School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 1-10 of 79 Results
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Khalil Barhoum
Senior Lecturer in the Language Center
BioKhalil Barhoum is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics. He holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Jordan. He came to the U.S. on a Rotary International scholarship, which helped him earn a Masters' degree in English Literature from Georgia Southern in 1977; he received a second Masters and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1985. His teaching experience includes the US State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Georgetown University, and the Johns Hopkins' School of International Studies (SAIS). Upon obtaining his Ph.D from Georgetown University, he joined Stanford University where he taught Arabic in the Department of Linguistics. Currently, he is coordinator of Stanford's Program of African and Middle Eastern Languages in the Language Center. He is an ACTFL-certified OPI and WPT Tester/Rater in Arabic and has served on the board of the Association of Arabic Teachers in America (AATA). He is a former national president of the Association of Arab American University Graduates(AAUG) and has served twice as the president of its California Chapter. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, edited by Cheryl Rubenberg and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers in 2010. In addition to teaching Arabic courses at all various levels, Dr. Barhoum has designed and taught several language and culture courses, including Arabic Calligraphy; Media Arabic; Colloquial Arabic; Arab Women Writers and Issues; The West through Arab Eyes; The Arab World through Travel Literature; and The Arab World and Culture through Literature. Dr. Barhoum has lectured on Arabic and Arabic literature, Arabic calligraphy, and the Arab world at several college campuses, including Princeton, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UMASS Amherst, among others.
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Touria Boumehdi
Advanced Lecturer, Language Ctr
BioDr. Touria Boumehdi Tomasi serves on the faculty of the Language Center at Stanford University. She teaches all levels of undergraduate and graduate courses in Modern Standard Arabic and Spanish, including accelerated and intensive offerings. Also, in Spring 2016, she will teach a new course in the Department of Languages Cultures and Literatures (DLCL), “Aljamía language and literature through the study and analyze of aljamiado manuscripts.”
With over 31 years of professional and academic experiences, Dr. Boumehdi has worked as Co-Director of the Spanish Department at the University of Rabat and Professor of Spanish and Arabic in Spain and France at the University of Toulouse le Mirail, the Toulouse School of Business, IAAE Oviedo and ECLAP Valladolid. She completed her Doctorate with a joint Ph.D. and highest honors in Spanish and Arabic at the University of Toulouse, a Master’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, and an In-Depth Studies Diploma (DEA) including five post-undergraduate years of study in Oriental Languages, Literature, and Civilizations from the University of Paris III in New Sorbonne. Dr. Boumehdi also holds an MBA in International Marketing and Commerce from E S C Toulouse School of Business and hold 6 years experiences as a Export Manager in 3 French technology firms.
Included among her recent book and other publications are several articles and her doctoral dissertation published in Spain in 2012 on the topic of Aljamiado (15th and 16th century Spanish manuscripts written in Arabic) language and literature.
Dr. Boumehdi has been teaching at Stanford since July 2012 where she is a certified ACTFL OPI and WPT Tester of Arabic. -
Vivian Brates
Advanced Lecturer, Language Ctr
BioVivian Brates is an Advanced Lecturer in the Stanford Language Center, where she teaches Spanish language and culture courses with a particular emphasis on community-engaged learning. Since 2011, she has designed and taught a portfolio of courses that integrate advanced language learning with issues of migration, access to health care, and human rights through long-term partnerships with community organizations.
She believes that learning another language is ultimately about building understanding across cultures and seeing the world through other people's experiences and perspectives. In her community-engaged courses, students strengthen their language proficiency, intercultural competence, and communication skills by engaging directly with Spanish-speaking communities. Along the way, they gain a deeper understanding of the linguistic, cultural, and structural barriers that shape people's opportunities and experiences. Whether they pursue careers in medicine, law, education, engineering, business, research, or public service, her goal is to help students communicate thoughtfully across cultures and engage with others with empathy, humility, and respect.
Over the years, her courses have partnered with organizations including the International Institute of the Bay Area, the CARA Pro Bono Project, Al Otro Lado, Freedom for Immigrants, One Life (Una Vida) Counseling Services, UG2 campus service workers at Stanford, Sequoia High School's Newcomer Program, and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA).
Before joining Stanford, Vivian worked as a Human Rights Observer and Election Monitor with the United Nations and the Organization of American States in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and later as an advocate and lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Those experiences continue to shape her teaching and her commitment to connecting academic learning with meaningful community engagement.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Vivian attended the University of Buenos Aires before earning an M.A. in Spanish and Latin American Literatures from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.A. in Latin American Studies with a concentration in Economic Development from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. -
Monica Carvalho Gimenes
Lecturer, Language Ctr
BioMônica Carvalho Gimenes is a Lecturer in Portuguese at the Stanford Language Center. With over 10 years of experience in language and literature instruction, she integrates her expertise in Brazilian and broader Latin American literatures into her teaching practice. In the Portuguese-language classroom, she fosters collaborative spaces for cultural and linguistic exploration.
She is currently working on her first book, "Writing Life: Creating Resistance to Feminicidal Violence in Latin America." The book examines how 21st-century Latin American writers and artists respond to ongoing violence against women. Drawing on decolonial feminist theories, she treats feminicide as a complex concept that encompasses different forms of violence affecting women and reveals how gender operates in Latin America. Her analysis focuses on novels, short stories, and other creative works that humanize women targeted by violence and create space for mourning and resistance. These works mobilize imagination, defamiliarizing readers with dominant narratives that make such violence seem ordinary or inevitable.
Mônica is also a translator with the Coletivo de Tradutores Berkeley-Brasil, a group of present and former UC Berkeley PhD students dedicated to translating Indigenous-authored works for English-speaking audiences. The initiative is a partnership among Revista Pihhy, the Núcleo Takinahakỹ de Formação Superior Indígena at the Universidade Federal de Goiás, the Secretaria de Formação, Livro e Leitura at the Ministério da Cultura in Brasília, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at UC Berkeley. The collective is currently preparing an edited collection of translations of Indigenous-authored texts for publication in the United States.
Before joining Stanford University, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University. She earned her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2024 and is a double alumna of Florida Atlantic University (M.A. '15, B.A. '13).
