MA in Interpreting and Translation Studies Program

Program Directors and Faculty

The ITS program faculty specializations reflect the interdisciplinary character of the program and cover a broad spectrum of intercultural and interlingual communication areas. The program faculty provides expertise in such areas as interpreting theory, linguistics, communication across cultures, ethics, management, organizational behavior and approaches to different healthcare related contexts.

Directors:

Olgierda Furmanek, Associate Professor – Spanish, Interpreting and Translation Studies, – Director. Founding director of the Interpreting and Translation Studies Program at Wake Forest University, Dr. Furmanek is an international authority on interpreting didactics, psychology of interpreting, and the ethics of interpreting and translation. She serves as a consultant to new programs in community interpreting throughout the US.

Sarah E. Barbour, Professor - French and Francophone Language, Literature and Culture –Associate Director. Former director of the WFU Teaching and Learning Center and a translator herself, Dr. Barbour, participated in the summer Certificate Program in Teaching Translation and Interpretation at the Monterey Institute for International Studies. She developed and has taught a course on translation studies in the French curriculum.

Faculty:

Irma V. Alarcón, Associate Professor - Hispanic Linguistics & Applied Linguistics. Dr. Alarcón works on second language acquisition, bilingualism, and psycholinguistics. She has recently published research on heritage language learning.

Jane W. Albrecht, Associate Professor – Spanish Language, Literature and Culture. Dr. Albrecht has given workshops on cross-cultural communication and is a strong advocate of public scholarship.

Diego Burgos, ABD, Instructor - Spanish and Linguistics. Mr. Burgos' areas of research interest include Translation Studies, Terminology Management and Localization, Computer Assisted Translation and Natural Language Processing.

Tamara Cabrera, ABD, Lecturer – Interpreting Studies. Her area of research includes Interpreting Studies and Specialized Knowledge, Descriptive Terminology Management and Qualitative and Empirical Research in Terminology and Interpreting Studies. 

Jerid Francom, Assistant Professor – Spanish and Linguistics. Dr. Francom specializes in knowledge management, language resources and computational language applications.

Olgierda Furmanek, Associate Professor – Spanish, Interpreting and Translation Studies. Dr. Furmanek is an international authority on interpreting didactics, psychology of interpreting, and the ethics of interpreting and translation. She serves as a consultant to new programs in community interpreting throughout the US.

Candelas Gala, Charles E. Taylor Professor of Romance Languages – Spanish Language, Literature and Culture. Dr. Gala is an expert in interdisciplinary programs development, founding director of several cross disciplinary initiatives such as LAC, internships; an editor of a bilingual anthology and translator herself.

Steve Giles, Associate Professor - Communication. Dr. Giles primary areas of research expertise include adolescent substance use prevention, problem behavior program implementation, and social and media influence on body image among college students.

Luis González, Associate Professor – Spanish and Applied Linguistics. Dr. Gonzalez specializes in web-assisted language competencies development and language testing.

Jules Guilbeau, Adjunct Professor - Public Health Economics, WFU Schools of Business. Mr. Guilbeau has over 13 years experience in Long Term and Acute Care Health Administration. He is currently the Director for Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy Medicine for LeBauer HealthCare (Moses Cone Health System).

Sherry Moss, Professor – Organizational Studies. Dr. Moss’ research interests include attribution theory, feedback, abusive supervision, leader-member exchange, leader emergence and meaningful work.

Len Preslar, Distinguished Professor – Practice, WFU Schools of Business. Mr. Preslar, former chief executive officer of the North Carolina Baptist Hospital, is the Executive Director of Health Management Programs at the Schools of Business. Among his immediate objectives, Preslar is responsible for the new MBA Health Concentration at the Schools of Business.

Michael Hazen, Professor – International Communications. Dr. Hazen’s research areas include Contemporary Theories of Communication and Rhetoric, Comparative Communication across Cultures, Empirical Research in Communication, and Intercultural Communication.

Michael Hyde, University Distinguished Professor of Communication Ethics - Communication Ethics, Semantics & Language in Communication, Rhetorical Critisicm. Dr. Hyde is an award-winning professor renowned for his research and expertise in bioethics and communication. He holds a joint appointment in the Program in Bioethics, Health, and Society, School of Medicine, Wake Forest University. He is the author of over sixty articles and critical reviews appearing in various scholarly journals and texts.

Stephanie Pellet, Assistant Professor – French and Applied Linguistics. Dr. Pellet specializes in discourse studies and is the author of a textbook for conversational French. Dr. Pellet teaches French Translation.

M. Stanley Whitley, Professor - Spanish and Linguistics. Dr. Whitley is the director of WFU linguistics program, teaches sociolinguistics and Spanish phonology, and is an international authority on Spanish/English contrastive analysis. Dr. Whitley has published extensively on second language acquisition, phonology, and grammar.

Collaborating with the program in 2012-2013:

Claudia Francom, Visiting Assistant Professor - Dr. Francom specializes in Hispanic Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Bilingualism, Discourse Analysis, Spanish in Contact and Latino Immigration in the USA.

Josefina López, (M.D.) Visiting Assistant Professor - Dr. López specializes in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish Literature and Culture: Teresa of Avila, Medicine and Literature, Medical Spanish with over ten years teaching experience, and Interprofessional Education. Dr López is author of numerous scholarly and creative publications.