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Topic: Spanish

Lunden MacDonald

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Lunden MacDonald, Ph.D., is a professor of modern languages at Metropolitan State University of Denver. MacDonald started teaching Spanish at MSU Denver in 1998 and has since held the positions of instructor, assistant professor, full professor, chair of the Department of Modern Languages and director of First Year Success program. She speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese and Galician. Her areas of expertise are in Spanish language, literature, teaching, contemporary trends in foreign language study, translation, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood), Investigative trends in SIDS and SUDC research.

MacDonald has published several articles including “The Virtual Language Lab: Virtually Painless, Simply Real” in the International Association for Language Learning Technology Journal in 2009 and Spanish Translation of “La próxima etapa en Panamá: la subcontratación de pensiones” in La Prensa, Journal of Honduras, in 2007. Her research topics include Joseph Blanco White, European Enlightenment, Enlightenment (or lack thereof) in Spain, paradigms of Enlightenment in the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish language learning and teaching methods; and technology and technological applications in the teaching and learning of Spanish language, literature and culture.

MacDonald received her Ph.D. and master’s in Spanish language and literature from Princeton University in 2006 and 1997. Additionally, she also received a master’s and bachelor’s in Spanish language and literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1995 and 1993.

Carol Krugman Maller

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Prior to joining the faculty at MSU Denver, Professor Krugman worked in the global arena for 30 years in a variety of corporate marketing and meeting/event planning positions, as well as owning and managing her own meeting management company specializing in international medical/pharmaceutical meetings and conventions. She is retired as chair of the Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Events at MSU Denver.

She is regarded as one of the meeting industry’s top experts in cross-cultural planning, global meeting operations, and risk management. Professor Krugman has successfully implemented programs throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, as well as in the US and Canada. She has lived in France, Mexico and Brazil and is fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese, with a working knowledge of Italian.

Named one of “The 25 Most Influential People in the Meeting Industry“ by Meeting News in 2004, Professor Krugman has written numerous articles for meeting and event industry publications and has co-authored two books: Mexico: A Planning and Information Guide, published by Meeting Professionals International and Global Meetings and Exhibitions, a textbook on international meeting planning published by John Wiley and Sons.

Professor Krugman received her BA from Goucher College and MEd from The Johns Hopkins University. She obtained the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation in 1996 and the advanced Certification in Meetings Management (CMM) in 1998. Professional memberships include Meeting Professionals International, the Professional Convention Management Association, the International Medical Meeting Professionals Association, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, and the International Council on Hotel Restaurant Institutional Education. She serves on a variety of committees and task forces for meeting and event industry associations.

Janelle Johnson

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Janelle Johnson, Ph.D., is an associate professor with the School of Education at MSU Denver, where she teaches in STEM teaching and learning. Prior to her current role, she was the STEM equity specialist at MSU Denver and a coordinator for Project SEED-Scholarships for Education and Economic Development at the University of Arizona. Johnson was also the program coordinator for a State Department-funded leadership institute for indigenous university students from Latin America. During this time, she served as a guest researcher at the Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology. She has also taught math and science to elementary and middle school students.

Rey Hernandez-Julian

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Rey Hernández-Julián, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include Economics of education (both K-12 and higher education) and public finance policy analysis. He currently teaches Managerial Finance, Introduction to Banking and Personal Money Management.

Hernández-Julián leads and helped establish MSU Denver’s Banking Careers Pathway Program, a workforce-development program in partnership with Mi Casa Resource Center and the Community College of Aurora. The stackable credentials program seeks to give nontraditional students and current entry-level employees the chance to turn their work experience into college credits and professional certificates.

Throughout his entire time at MSU Denver, he has remained academically qualified, publishing peer-reviewed journal articles about the economics of education, religion, demography and health. He has also given over 15 conference presentations.

Rey Hernández-Julián received his doctorate degree in applied economics from Clemson University in 2005 and a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Bob Jones University in 2000.

Roberto Forns-Broggi

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Roberto Forns-Broggi, Ph.D., is a professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He was born in Lima, Peru and speaks Spanish fluently.

Forns-Broggi has been teaching at MSU Denver since 1998. He is the faculty chair for the Modern Language Department Committee. Forns-Broggi also taught at Universidad Nacionla de Cordoba in Cordoba, Argentina for 13 years.

His research interests include Latin American and Spanish literature, popular cultures, environmental philosophy, environmental spiritualties, film studies, world cinema, environmental literature, film media literacy, critical thinking and creativity. He has taught classes about intercultural communication through literature and film; literary and cultural theory; creative writing and children’s literature.

Forns-Broggi received his doctorate in Spanish language and literature from Arizona State University in 1995.

Ramon Del Castillo

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Ramon Del Castillo is a retired professor of the Chiana/or Studies Department. He taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver from 35 years.  Del Castillo’s publications include “Institutionalizing Curanderismo in Colorado’s Community Mental Health System,” “Institutionalizing Curanderismo into a Mainstream Healing System: Boundary Spanners and Innovation in Action” and “The Life History of Diana Velazquez: La Curandera Total.”
As past Chair of the Masters Program in Nonprofit Program at Regis University (1999-2005), he directed educational services and program development for the department and taught classes in the history of the nonprofit sector, leadership, ethics, managing diversity in organizations and the capstone project. He traveled to Mexico for 5 years, developing collaborative bi-national curricula between the nonprofit and civil society sectors through the “Making Connections in Mexico Program,” in collaboration with ITESO Jesuit University, located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Del Castillo possess a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Sociology and Mexican American Studies from the University of Northern Colorado. He obtained master’s degrees are in Social Science and Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD) and his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the same university. His master’s research was on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Chicano Viet Nam Veterans and his doctoral dissertation, examined Curanderismo, a traditional approach to holistic and spiritual healing, using theories of innovation to critique the institutionalization process within a publicly funded mental health agency.

Antonio C. Bellisario

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Antonio Bellisario’s academic training is at the intersection of the fields of International Developing Planning and Environmental Geography. Current research and writing projects are at the crossroads between sustainable development (understood as a mechanism that protects ecologies while at the same time expands socio-economic equity) and the politics of resource management.

At a personal level, what drives his research agenda is his willingness to seek out opportunities for research collaboration and a strong desire to bring these experiences to the classroom to reach students. Bellisario’s regional specialization is South America, with a focus on Chile.

His early research and publications have been focused on the topic of land politics centering on the social contestation about farming and food production in Chile. In this research and publications, he has analyzed the political competition from organized non-governmental groups and political parties in society to shape the planning actions and policies of government.

As for his current research, Bellisario is working on four projects. The first project is an assessment of water resources and the impact of agricultural and mining activities in the water budget of the Aconcagua river basin in Central Chile. The second project is the ongoing collaborative analysis on the urban experience and urban popular culture during the Allende socialist government in Chile. The third project investigates the evolution of land use patterns in Chile, with a longitudinal study of a sample of farms from a rural municipality to track agricultural transformations (he and his team have a working draft for publication). The fourth project is a collaboration with Marco Marquez and Rodrigo Contreras (both professional planners practicing in Chile) that critically analyzes, with the use of key case studies, the effectiveness of territorial planning instruments in Chile.

Lisa Altemueller

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Lisa Altemuller, Ed.D., is the associate dean for the School of Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She previously served as the chair for the Elementary Education and Literacy Department for eight years and returned to full-time teaching in special education in the fall of 2016. Her courses at MSU Denver focus on assessment in special education, differentiation of instruction and collaboration, instructional planning, reading disabilities and foundations of elementary education.

Prior to teaching at MSU Denver, Altemuller worked as a licensed special education teacher and a licensed elementary education teacher. The majority of her early teaching experience occurred in elementary school with a high percentage of native Spanish speaking students. It was there that she became interested in learning about the special education process and how to identify learning disabilities in students. She also co-wrote two grants targeting literacy for incarcerated youth and co-wrote and received a grant designed to pay the tuition of students during their student teaching semester. Altemuller’s current research areas include teacher candidate professional behaviors, hybrid and flipped classroom instruction and parent involvement in education.

Altemuller received her Ed.D. in special education from the University of Northern Colorado in 2001, a master’s degree in special education from Appalachian University in 1996 and a bachelor’s in elementary education with a concentration in Spanish from the University of North Carolina in 1993.

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