Paloma Fernandez Sanchez

Dr. Paloma Fernández Sánchez is Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies and serves as the academic advisor for Spanish undergraduate programs (majors, minors and certificates). Dr.  Fernández Sánchez is affiliate faculty for the Latin American Studies program. She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from Indiana University Bloomington. She has an M.A. in Spanish from Loyola University Chicago, and an M.A. in North American Studies from the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain.

After 20 years teaching at the university level, she has become more involved in the research and teaching of Spanish for Heritage Learners. She is the co-organizer (with Dr. García León and Dr. Padilla-Falto) of the Heritage Language Learning Symposium, an initiative to better serve the Spanish speaking population at UNC Charlotte.

Together with Dr. Padilla-Falto and Dr. García Leon, she has developed and piloted an intermediate course for Spanish Heritage Learners which increases the offering of Heritage Language courses for Hispanic and Latinx students at UNC Charlotte. 

In addition to teaching at UNCC, Dr. Fernández Sánchez has experience teaching Latina Women Writers, Latinx literature, Caribbean cultures and their migration to the United States, as well as a variety of topic courses on racial constructions in Latin American literatures, at the graduate and undergraduate levels at Indiana University Bloomington, University of Louisville, and Columbia College SC.

Together with Dr. Carol Polsgrove, Professor Emerita of Journalism, Indiana University Bloomington, Dr. Fernández Sánchez, has an ongoing project to bring Latin American literature to more English-language readers, hosted at https://latinamericanwriters.com/

Educational Background  

  • Ph.D. 2011 – Indiana University Bloomington (Spanish, Comparative Literature)
  • M.A. 2005 – Loyola University Chicago (Spanish – Gender and Women Studies)
  • M.A. 2003 – Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (North American Studies)
  • B.A.  2001 – Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (Filología Inglesa)

Teaching Areas 

  • Spanish for Heritage Speakers
  • Spanish Language and culture
  • Latino Literatures and Cultures
  • Caribbean Literature and Cultures

Research Interests 

  • Spanish for Heritage Learners
  • Technology in SLA classrooms
  • US Latino Literatures and Cultures.
  • Transnational identities in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Professional Affiliations 

  • American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
  • American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP)
  • Latin American Studies Association (LASA)