Ella Kraning was born in Poland and raised in Russia. Since early childhood, she has been interested in languages and cultures, which determined her career path.
Ella Kraning has a Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education with teaching majors in Language Instruction (English and German), and a Master of Arts degree in English linguistics from Penza State University (Penza, Russia). She also holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a Master of Science degree in International Economics from the Russian Foreign Trade Academy (Moscow, Russia).
As a language instructor, Ella strives to make her classes engaging and challenging, but also fun. 

Joseph Cardello, Assistant Lecturer, Japanese. M.A in East Asian Languages and Literatures (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2021). He studied Japanese literature at Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan, 2017). He has taught Japanese language, conversation and composition, and topics in modern Japanese literature. His philosophy in language acquisition includes an exposure to a wide range of comprehensible input and extensive reading. In his free time, he enjoys contact with new languages and cultures while traveling, being in nature with his family, and reading Japanese mystery novels.

Lisa Coffield, Adjunct Instructor, German. M.S. in Linguistic Anthropology (Idaho State University 2016), B.S. in Secondary Education, Emphases in German and French (Idaho State University 2009). She has been teaching at ISU since the Fall of 2010, and teaches first-year German. Lisa is certified to teach both German and French.

Carmen Febles is an Associate Professor of Spanish Language and Latin American Cultures in the Department of Global Studies and Languages with a specialization in 18th and 19th century Mexico and Cuba at Idaho State University. Broadly speaking, Dr. Febles is interested in distance and difference – in points of articulation across Spanish-speaking geographies, social hierarchies, genres and time periods. Her literature and culture publications include “Exploring the limits of transculturation: Pérez Firmat’s a Cuban in Mayberry:, “Erinia: Matas entre lo policial y lo fantástico”, “El pasado presente: La canonización del pasado americano como acto patriótico en la obra de Fray Servando Teresa de Mier”.

A secondary area of focus is language, culture and healthcare. To that end, Dr. Febles has presented and published research related to the care of refugees living in the United States, and has also produced work on the experiences of Latinx patients and care providers in Idaho. Recent work explores the delivery of pre-hospital emergency care to Limited English Proficiency Latinx individuals in Idaho. Dr. Febles is currently examining the articulation of health and medical practices and policies vis-à-vis national identities and the ways in which they intersect with cultural, racial and gendered experiences and knowledges of place and body.

David Heath, Senior Lecturer, Spanish. David Heath, Senior Lecturer MA Latin American Studies (University of Kansas), BA Spanish (Idaho State University). Mr. Heath teaches first and second year Spanish, and has taught Spanish for Health Care. He is also an Early College Program liaison for several area high schools and is the coordinator for Spanish 101-102. Mr. Heath lived in Puerto Rico for two years and has an interest in the Spanish-speaking cultures of the Caribbean.

Dr. Huerta Vera obtained her Ph.D. and M.A. in Spanish from the University of California, Davis; and her B.A. in History from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Her research interests include memory studies, human rights, testimony and trauma, and representations of political violence in Latin America. Her doctoral dissertation, La memoria en el cine documental peruano: representaciones del conflict armado interno, focuses on the representations of the Peruvian Internal Armed Conflict (1980-2000) in documentary film. Her research explains how cultural and collective memory of the conflict is formed in Peru and brings to light voices that were not part of the Peruvian mainstream discussion but found a form of expression in documentary film.

Dr. Huerta Vera’s main goal as an instructor is to support her students’ academic success and personal well-being by creating a safe and supportive classroom environment that promotes curiosity, reflective thinking, and active participation. Her teaching highly emphasizes critical language awareness and multiliteracy pedagogies.
She is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community at Idaho State University, where all varieties of Spanish are recognized and valued, and all emergent bilinguals feel safe and empowered.

Marin Laufenberg received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2017). She has taught classes focusing on Spanish language, composition and conversation, Hispanic literature, and Spanish for the health and social services. She believes that by learning a language, you acquire a new window to understanding cultures and people. In her teaching, she likes using theatrical techniques, like role playing and dialogue creation. Dr. Laufenberg studies contemporary Latin American literature with a focus on Southern Cone performance and theatre. Her dissertation investigated the role of humor and laughter in dealing with trauma and violence in Argentine theatre. In addition to researching theatre, she also has extensive experience in the praxis of theatre as a member and co-founder of the UW-Madison Spanish language theatre group Teatro Décimo Piso. She has lived and studied abroad in Spain, Panama, and Argentina. In her free time, Dr. Laufenberg enjoys hiking with her family, cycling, whale watching, and exploring the tide pools along the coast of the Pacific Northwest.

Cathleen Tarp, Associate Professor, Spanish. Ph.D Romance Languages (University of New Mexico 1999); M.A. Hispanic Literature, (University of New Mexico 1996); B.A. English Literature (University of Idaho 1992). Dr. Tarp’s areas of specialization are the Spanish Middle Ages and Baroque. Current research interests include the grotesque, the Spanish prose romance, and narratology in the context of the development of prose fiction. Dr.Tarp is a certified medical interpreter and a qualified legal interpreter. She is also faculty advisor for Sigma Delta Pi, the National Spanish Honor Society, and the ISU student organization, Entrepeneurs of America.

Dr. José Eduardo Villalobos Graillet is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Peninsular Literatures and Cultures at Idaho State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Modern Spanish Peninsular Literature and Culture from the University of Toronto in 2022. His research explores the intersections of literature, visual culture, and cultural critique, with a particular focus on adaptation, censorship, and the representation of marginalized identities during and after Francoist Spain. He is the author of La Celestina y el cine. Censura y recepción (1969-1996) (Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2023), the first comprehensive study of the censorship and reception of La Celestina in Spanish cinema during the late Francoist period and the democratic transition, and co-author of ¡A parar bien la oreja! Spanish Listening Comprehension Handbook for Intermediate and Advanced Levels (OER Pressbooks, 2020). His current projects include research on international adaptations of La Celestina; Francoist censorship and disability in Las melancólicas (1972); censorship, symbolic cannibalism, and the representation of food in Eloy de la Iglesia’s La semana del asesino (1972); the production and reception of La venganza de don Mendo (1961) under Franco; and culinary resistance in Luis Cerezo’s historical and neopicaresque novel El cocinero (2023).

Dr. Villalobos Graillet has published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes in the fields of Spanish Cinema, Hispanic Literature, Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language, and Hispanic Sociolinguistics. He has received the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and research grants such as the Spanish Film Club Grant (2024, 2025) and internal funding from Idaho State University. He regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including Elementary Spanish I and II, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, Intensive Conversation, Survey of Spanish Literature and Civilization, Introduction to Hispanic Literature, Graduate Discourse: Gastronomy in Hispanic Literature and Film, Critical Theory: Spanish Graphic Narratives, Disability Studies in Spain, Film and Franquismo, and The Cinema of Almodóvar. He has also organized academic and community initiatives, including the Hispanic Film Festival at Idaho State University.

Publications and profiles are available here: La Celestina y el cine. Censura y recepción (1969-1996) – Iberoamericana Vervuert, ¡A parar bien la oreja! – OER Pressbooks, ResearchGate, Academia.edu.

Craig Nickisch, Professor Emeritus. Ph.D. BS South Dakota State University, MA Northwestern University, PhD University of Nebraska.  Fulbright Scholar.  Taught German, Spanish, and the FL Methods Course.  Master Teacher, Awards for Outstanding Research and Outstanding Public Service.  

Arthur Dolsen, Professor Emeritus. Ph.D. Classics (Trinity College, Dublin 1978), B.A. (University of British Columbia 1968). Dr. Dolsen teaches all levels of Latin offered by the university. He has also taught French and Russian extensively. His research interests include questions of ancient Greek history and rhetoric, in particular the works of Thucydides.

Pamela Park, Professor Emerita, French. French Literature (CUNY 1979), License in French (University of Nancy 1974) B.A. French (Fordham University 1972).

Sarah McCurry, Emerita. Sarah did her undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and her graduate work at the University of California at Los Angeles. She studied in Mexico and lived in Santiago, Chile for six and a half months.