About

Dr. Carla Suhr joined the Spanish and Portuguese Department at UCLA in 2016 after finishing her PhD at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Professor Suhr focuses her academic work on the integration of culture, language, and cognition as a way to improve cross-cultural communication and inclusive teaching.

She has worked in the field of Spanish linguistics and service-learning for the past 15 years at organizations such as Universidad Complutense de Madrid and University of New Haven, and her experience as a Spanish teacher trainer provides her the ability to implement diverse teaching strategies towards a specific project, program, and course. She cofounded IDESLI International Institute of Linguistics in San Francisco in 2009, where she directed the Language Courses and developed programs geared to industries conducting businesses with Spanish-speaking countries and professionals as well as non-profit organizations working with the Latinx community.

She currently teaches Spanish and Service-learning courses in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UCLA, from which she emphasizes the positive learning outcomes attained from connecting students with the community. Learn more about these courses here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbXr-3-YXLI.

Her current area of research is within the cognitive sciences, specifically on conceptualization processes and how this understanding enables us to acquire strategies as a valuable tool for Second Language Acquisition.

Education

Ph.D. (2016) Comunicación Intercultural y Cognición. Intercultural Communication and Cognition, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Dissertation thesis: Interlinguistic lexical study of emotive stereotypes Dir: Enrique Bernárdez

M.A (2008) Intercultural Communication and Cognition, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

M.A (2006) Teaching Spanish As a Second Language, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Dir: Jesus Sanchez Lobato

Publications

SELECT PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

Suhr, C. “Sociolinguistic Justice in Community Engagement”, Nuevos horizontes en los estudios hispánicos, Sonoma State University, July 2022

Suhr, C. “Translation and Interpreting Projects in Spanish Community-Engaged Learning Courses,” Building Sustainable Modern Language Programs EPIC-Lang Conference, UCLA, May 2022

Suhr, C. “Spanish Community-Engaged Learning Practices in Response to COVID-19: A Social Justice Perspective” in the Panel “Teaching Romance Languages and Global civic Engagement: Theories, Practices, and Resources for Turbulent Times”, MLA Convention, Washington DC, January 2022

Suhr, C. “Building Horizontal Relations through Spanish Community-engaged Learning,” in Campus Service Workers Supporting First Generation Students: Informal Mentorship and Culturally Relevant Support as Key to Student Retention and Success, Eds. Georgina Guzman, La’Tonya Rease, and Stephanie Youngblood. Routledge Press, (2021), 192-211

Shorter, D. and Suhr, C. “Community Engagement in the Time of COVID: Opportunities and Challenges with Remote Experiential Learning,” CCE series, UCLA, 2020

Suhr, C. “High Impact Practices in Spanish Community-Engaged Learning,” in the Panel “High Impact Practice in the Teaching of Romance Linguistics,” MLA Convention, Seattle, January 2020

Suhr, C. “Language and Cognition in the Construction of Emotive Stereotypes,” in Cognition in Context. New Insights into Language, Culture, and the Mind, Eds.  Bernárdez, E., Jabłońska-Hood, J., and Stadnik, K. Switzerland: Peter Lang, (2019), 174-193

Suhr, C. “Multiple Models for Community-engaged Teaching,” CCE, UCLA, October 2019

Suhr, C. “High Impact Practices in Service Learning,” Teaching at UCLA: A Symposium to Showcase Innovation and Inspire Excellence, UCLA, March 2019

Suhr, C. “Community Engagement and the Advancement of the Linguistic, Sociolinguistic, and Pragmatic Multidimensional Competence,” Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, University of Texas, Austin, October 2018

Moreno, J. and Suhr, C. “Joining Forces: From Writing Composition to Service Learning in Enhancing Production of Spanish Heritage Speakers,” Third International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages, University of California, Los Angeles, February 2018

Suhr, C. “Evaluation in Spanish Service-Learning Courses,” MLA Convention, New York, January 2018

Suhr, C. “Mastering Spanish through Service learning,” Bringing Together Research and Practice: Language Learning, Language Teaching, and Teacher Training in Portuguese and Spanish, Facultade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, November 2017

Suhr, C. “Construction of Emotive Stereotypes,” Culture, Cognition, and Communication,Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin, Poland, Sep 2017

Suhr, C. “Spanish Service Learning in Higher Education,” Misión Inversa, Córdoba, Argentina, August 2017

Suhr, C. Estudio de estereotipos de sentimientos desde una perspectiva actual de la lingüística cognitiva sociocultural, Ediciones Complutense, Madrid, 2016

Hoeltje, A. and Suhr, C. “Cross-cultural Approaches to Innovation and Communication,” Founderspace, San Francisco, November 2015

Audiovisual work: Arcioni, A. Hirault, P. and Suhr, C. “Bonjour, Pauline” Beginner and Intermediate Blended-Format French Course (for private organization’s staff professional development use), 2014

Blog Posts

    Upcoming Talks and Conferences

    2018 NHLRC Conference

    Third International Conference on Heritage / Community Languages

    Paper: Joining Forces: From Writing Composition to Service Learning in Enhancing Production in Spanish Heritage Speakers

     

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