What does it mean to be human? Technological developments challenge the identity of human beings all the time with this question. In 2024, Megan Fenrich, Valentina Graziuso and Daniele Meregalli, three Italian graduate students from ROMS are organizing the Carolina Conference for Romance Studies, CCRS, where they invite you to share your ideas on being- human in the Romance World under the general theme of Esse Humani: The (Non)Human Question.

Three great students speak about their experience taking SPAN 267 -Advance Spanish in Context for Heritage Learners.

Learning a second language can take you places and give you experiences you never imagined you would have. It is like a door that is there, always ready to be opened. No matter what your professional goals are, speaking more than one language is an opportunity. This is what today's episode in ROMS podcast is about: how learning French gave Abhigya Chennamsetty an opened door, one that she decided to cross and that gave her one of the most fulfilling and growing experiences she has had so far.

COIL stands for Collaborative Online International Learning, and it is an initiative, supported by the office of Vice Provost for Global Affairs, to offer a different kind of teaching and learning experience to professors and their students by connecting their course with a global partner University. In the Department of Romance Studies, there have been three professors who applied for COIL and successfully reaped the benefits of a cultural exchange with their students. In ROMS Podcast, we communicated with two professors, Professor Lorna Avilés and Professor Dorothea Heitsch, so that they can share their experiences with our listeners and invite other professors to participate in this wonderful opportunity

Excited chatter, the sipping of coffee and the turning of pages- these are the sounds of Epilogue Café on Franklin Street, but more specifically, the sounds of one of their regular events called Café Cortado. Café Cortado, founded by Professor Oswaldo Estrada of the Romance Studies department, is a bi-monthly event in Spanish where special guests from all around the country come together to read their poetry, novels, or essays while participants discuss and engage with these works. In todays episode, we will be listening to Dr. Estrada tell the story of Café Cortado, its mission, and it’s goals for the future.

In this episode we talk about the experiences of three of our students. Oscar, Kelsey, and Meghan are the three senior students who won the Sterling A. Stoudemire Award for Excellence in Spanish, the Jacques Hardré Undergraduate Award for Excellence in French, and the Camões Prize for excellence  in Portuguese in 2022. These awards are the ROMs department’s Chancellor's Awards, and they are presented to students who demonstrate academic excellence and outstanding work in their field.

Learning while interacting with the Chapel Hill community and helping to provide it with new educational resources that are lacking seems like the perfect match for a language course. Well, that is what is offered in SPAN 329, Spanish for the professions and community engagement, alongside its APPLES Service-Learning component, taught by Professor Heather Knorr. In this episode we talk to her and one of her students about their experience with a wonderful and creative project.

In this episode we dive into the experiences of three of our exchange students. Their backgrounds, what they found upon their arrival at UNC, and how the experience of being at the Department of Romance Studies helped them grow both professionally and personally. Don't miss listening to these interesting testimonies of Luka, Elena and Gabriel, wonderful students who came from far away to work and learn with us.