SPO lecturers Luis Gonçalves, Paloma Moscardó-Vallés, and Nadia Cervantes Pérez have been promoted to Senior Lecturer and will begin their post officially at the start of the new academic year, July 2025.

Promotion to the rank of senior lecturer is accorded to individuals who have achieved a distinguished record of teaching, contributed innovations to instructional programs or curriculum, and/or attained significant standing in their academic field. Individuals are recommended by their department and then the cases are reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements in the Lecturer Ranks.

Since joining Princeton in 2006, Paloma Moscardó has been a leading force in community-engaged learning. Her longstanding work in SPA 205–Medical Spanish, for which she has recently developed a series of annotated videos with native speakers to enhance medical interview practice, has provided pre-med students with comprehensive and applied training. Her course SPA 204–Spanish for a Medical Caravan has enabled students to participate in medical caravans in Ecuador and, more recently, in Colombia, fostering real-world learning experiences. Her commitment to community engagement is evident in her sustained collaborations with organizations such as LALDEF (Latin American Legal Defense Fund) and KDSAP (Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Program).

Having taught every course in both the Portuguese and Spanish language sequences, Luis Gonçalves is likely the faculty member who has taught the widest range of language courses in our department—and possibly in the entire university. Since 2010, he has played a fundamental role in Portuguese language instruction at Princeton, leading key courses and having an important contribution to the development of “Língua Viva,” the digital platform for the Portuguese language program. As president of the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese (AOTP) and the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), Luis has made a significant impact on the promotion of Portuguese as a language of instruction nationwide. Since 2022, he also serves as director of the Middlebury Portuguese Language School.

Nadia Cervantes joined our department in 2014. Her SPA 105 course, centered on neocolonialism, was among the first courses integrating language and content developed under the new Spanish language program curriculum. In addition to SPA 105, Nadia has taught freshman seminars on U.S.-Mexico border fictions and colonial Latin America. Her project, Translating Mesoamerica, funded by a Magic Grant, employs digital humanities tools to transcribe and translate Nahuatl manuscripts. As co-founder of the Early Modern Nahuatl Workshop and organizer of events featuring Latino and Indigenous intellectuals and artists, she has helped strengthen the University's connections with Indigenous and Latinx communities.

Congratulations to Luis, Paloma and Nadia!