Graduate Organizations

Graduate Colloquium

Since 1987 the graduate students of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UT have organized a biannual colloquium, whose mission is to further graduate student professional and intellectual development. Each year the event provides a space to present current research interests and to share all forms of work-in-progress. The first colloquium, officially called the “UT Colloquium on Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Romance Linguistics”, was made possible through the effort of professors Madeleine Sutherland-Meier and Dale Koike, who received support from various academic departments across campus. At present the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Organization (GSO) works enthusiastically to coordinate the colloquium and to select its theme. True to its interdisciplinary nature, the colloquium is supported by several departments, organizations, programs and centers at UT, and continues to gather graduate students and independent scholars from across the US, Latin America and Europe. As part of each program the colloquium organizers invite distinguished keynote speakers to contribute to the discussion on campus.

Past literature keynote speakers include: Andrew P. Debicki (1987), Alan Deyermond (1997), Jean Franco (2000), Gustavo Pérez-Firmat (2002), Carlos J. Alonso (2003), Sylvia Molloy (2007), Francine Masiello (2008), Debra Castillo (2009), Aníbal Gonzalez Perez (2019), Emil’ Keme (Spanish) and Patricia Pinho (Portuguese) (2021)

Past linguistics keynote speakers include: Evelyn Hatch (1987), Carmen Silvia Corvalán (1997), Roger W. Andersen (2000), John Lipski (2002 and 2008), James P. Lantolf, and Armin Schwegler (2003), Silvina Montrul (2007), Jonathan Rosa and Scott Schwenter (2009), Ana C Zentella (2011), Damián Vergara Wilson (2021)

Previous Colloquia

24th Colloquium, held February 25-26, 2021
23rd Colloquium, help April 5-6, 2019
22nd Colloquium, held March 24-26, 2016
21st Colloquium, held March 22-24, 2014
20th Colloquium, held March 2-3, 2012
19th Colloquium, held February 25-16, 2011
18th Colloquium, held November 13-14, 2009
17th Colloquium, held November 7-8, 2008
16th Colloquium, held March 23-24, 2007
15th Colloquium, held April 2, 2005.
14th Colloquium, held April 10, 2004

Graduate Student Organization

The Graduate Student Organization (GSO) was founded in 1970 as an educational student organization formed by graduate students, Assistant Instructors (AIs), and Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
The main purpose of the GSO is to serve as a liaison between faculty, graduate students, AIs and TAs in the department. The goal is to help consolidate graduate students’ opinions, concerns and ideas, suggest changes and modifications, and ultimately improve the quality of our program through departmental communication.

All members of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) are elected or appointed representatives. The GSO is made up of five active members and five elect members. The active members are the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and one Representative. All active members meet at least once with the Department Chair and the Graduate Studies Chair per semester. A description of each of the positions is below.

Board Duties:

President: Presides over GSO meetings, organizes and facilitates Department Town Halls with Department Chair and Graduate Studies Chair, attends Graduate Studies Committee meetings with faculty.

Vice-President: Stands in for president as facilitator when necessary, has the authority to convene and set meeting times and agendas.

Treasurer: Collects membership dues, maintains records of merit based accomplishments of graduate students as part of travel funds award system, facilitates disbursement of GSO travel funds.

Secretary: Takes minutes during GSO meetings, attends meetings of the Graduate Student Assembly and reports information back to GSO members.

Representative: Facilitates new student welcome events, organizes various social events throughout the academic year, attends some meetings with TA/AI course supervisors.

The elect members offer support to the corresponding active member in their specified role while learning the responsibilities of that role. The elect members will then take over their position as active members the following year.

Current GSO Board (Fall 2024 - Spring 2025)

President: Ryan Woodall
Vice-President: Isabel Ibáñez
Treasurer: Jeff Ospina Bedoya
Secretary: Nelson Pagán-Butler
Representative: Jack Riordan
President Elect: Jack Riordan
Vice President Elect: Michelle Crabtree
Treasurer Elect: Connor Stevenson
Secretary Elect: Nelson Pagán-Butler
Representative Elect: TBA
COLA Student Advisory Representative: Laura Rose Brylowski

Services & Important Activities

Travel grants: The GSO supports students with travel grants to attend academic conferences and workshops. To be eligible, graduate students must pay an annual fee of $25 collected by the treasurer in October. Students are responsible for requesting their travel grants when needed.

The Humanities Series: An opportunity for students to present their work and receive feedback. Some of the projects that can be presented include a draft of the Qualifying Paper, an article, or a dissertation chapter. The presenter is responsible for finding a moderator. Ideally, this person will be the advisor or a member of the student’s dissertation committee.

Q&A Meetings: Graduate students that have already completed their Qualifying Paper, Dissertation Fields, and Proposal will hold informal meetings to share their experiences with students at the beginning of those stages.

SanchoPanza listserv: Managed by the Secretary of the GSO, it serves as an informal channel of communication among students. To subscribe, go to https://utlists.utexas.edu/sympa and follow the steps outlined below.

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Pterodáctilo

Pterodáctilo is the Department of Spanish and Portuguese’s graduate student publication of Hispanic and Lusophone literature and linguistics. The magazine was first published in 1984, under the name Dactylus, and flourished over the course of nineteen editions into a dynamic intellectual space highlighting critical and creative work undertaken both within the department and across the US and abroad. As Pterodáctilo, the publication has made the jump from the printed page to the internet. In its recently redesigned online format, the magazine has expanded to include a range of multimedia texts, from academic articles, poetry, fiction, and interviews, to video shorts, photography, and audio content. Of special interest is the Dossier Especial, a semesterly special section which highlights the work of graduate students from the department centered on a particular topic, in collaboration with members of the faculty. Over the last three semesters, Pterodáctilo has enjoyed contributions from over 10 countries, with notable collaborations from Ana Rossetti, Isabel Franc, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Debra Castillo, Arturo Arias, Ricardo Rojas, María Gabriela Mizraje, Vicente Luis Mora and Agustín Fernández Mallo, among others.

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Sigma Delta Pi, National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Zeta Chapter (La Sociedad Nacional Honoraría Hispánica, Sigma Delta Pi, Capítulo Zeta)

Sigma Delta Pi is an honor society for both graduate and undergraduate students of Hispanic languages and cultures. Its purposes are as follows:

Honor those who seek and attain excellence in the study of the Spanish language and in the study of the literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking people;
Honor those who striving to make Hispanic contributions to modern culture better known to English-speaking people;
Encourage college and university students to acquire a greater interest in and a deeper interest of, Hispanic culture; and
Foster friendly relations and mutual respect between the nations of Hispanic speech and those of English speech.

Membership Requirements:

Have 18 hours of university level Spanish.
These hours should include at least 3 hours (one course) of Hispanic or Latin American literature (course number SPN 325K or higher) or 3 hours of Spanish culture and civilization (SPN 322K or SPN 328). Also, these courses should be completed or students must be currently enrolled in them upon application.
A GPA of 3.00 in classes you have taken in the Spanish Department.
A GPA of 2.75 in all of the classes you have taken at the University of Texas.
Participate in the initiation ceremony.

Apply Here (Deadline March 4th, turn in at BEN 2.108).

For more information about Sigma Delta Pi, please visit the Website, the Facebook page, or send an email to sigmadeltapizeta@gmail.com.