texas Tech University. My department has shown its confidence in my abilities by appointing me to teach courses that require leadership skills, such as third year conversation, grammar, culture, and fourth year culture courses. Also, last semester my department assigned me the responsibility to coordinate the new TA's, as well as to evaluate their performance and provide them with feedback for improvement. | |
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Due to my respected pedagogical practice, my department has given me the opportunity to teach and accompany a group of Texas Tech students on our Seville (Spain) program on five different occasions. As a result of my performance in that program and the unusually high teaching evaluations that I have constantly received, I was nominated by the chairman of my department for the Outstanding Graduate Part-Time Instructor Award, which was awarded to me by the Texas Tech University Graduate School in 2006. During the 2007/08 academic year, I was a TEACH (Teaching Effectiveness And Career EnHancement) Program Fellow sponsored by Texas Tech. This program gave me the opportunity to work with professionals to develop and improve all my professional skills. As part of the TEACH fellowship, I designed a new fourth year course to be taught abroad, which I later had the opportunity to teach successfully in Seville. |
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Besides improving my teaching abilities and gaining pedagogical experience, during my time in the graduate program I also had the chance to do many important things for my career: I am an editor of the Céfiro journal of Hispanic culture and literature, and an assistant editor of Intertexts (a journal of comparative literature and theoretical reflection). In my department, I participate in other professional activities. For instance, I am a Deputy Peer Recruiter. The purpose of this program is to develop recruitment strategies and to recruit graduate students internationally for the Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures department. | |
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Thanks to the constant orientation, support and encouragement from my research director, Dr. Janet Pérez, and also from all the professors and members of the department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures I was able to produce an ongoing research dossier. My research is radically interdisciplinary: I combine literature with system theory and neurology. I am currently investigating this interdisciplinary avenue, and I have recently published four articles in top scholarly journals within my field. As a graduate student, I have consistently published reviews in such journals and have recently submitted one book chapter for consideration. Moreover, I have presented my work at several national and international conferences. The Graduate School at TTU has awarded me Travel Fellowships to fund many of the aforementioned conferences. | |
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My main goal for the next two years is to complete my dissertation and become an Assistant Professor of Spanish. At the same time, as a professor, I will produce scholarly publications and be part of a vibrant academic community. Overall, the years I have spent so far in the TTU graduate school have been the most productive years of my life. I really think they have made a huge difference in my career and in my education in many ways. All this has been possible thanks to the outstanding quality of the professors in my department as mentors and teachers, and for the unconditional support of the department administration since I arrived to TTU. |
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