Assistant Professor
Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1817
E-mail: marenill@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 2010

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• M.A., University of Notre Dame
• Ph.D., University of Notre Dame (Latin American Literatures and Cultures)

Favorite place to visit abroad: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Favorite subject to teach: Latin American Film and Literature

Fun Fact: I lived in Patagonia, the other extreme of the continent for many years.

Department Head
Professor
145B Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1107
E-mail: tcompton@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 1989

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Brigham Young University
• M.A., University of Utah
• Ph.D., University of Kansas

Favorite place to visit abroad: Mexico City!

Favorite subject to teach and why you like to teach: I love being at NMU so I can teach a wide variety of courses.   I love to see students perform plays in my Hispanic Theatre Performance classes.  I love seeing students learn to communicate in basic Spanish classes.  I love seeing students start to see how interesting and expressive language can be.  I love seeing students come to admire the incredible poetry, theatre, short stories, and novels of Spanish-speaking writers.  I love seeing students learn and admire the accomplishments of the people of Spain and Latin America.  I love sharing the amazing music of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world with my students.  I love seeing students get excited about studying & living abroad.   I love learning about what my former students are doing after they graduate.

Fun Fact: I met my wife on a study abroad in Mexico!

Associate Professor
172 Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1818
E-mail: mjoy@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU 2006

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Carleton College
• M.A., University of Minnesota
• Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Favorite place to visit abroad: Guanajuato, Mexico and Madrid, Spain

Favorite subject to teach: Golden Age Spanish Literature, especially the Quixote.

Fun Fact: I've run three marathons and three half-marathons.

Instructor
170 Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1876
E-mail: aorf@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 1997

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Iowa State University (Spanish and Linguistics; Minor: French)
• M.A., University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Romance Linguistics -- Spanish)

Favorite place to visit abroad: Cuba

Favorite subject to teach: I particularly enjoy teaching Spanish grammar and linguistics.

Fun Fact: I play the piano, autoharp, hammered dulcimer, and bowed psaltery.

Associate Professor
166 Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1820
E-mail: rulland@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU 2006

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Carleton College
• M.A., University of Minnesota
• Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Favorite place to visit abroad: Argentina, Spain, Istanbul

Favorite subject to teach: I love to teach Argentine women writers because they open up a whole new world of experience and perspective!

Fun Fact: I love to play Settlers of Catan (anyone interested?) and I also cross-stitch.

Professor
168 Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-2648
E-mail: nkupper@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 2000

Degrees Held:

• B.F.A., Virginia Commonwealth University
• M.A., University of Tennessee-Knoxville
• Ph.D., University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Associate Professor
167 Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1814
E-mail: tafoster@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 2008

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Rice University
• M.A., Rutgers University
• Ph.D., Rutgers University

Favorite place to visit abroad: France and the British Isles

Favorite subject to teach: Medieval Literature

Fun Fact: I'm a descendant of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Assistant Professor
165 Whitman Hall
Phone: 227-2582
E-mail: jsherman@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 2008

Degrees Held:

• B.A., University of Vermont
• M.A., University of Massachusetts
• Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Favorite place to visit abroad: Vienna, Austria

Favorite subject to teach: Viking Mythology (it is Viking Mythology!)

Fun Fact: I once spent a week on islands off the coast of Norway which are above the polar circle (where it stays light 24 hours a day in the summer).

Professor
169 Whitman Hall
Phone: 906-227-1201
E-mail: csotirop@nmu.edu
Began teaching at NMU in 2001

Degrees Held:

• B.A., Clark University
• M.A., Clark University (German and Comparative Literature) 
• Ph.D., University of Connecticut (Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies)

Favorite place to visit abroad: City: Vienna Austria / Countryside: Corinthian Gulf, Greece

Favorite subject to teach and why you like to teach: I can honestly say that I am totally enthused about every course, whether language or content based.

I love classroom engagement and trust students to sense that for every class session their grasp of the material and progress is my #1 goal, and that their classroom is the only place I wish to be.

In talking more specifically about cognitive rewards for myself, these always center on my learning something new and inspirational from students. In a German language course it may be that a student raises a question that leads me into a more effective way to teach a concept or vocabulary field.  In a content course, e.g., German Culture/Civilization, German Film & Fiction, European Romanticism, etc., it often happens that students make observations and connections that punch holes in traditional understandings of an historical course of events or of a literary work or a socio-cultural “fact.” These are thrilling moments that nudge me to think in new ways and invigorate the “how’s” and “what’s” of my teaching.

Fun Fact: Secret wish, now public: to operate a Dairy Queen (in Europe perhaps??) :)