Foreign Languages

A native from Spain, Natalia Pelaz grew up in Valladolid, a mid-size town in Castilia. During her first high-school years, she soon realized that she wanted to become a teacher and help other young people to appreciate the importance of thinking and studying. At the University of Valladolid, she earned the title of Hispanic Philologist. Soon after, and fascinated by the Spanish Literature of the 20^th Century, she pursued her Master’s Degree in Spanish Literature, which she earned in 2000. After working as a secretary for a doctor and for a constructor, she took the decision to “jump” to the States following her truly vocation: teaching. In September 2002 she joined the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Cincinnati. After suffering a tough “cultural shock”, she learned to appreciate her newly hybrid existence. In 2005, she earned her Doctoral Degree in Romance Languages and Literatures.

Due to her personal experience, she developed an interest for the literatures of Exiles and displaced peoples. Natalia’s dissertation focuses on elucidating how the condition of exile affects the literary production, and how concepts such as Nation, personal and national identities, memory and language are continually revisited under the condition of exile. To date, Professor Pelaz continues to be very interested in Exile and her attention is focused now in rescuing other Spanish exiled writers that remain in the oblivion.

A native of Argentina, Professor Boero now considers Nashville to be his second home. 

As a Belmont University undergraduate, Professor Boero double majored in History and French.  He then attended graduate school at the University of Kansas, where he studied Spanish-American Literature and Second Language Acquisition.  At KU, he earned a Master’s degree in Spanish Literature (College of Liberal Arts) and a second Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction (School of Education).  At the University of Kansas, Professor Boero also completed his doctoral studies in Spanish-American Literature, with an emphasis in contemporary Argentine fiction.      

To date, Professor Boero continues to study both Argentine cultural production and second language acquisition.  On the narrative front, his attention has focused on how the construction of national identity is worked out in contemporary film.  In the area of foreign language pedagogy, Professor Boero studies and develops instructional models designed to increase the linguistic and socio-cultural proficiency of students of Spanish.  Most recently, his research has focused on the impact of study abroad on the development of its participants’ pragmatic proficiency.

As a graduate student, he received a Japan Foundation Dissertation Fellowship to conduct research from 2015-2016 at the University of Tokyo and the University of Hokkaido, culminating in his dissertation “Native Roots and Foreign Grafts: The Spiritual Quest of Uchimura Kanzō.” This study examines the literary worldview of the Christian intellectual Uchimura Kanzō, the nature of his autobiographical writings, and the influence he exerted upon a generation of important authors and thinkers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Prior to joining the faculty at Belmont, Dr. Born was a lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. From 2017-2018, he served as a Visiting Professor of Asian Studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. In addition to teaching courses on Japanese language and literature, Dr. Born received grants from Japan Foundation and the Mellon Foundation to host a symposium at Bowdoin entitled “Godzilla as Harrier and Harbinger: Rethinking the Post-Atomic in the Pacific.”

At Belmont, Dr. Born is an Assistant Professor and teaches courses in Asian Studies and Japanese language. Dr. Born’s research interests include subjectivity and the autobiographical mode in modern Japanese literature, the Christian heritage in Japan, the global influence of early modern Japanese woodblock prints, and the philosophical underpinnings of anime and manga. He is the author of “In the Footsteps of the Master: Confucian Values in Anime and Manga” (AsiaNetwork Exchange, Vol. XVII, No. 1, Fall 2009) wherein he examines how traditional values are re-envisioned in recent shōnen anime and manga.

Dr. Born’s Website

Dr. Cheryl Brown became interested in a career in foreign languages because of inspiring high school language teachers. She studied both French and Spanish and won both Regional and National Laureats in the AATF Grand Concours before enrolling in the Centre College of Kentucky. There she completed a B.A. with a double major in French and Spanish. She then went on to complete an M.A. in Spanish at the University of Kentucky as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in French at Vanderbilt University. Her doctoral dissertation was a study of predominant themes and images in the work of the French Romantic poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore.

At Belmont University, Dr. Brown teaches all levels of French including courses on French civilization, culture, literature, phonetics, and a course on Quebec's history, language, and literature. She has accompanied groups of Belmont students to Angers, France and Morelia, Mexico, and traveled to Quebec.

Kate developed a love for the fantastical stories of Greek and Roman mythology in elementary school, and found her love for the Latin language in high school. She earned her B.A. in Classical Studies from Seton Hall University and her M.A. in Classical Studies from Vanderbilt University. She taught middle school and high school Latin before going on to earn her law degree. She graduated with her JD from the University of Tennessee College of Law, graduating summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, and distinguishing herself on the National Moot Court team. Kate practiced law at a mid-sized civil litigation firm in Nashville for about a year before deciding that she missed Latin and the classroom too much. She began teaching Latin at Belmont as an adjunct in the spring 2021, and joined the ranks as a full-time lecturer in fall 2022. Kate teaches all levels of Latin at Belmont, as well as Classical literature and mythology. Kate's academic focus is Golden Age Latin literature, with a keen interest in the evolving role of Latin within the broader landscape of a liberal education.

Dr. David C. Julseth, during his undergraduate studies, spent a year at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. He then completed his B.A. in International Relations and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he also received an M.A. in Hispanic Literature and Linguistics. At the University of Texas-Austin, where he did his Ph.D. in Spanish, he accompanied groups of students to Guanajuato, Mexico. His doctoral dissertation combined his love of Spain and Mexico, Art and Literature through a study of the influence of a painting by Hieronymous Bosch in Terra Nostra by the Mexican author Carlos Fuentes.

At Belmont University, Dr. Julseth enjoys organizing activities and involving his students in the Hispanic community through service-learning. Lately, his professional development and study abroad programs have led him to Costa Rica, Argentina, and back to Spain. Ask him about walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage through northern Spain and about celebrating El Dia de los Muertos - right here in Nashville!

Dr. Qingjun (Joan) Li is a native from mainland China. She received her B.A. in English from Zhengzhou University, P.R. China and M.A.in English from Belmont University.  She holds a Ph.D. in English from Middle Tennessee State University. Her dissertation, entitled “Emerging Trends and Voices in Maxine Hong Kingston Criticism: The Woman Warrior and China Men in Recent Scholarship in Mainland China,” focuses specifically on an analysis and comparative study of the reception and interpretations of Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and China Men in current mainland Chinese scholarship.  Prior to coming to the U.S., she was Associate Professor of English at Zhengzhou University, where she was twice recognized as University Teacher of Excellence.

Dr. Li’s research area includes Chinese American literature, Comparative Literature, Asian Studies, and Chinese language pedagogy. She is author of three books and co-editor of Encountering China: Early Modern European Responses (Bucknell, 2012). She is also author of numerous articles, including most recently, “Oriental Light Shining in Western Darkness: Thoreau’s Use of The Mengzi in Walden,” and “Of Golden Lilies and Gentlewomen: Constructions of Chinese Women in Early Modern Anglo-European Travel Narratives.”

At Belmont, Dr. Li is an Associate Professsor and teaches courses both in Asian Studies and Chinese language. She was named 2014-2015 Virginia M. Chaney Distinguished Professor. In 2014, she was a recipient of an ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Research Fellowship grant and led a team of four Belmont students to do research in China on the “Commodification of Culture in China’s New Cultural Industry.”  Her recent students have received Chinese Government Scholarships, Hanban Confucius Institute Scholarships, U.S. Critical Language Scholarships, and one of her students is a current Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan. Others of her students are either teaching English or pursuing graduate degrees in China or in the U.S.. She is the advisor of Chinese Cultural Club at Belmont and has served as Co-Director for Belmont’s China study abroad programs for ten years, having taken over 200 students to China.

Dr. Li's website

Mitch McCoy developed an interest in languages other than English very early in childhood.  Before dedicating himself to his work in Spanish language, culture and literature, he earned a law degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and worked in the insurance industry.  However, the changing demographic landscape, a fondly remembered study abroad experience and a desire to teach others motivated him to pursue his doctorate in Spanish literature at the University of Georgia.  While immersed in the study of Hispanic literatures at the University of Georgia in Athens, he served as a mentor for undergraduates participating in study abroad programs in Spain and Argentina.  In addition to teaching an array of language, literature and culture courses at Belmont University, Mitch is collaborating with departmental colleagues to help develop Spanish language courses designed for students pursuing the disciplines of medicine, law, business and social work.

Mitch’s dissertation investigates the diversity of spiritual thinking in Sixteenth-century religious dialogues and how those dialogues shaped societal ideas about authority, fear and tolerance.  He is continuing to investigate writers of dialogues with an interest in understanding how the dialogue was employed as a pedagogical tool to foster genuine discussion and inquiry into the significance of what it means to be human.

A native Italian, Francesca M. Muccini grew up in Pesaro, a city on the Adriatic coast, and has lived in the U.S. since 2000. She received her Ph.D. in Heritage Studies from Arkansas State University. She earned her laurea (the equivalent of a B.A. degree) with a double major in Foreign Languages and Literatures (English and German) and Italian at the University of Urbino. She received her MA in French from Miami University, and her MAs in English and in Historic Preservation and Conservation from ASU. She teaches elementary, intermediate and upper-level Italian classes. Her upper-division teaching includes courses on futurism and the Italian diaspora.  Professor Muccini specializes in migratory literature and studies, with a particular attention to the formation of cultural identities.

Her doctoral dissertation From Italian Cibo to American Food: The Construction of The Italian American Identity Through Food examined the theme of identity formation in its relation to food, cooking,and culinary traditions. Using food and eating habits as tools, her study investigated the changing family structures of Italian Americans from their arrival to their assimilation into American society as well as the formation of an Italian American identity.

Her research interests are in the Italian Renaissance, but she enjoys offering courses throughout the language and literature curriculum. She has actively participated in the organization of numerous cultural events in collaboration with diverse Italian American groups promoting Italian culture.

Dr. Regine Schwarzmeier grew up in southern Germany and has lived in the US for many years. Her interest in a career in Foreign Languages and German Studies was awakened by the intriguing story of two high school teachers who had taught German for some time at an International School overseas. Through contacts with people from all over the world, she became fascinated by different cultures and wanted to experience some of them first-hand. Thus, the combination of studies in at least one foreign language and one's mother tongue seemed to her the perfect basis for living and pursuing a career abroad. In high school, she studied English, French, Italian and Russian and traveled extensively in Europe. She received the equivalent of a B.A. degree with a double major in German and English & American Studies from the University of Regensburg. Her undergraduate studies were enriched by participating in a year long exchange program between the University of Regensburg and Vanderbilt University. After working for the Office of International Education at the University of Regensburg, she returned to Vanderbilt University where she entered the M.A. / Ph.D. program in German. Her doctoral dissertation was a close study of the life and work of the 18th century author Friederike Helene Unger with emphasis on the role and situation of women in literature and society.

At Belmont University, Regine teaches not only all levels of German but also a broad array of courses on literature, culture and film. In her capacity as Director of Belmont's exchange program with the Technical University Dresden and Co-Director of the exchange program with the University of Applied Sciences in Deggendorf, she advises American students going to study in Germany as well as students coming from Germany to Belmont. Outside the classroom, she enjoys spending time with members of the German Club and residents of the Max Kade German House who sponsor and organize a variety of campus-wide activities and events to promote the use of foreign languages and the awareness of foreign cultures among students. In May 2003, she was honored to receive Belmont's Presidential Faculty Achievement Award.