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Professor listing for the Spanish Across the Curriculum Program

Dr. Balado obtained his Doctorate in Education from Florida Atlantic University , Master of Education from Stetson University; Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts from Indiana State University. He attended Law and Diplomatic Services Schools at the University of Havana. He has been a classroom teacher, guidance counselor, school psychologist, exceptional student education administrator, consultant and university instructor.

Dr. Balado is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and Domestic Violence Counselor as well as Diplomat of the National Academy of Forensic Counselors and the National Board of Addiction Counselors.

In 1987, Dr. Balado received the Florida Outstanding School Psychologist Award and in 1996 he was awarded the University of Central Florida "Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award".

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Short Biography for Arlen Frank Chase

Doctor Chase received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. He specializes in
Mesoamerican archaeology with particular interest in the ancient Maya, archaeological method and
theory, ceramic analysis, and Maya hieroglyphic writing. He has been at UCF since 1984 and
teaches Archaeology and the rise of Human Culture, Maya Archaeology, Mesoamerican
Archeology, and Archaeological Method and Theory. Among his publications are: Investigations at
the Classic Maya City of Caracol Belize; 1985-1987; and The Lowland Maya Postclassic.

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Short Biography for Diane Zaino Chase

Doctor Chase received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. She specializes in
Mesoamerican archaeology with particular interest in the ancient Maya, the rise and fall of
civilizations, and archaeological forensics. She has been at UCF since 1984 and teaches The Human
Species, The Archaeology of Complex Societies, Advanced Archaeological Fieldwork, and Seminar
in Laboratory Analysis. Among her publications are: A Postclassic Perspective: Excavations at the
Maya Site of Santa Rita Corozal; and Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment.

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Doctor Allyn received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1976. She specializes in cultures of
Latin America, with particular interest in cultural ecology, native Amazonians, problems of developing
nations, and women in agriculture. She has been at UCF since 1976 and teaches Cultural
Anthropology, Peoples of the World, Peoples and Cultures of Latin America, and Native Peoples of
Amazonia. Among her publications are: No Longer Nomads: The Siriono Revisited, and Yuqui:
Forest Nomads in a Changing World.

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Dr. Diana Velez is professor of European and Latin American History at the Department of History, University of Central Florida. Prior to her full-time appointment to the department she was Assistant Dean at UCF’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Born and educated in New York City, she is a graduate of the City University of New York’s Lehman College, where she earned her BA. Dr. Velez did her graduate work at Princeton University as a Ford Foundation Fellow and there she earned both her an MA and Ph.D degrees.

After graduate school she was a member of the social sciences faculty at Georgia Tech and from there she went on to the University of Pittsburgh as Associated Director of the Title VI Federal Resources Institute in Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh program is one of the top 10 international programs in the nation at both graduate and undergraduate levels. From there she served as Senior Program Officer for a major research foundation, the Tinker Foundation, where she reviewed, assessed, consulted with, and determined funding levels for academic and research institutions in the U.S., Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

At the University of Central Florida she develops and teaches courses in European and Latin American History at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The specific areas covered by these courses include Latin Europe (Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal), early modern and modern Europe, Historical Theory and Methods (grad course), colonial and modern Latin America, the Caribbean, and national case histories of the Spanish Caribbean. Dr. Velez is also the foreign language examiner for the Dept. of History’s Graduate Program in Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Currently she has been involved in research on Spain, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In October 1997 she presented a paper at an international symposium in Russia (Udmurt State University) on the historical context of Puerto Rican nationalism and the status debate. Her most recent publication is entitled: "American Opposition to Puerto Rican Statehood: The Politics of Culture," South Eastern Latin Americanist, XLIII, nos. 1, 2 (Summer/Fall 1999): 77-101. At the moment she is working on a conference paper on the Puerto Rican Commonwealth Debate in Relation to Iberian Models of Regional Autonomy. She is also completing work on a book manuscript entitled Reinventing Spain: Modernity, Empire, and the Educating of Workers, 1880-1914.

Dr. Velez is member of a number of professional academic associations such as the Society of Spanish and Portuguese History (SSPHS), the American Historical Society (AMH), the Conference of Latin American Historians (CLAH), and the Southeastern Conference of Latin Americanists (SELA). In 1992 she became honorary member of the National Hispanic Society, Sigma Delta Pi. She is also a member of the Honor Society in Education, Kappa Delta Pi, the Honor Society in History, Phi Alpha Theta, and the National Honors Society, Phi Beta Kappa. Recently she was selected to be included in the millennium edition of the national The Marquis Who’s Who in America and The Marquis Who’s Who of Women in America. In addition she has received university recognition as a TIP awardee for outstanding teaching and in 1998 received an award from the UCF Hispanic Students Association for teaching and mentoring.

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Bruce M. Wilson is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis in 1992. The major regional focus of his research is in contemporary Latin American political economy with an emphasis on Costa Rica. His research specialization includes political parties, judicial reform, and policy making. His research results have been published in a book and in several major political science journals. His teaching interests include Comparative Politics, Central American and Caribbean Politics, Latin American Politics, Politics of Developing Areas, British Government and American National Government. Dr. Wilson is a co-PI on a $200,000 Pew Charitable Foundation grant to transform American National Government into a reduced seat-time computer-enhanced class.

Dr. Wilson was selected to represent the College of Arts as a Faculty Fellow at the UCF Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning in the 1998/1999 academic year.

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Kerstin Hamann is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida. She received an M.A. in West European Studies, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Her main area of research in contemporary Spanish politics, especially elections, parties, interest groups, transitions to democracy, and the electoral consequences of regionalism. Her teaching interests include Comparative Politics, Western European Politics, Scope and Methods of Political Science, Democratic Theory, and Women in Comparative Politics. She received a UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award and a UCF, College of Arts and Science, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1999. Dr. Hamann was selected to represent the College of Arts as a Faculty Fellow at the UCF Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning in the 1999/2000 academic year.

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Short Biography for Maria Cristina Santana

Maria Cristina "MC" Santana I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a photographer. My father had all sorts of cameras around the house. He was an archeologist and always documented his digging sites with photographs. By helping him I too became interested in the visual world. My background in education is Liberal Arts. I was fascinated with history and languages. For practical purpose and thanks to my mother’s insistence my major in college was news editorial. For a while all I wanted to be was a reporter. Once I experimented with photography in an academic setting, photography and writing became my passion. I was a writer and editor of my high school paper. My first news photography assignments were a basketball game and a guest speaker in the Social Science class.

This is a darkroom class with newspaper’s "on assignments" format. Some of the assignments the students have to shoot are weather, live performance, sports, environmental portrait, people at work, children, illustration and human interest. Each assignment must have

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Short Biography for Dr. María Eugenia Reyes-Blanes

Dr. María Eugenia Reyes-Blanes was born to Angel I. Reyes- Náter and Nilda M. Agrait in October 11, 1956, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2 years after her only brother, now Dr. Angel I. Reyes. Dr. Blanes graduated from Academia San José High School in Villa Caparra in 1974. She married Rafael Blanes in December 26, 1977 after she finished her last semester of college studies. She received her BA (Cum Laude) in psychology with a minor in education from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, in 1978

During the period from 1977-1980 Dr. Blanes returned as a psychology and sociology teacher to the high school she had graduated from. Early in her married life she was blessed with the birth of a daughter. Dr. Blanes made the decision to devote her undivided attention to motherhood for the two following years. In 1983 while pregnant with her son, she decided to enter the master's program in special education. In 1983 she received a M.S.Ed. in special education with emphasis on learning disabilities from the University of Fordham. In her last year of the master's program she was selected to teach incoming master's students and to design and establish a pilot special education school to serve students with learning disabilities. Dr. Blanes taught in special education classes grades K-12. Her teaching experience included teaching students with mild to severe intellectual, emotional/behavioral and learning disabilities. Following some administrative changes in the pilot school, Dr. Blanes accepted the challenge to serve as director and coordinator of all academic and administrative affairs. On the following year she moved into private practice where she founded and directed a center for psychoeducational assessment and remedial therapy. She assessed and assisted students from all grade levels but worked mostly with students from elementary and middle school.

In 1991 she became a resource teacher at Colegio Maristas in Guaynabo, P.R. There she developed the resource program for grades K-8. Before she moved to Florida, Dr. Blanes successfully engaged in several inservice workshops for teachers, presented at local and state conferences, and enjoyed the recognition and respect of her colleagues.

In Florida she pursued her doctoral degree at the University of Florida. While completing her doctoral studies, Dr. Blanes served as a graduate teacher assistant in the Department of Special Education. She was recipient of a fellowship from the Multilingual Multicultural Education Program awarded by the U.S. Department of Education and the office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs. She also performed as graduate research assistant for the Latino Family Research Project and as the student investigator of a student-initiated grant funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in Washington, DC.

During her doctoral program, Dr. Blanes was actively involved with the Special Education Association of Graduate Students, serving as treasurer and president. She was also a member of several subdivisions of the Council for Exceptional Children and member of the honorary association Kappa Delta Phi. In 1995 Dr. Blanes received an Outstanding Achievement Student Award from the College of Education.

Dr. Blanes was conferred her doctoral degree during the commencement ceremony of summer 1996 and devoted that academic year to finish her work in the Latino Family Research Project. She then accepted a tenure earning Assistant Professor position in the Department of Exceptional Education at the University of Central Florida.

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