Modern Languages and Literatures (323) 343-4230

Gastón A. Alzate
Associate Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., Arizona State University
Contact: (323) 343-2267
E-mail: galzate@calstatela.edu

  • Mexican and Colombian literature
  • Mexican Theater
  • Contemporary Mexican cabaret

Fluent in: Spanish, Portuguese.

Gretchen Angelo
Associate Professor of French; Ph.D., Yale University
Contact: (323) 343-4246
E-mail: gangelo2@calstatela.edu

  • Medieval French literature

Fluent in: French.

Pablo Baler
Assistant Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., UC Berkeley
Contact: (323) 343-4243
E-mail: pbaler@calstatela.edu

  • Contemporary Latin-American literature and visual arts.

Fluent in: Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hebrew.

Joseph A. Chrzanowski
Emeritus Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Contact: (323) 343-4237

  • 20th century novel
  • Short story and theatre
  • Translation of plays into English
  • Venezuelan playwright Mariela Romero

Fluent in: Spanish.

Maria Dolores Costa
Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., University of Massachusetts
Contact: (323) 343-4238
E-mail: mcosta@calstatela.edu

  • 19th and 20th century Spanish narratives
  • Gay and lesbian writers

Fluent in: Spanish.

Felipe Diaz
Associate Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Contact: (323) 343-4241
E-mail: fdiaz@calstatela.edu

  • Spanish literature of the Golden Age
  • Medieval Spanish literature

Fluent in: Spanish.

Domnita Dumitrescu
Emerita Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., USC
Contact (323) 343-4235
E-mail: ddumitr@calstatela.edu

  • Spanish language structure and pragmatics
  • Sociolinguistics of the Spanish-speaking world
  • Contrastive analysis of Spanish, English, French, and Romanian

Fluent in: Spanish, Romanian, French.

Kylie Hsu
Emerita Professor of Chinese and Linguistics; Ph.D., UCLA
Contact: (323) 343-4275
E-mail: khsu2@calstatela.edu or prof.kyliehsu@gmail.com

  • Chinese linguistics
  • Analysis of word structure
  • Language use in written and spoken discourse context
  • Language and cultural socialization
  • Heritage language pedagogy
  • Intercultural communication

Fluent in: Mandarin (Chinese).

Christophe Lagier
Associate Professor of French; Ph.D., Princeton University
Contact: (323) 343-4273
E-mail: clagier@calstatela.edu

  • Language and culture to literature and business French
  • Post-World War II French theater
  • Contemporary problems of immigration, racism and integration in France

Fluent in: French.

Sachiko Matsunaga
Professor of Japanese; Ph.D., University of Hawaii, Manoa
Contact: (323) 343-4240
E-mail: smatsun@calstatela.edu

  • Japanese psycholinguistics
  • Second-language acquisition and reading research
  • Computer-assisted instruction on learning Japanese
  • Japanese Speech Contest

Fluent in: Japanese.

Elena Ruzickova
Associate Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Contact: (323) 343-4235
E-mail: seruzick@calstatela.edu

  • Spanish sociolinguistics and pragmatics

Fluent in: Spanish.

Alejandro Solomianski
Assistant Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Contact: (323) 343-4241
E-mail: asolomi@calstatela.edu

  • Latin American literature
  • Cultural studies
  • Subaltern studies

Fluent in: Spanish.

Hildebrando Villarreal
Professor of Spanish; Ph.D., UCLA
Contact: (323) 343-4230
E-mail: hvillar@calstatela.edu

  • Spanish linguistics
  • Teaching of Spanish as a second language and to native Spanish speakers

Fluent in: Spanish.

Qingyun Wu
Professor of Chinese; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Contact: (323) 343-4242
E-mail: qwu@calstatela.edu

  • Chinese language
  • Comparative literature
  • Women’s literature
  • Study of culture and literature
  • Chinese Poetry Contest

Fluent in: Mandarin (Chinese).

Toshiko Yokota
Assistant Professor of Japanese; Ph.D., UC Irvine
Contact: (323) 343-4277
E-mail: tyokota@calstatela.edu

  • Japanese language and literature

Fluent in: Japanese.