Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Estudios Norteamericanos "Benjamin Franklin" Home

Our faculty is one of the most important aspects of the Teach & Learn in Spain Study Program. They are specialists in their teaching areas and their research and professional experience provides an essential added value to the program. *

José Antonio Gurpegui Palacios (PhD)
Director of the Instituto Franklin at the Universidad de Alcalá and Professor.
Faculty member of the Modern Languages Department at the Universidad de Alcalá.
He has published more than 20 books and has been a “visiting scholar” at Harvard University. He writes for “El Cultural” Magazine from "El Mundo" newspaper.
Main research area: Chicano literature and American Literature.

Julio Cañero Serrano (PhD)
Currently working at the Instituto Franklin as Deputy Director.
Associate Professor at the Modern Languages Department of the Universidad de Alcalá, lecturing "History and Culture of the English-speaking countries."
Main research area: American culture and foreign relations.

Marta Walliser Martín (PhD)
MA in Education Management
MA in Hispanic Language and Literature
BA in English Philology
BA in Spanish Philology
Professor of History of Spanish Literature at the Instituto Franklin.
Director of the International Division of the EOI (Escuela de Organización Industrial).
Worked as General Coordinator and Director of Hispanic Studies at the Instituto Franklin.
Main research area: Spanish literature, feminine literature.

Antonio Fernández Martín (PhD Candidate)
MA in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language
Currently working as Hispanic Studies Coordinator at the Instituto Franklin and as Spanish and History of Art instructor.
Previously worked at Bowling Green State University as instructor of Spanish as a second language.
Main research area: Applied linguistics.
 

María del Mar Martín Nicolás Moreno (PhD)
MA in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language
Currently working at the Instituto Franklin as instructor of Spanish for Heritage Learners.
Previously worked in Chicago at the University of Illinois, Columbia College and Cervantes Institute.
Main research area: Teaching Spanish for heritage learners.

Manuel Ramón Albalate (PhD Candidate)
Currently working on dissertation in foreign language pedagogy.
MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
MA in Spanish
BA in English
Taught English and Spanish language courses at Bowling Green State University and Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Estudios Norteamericanos.
Currently working as High School teacher, tutor and instructor of Spanish Language courses.
Research interest: text linguistics, speech analysis, sociolinguistics, foreign language acquisition and foreign language pedagogy.

María Angélica Giordano Paredes (PhD Candidate)
BA in Spanish Philology, with a specialization in Latin American literature
BA in Modern Languages and Instructor of Spanish
Currently works at the Instituto Franklin and Alcalingua as instructor of Spanish and is
Coordinator of the Spanish virtual classroom (joint project with the Cervantes Institute).
Worked at the Social Studies University “Guido Carli” in Rome and in High School as instructor of Spanish.

Begoña Sanz Sánchez (PhD Candidate)
MA in Spanish as a Foreign Language
BA in Spanish Philology with a certificate in English Philology
Currently working as Professor of Writing Techniques at the Instituto Franklin and also at Alcalingua, both in the Universidad de Alcalá. She is also instructor of courses organized by the Community of Madrid and the Chamber of Commerce, as well as designer of on-line materials.
Main research areas: Commercial and Business Spanish and Linguistics.

Marta M Nadales Ruiz (PhD)
MA in English Studies
Associate Professor at Universidad Complutense teaching English Language and Linguistics, English-Spanish Contrastive Syntax and English for Library and Information Science (LIS).
Currently working on the European Research Project EDICC: European Diploma on Intercultural Competence.
Previously worked in the UK teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.
Main research areas: Cultural Studies, Sociolinguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, Intercultural Competence, Contrastive Linguistics.

Amparo Abengózar Rodríguez
Degree in English Teaching, Degree in Spanish Literature and Language and Degree in English Literature and Language.
Working as Coordinator of the Bilingual Program for state schools in the Community of Madrid Bilingual Project and as an English Teacher in the Bilingual Project.
English Language assistant trainer for the Bilingual Project in the Community of Madrid state schools and for the BEDA program (Bilingual English Development & Assessment).
Evaluator of European Projects (Comenius, Grundtvig).
Main Research Area: Bilingual programs
 

Jennifer Schmidt 
MA TESOL /Linguistics and New York State Permanent Teacher Certification TESOL K-12.
Currently working at the Instituto Franklin as instructor of Methodology and at ESIC Business and Marketing School as an English Professor.      
Previously worked at Suffolk Community College, Nassau Community College, Dowling College, and Long Island University in New York and at The Center of Applied Linguistic in Washington D.C.
Main Research Area: Language Acquisition

*Faculty subject to changes