UAA Languages Dept. announces another 2012-2013 U.S. Student Fulbright Award winner

Erick Romig, who graduates this year with a Bachelor of Arts and an outstanding academic record, was selected as a 2012-2013 U.S. Student Fulbright Award winner. "[The award] marks a solid end to my undergraduate studies," says Romig. "I have worked very hard to immerse myself in my community and in my major of Spanish and minor of English, and it has paid off." He joins another UAA Department of Languages graduate, Alan Massey, as a recipient of the 2012-2013 Fulbright awards, bringing the department's Fulbright scholar total to seven. Romig will travel to Cantabria, Spain, to work as a teaching assistant and immerse himself in the life and culture of northern Spain.

Romig's faculty mentor, Patricia Fagan, Ph.D., notes that he has a history of academic successes at UAA. After completing Spanish 101 and 102 at UAA, Romig was awarded scholarships to spend one summer and a semester living and studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His Spanish fluency upon his return to UAA allowed him to leap ahead in his studies. "He was able to place out of an entire year and a half of Intermediate and Advanced Spanish," Professor Fagan says. She highlights Romig's service as a Spanish peer tutor and as student president of the La Tertulia, the UAA student Spanish club. Romig also becomes the first Dept. of Languages student in the past decade to graduate with honors in Spanish. To claim those honors, he had to pass a five-hour comprehensive exam in Spanish linguistics, English-Spanish translation and Iberian and Latin American literature from the medieval period through the 21st century. He passed with High Distinction. Professor Fagan offers her congratulations to Romig, "a superb student whose intellectual gifts and hard work ethic have earned him many accolades during his undergraduate career," and she says, "The Department of Languages is so proud of Erick's well-deserved success; he is an inspiration to students and faculty alike."

Romig has his own accolades to bestow on his faculty mentor: "My academic advisor/Fulbright mentor, Dr. Patricia Fagan, is absolutely fabulous. Simply put, the amount of work she does to become the best possible professor is unmatched. Truly, UAA has become a better place because of her efforts and countless students and professors owe her thanks." He credits her help in achieving his Fulbright award and is excited for the opportunity it brings him to go abroad again. "Living and working abroad is unique in that you get to be the 'other' for a little while, which, although cliché, is a life-changing experience," he says. Following his year in Spain, he plans to continue studying film and literature, possibly somewhere in Spain or Latin America if the opportunity presents itself. Though he is open to other possibilities: "I understand that by assimilating myself to another culture my interests will likely change and new opportunities may lead me in new directions."