Profile for Megan Strom
Specialty area(s)
Hispanic Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, Social Semiotics, Spanish in the United States, Critical Media Studies
Brief biography
Broadly speaking, the overarching goal of my research is to promote more ethical and humane treatment of immigrants in the media. My research focuses on the representation of ideology in Spanish- and English-language media in the United States and the ways in which linguistic and semiotic structures in these media perpetuate or challenge the negative representations of Latin@ immigrants. Recent research projects include examining the ways in which the United States Spanish and English-language media represent unaccompanied Latin@ child immigrants, as well as how United States Spanish-language media represent sexual assault.
Beyond the university, I am dedicated to serving the local Spanish-speaking population. I have served as a volunteer medical and legal interpreter, ESL teacher, and community organizer to provide quality resources in Spanish to Latin@ immigrants. I am happy to work with students in these endeavors – please contact me if you are interested in getting involved.
Current courses at UWL
SPA 310: Talking About Communities: L@s hispanohablantes en los Estados Unidos
SPA 369: Surges, Waves, and Floods: Latinx Immigrants in the Media
SPA 370: Spanish for the Health Professions
Education
Ph.D, Hispanic Linguistics: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (2013)
M.A., Applied Linguistics: Universidad de las Américas, Puebla (2008)
B.A., Spanish: Gustavus Adolphus College (2006)
Teaching history
SPA 201: Intermediate Spanish I
SPA 306: Spanish for the Health Professions
SPA 315: Business Spanish
SPA 326: Current Events: (Im)migrants in the Media
Professional history
Community Engagement
Collaboration between UWL CLS faculty and Gundersen Global Partners
Collaboration between UWL Language Resource Center and Gundersen Global Partners (also here)
La Crosse Immigration Task Force
Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI)
VocalFries Podcast: The importance of interpretation services in the United States
Research and publishing
Publications
Strom, M. and Granados, O. (2018). Enhancing global education and research practices for underrepresented students in Havana, Cuba. High Impact Practices and Global Education: Leveling the Playing Field. Diversity Abroad, Fall 2018, 16-18. Berkeley, California.
Strom, M. (forthcoming, 2018). ¿Inglés Sin Barreras?: A multimodal social semiotic analysis of ideology and power. International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest.
Strom, M. and Alcock, E. (2017). Floods, waves, and surges: The representation of Latin@ immigrant children in the United States mainstream media. Critical Discourse Studies, 14(4), 440-457.
Strom, M. (2016). Spanish-language print media in the United States: A critical analysis of ideological representations in photojournalism. Social Semiotics, 26(2), 151-169.
Strom, M. (2015). Intersemiotic relationships in Spanish-language media in the United States: A critical analysis of the representation of ideology across verbal and visual modes. Discourse & Communication, 9(4), 487-508.
Strom, M. (2015). The discursive hierarchization of social actors in local Spanish-language print media. Discourse & Society, 26(2), 230-252.
Strom, M. (2013). Spanish-language print media in the United States: A critical discourse analysis of ideological representations. In Cabrelli Amaro, J., Lord, G., de Prada Pérez, A. and Aaron, J. (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 253-267). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Strom, M. (2013). Constructing ‘them’ from ‘their’ perspective: The discursive identity of Latinos created by Latino authors. In Miller, P., Watzke, J. and Mantero, M. (Eds.), Readings in Language Studies, Volume 3 (pp. 85-103). St. Louis, MO: The International Society for Language Studies.
Recent Conference Presentations
“Familias unidas pero vencidas: Media representations of migrant families”. 48th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. Louisiana State University, October 31 - November 2, 2019. With Raquel García, '20.
“Teaching Spanish to practicing health professionals: ¿Vale la pena?”. 48th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. Louisiana State University, October 31 - November 2, 2019. With Sara Seymour, '20 and Carina Salas, '20.
"Criminals or victims? Unaccompanied Latinx children in Spanish- and English-language print media". The International Society of Language Studies, “Disrupting and Recreating Beliefs in Language Studies." The Open University of Hong Kong, June 20-22, 2019.
"Elevating immigrant voices in Spanish-language media". Fourth Annual Social Justice Week at UWL, "There is More to the Story: Elevating Silenced Voices", April 3, 2019. With Lilly Blum, '20; Natalie Brey, '20; Emilie Kachel, '19; Megan Mellberg, '20; Carina Salas, '20.
"Language access and social justice in the US health system". Fourth Annual Social Justice Week at UWL, "There is More to the Story: Elevating Silenced Voices", April 3, 2019.
"Teaching Spanish for the Health Professions: Breaking barriers; Breaking barriers in the undergraduate setting". 51st Annual NCCLA Conference, North Central Council of Latin Americanists, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, October 12-13, 2018.
"Teaching Spanish for the Health Professions: Breaking Barriers; Breaking barriers through Spanish classes for health professionals". 51st Annual NCCLA Conference, North Central Council of Latin Americanists, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, October 12-13, 2018. With Sara Seymour, '20.
"Teaching Spanish for the Health Professions: Breaking Barriers; Breaking barriers through individualized conversation sessions with health professionals". 51st Annual NCCLA Conference, North Central Council of Latin Americanists, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, October 12-13, 2018. With Bailey Bogatitus, '19.
"'I just want to see my mother': Giving a voice to Latin@ child immigrants in US mainstream media". The International Society of Language Studies, "Intersections of Language Studies and Social/Political Movements, Activism, and Participation". Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, June 28-30, 2018.
“The discursive function and ideological implications of Spanish-English codeswitching in Mexican telenovelas”. 46th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, October 5-7, 2017.
“Representing sexual violence against women in El Diario/La Prensa: Discursive inequalities and alternatives for peace”. The International Society for Language Studies, “Intersections of Peace and Language Studies”. University of Hawaii – Manoa, June 15-17, 2017. With Dr. Autumn Reed.
“Portraying Latin@ child immigrants as ‘illegals/ilegales’ in the US media”. 45th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. The University of Texas at Austin, September 15-17, 2016.
“U.S. Spanish-language news coverage of violence against women: A critical discourse analysis of passive voice”. The International Society for Language Studies, “A Critical Examination of Language and Society.” Normal, Illinois, June 23-25, 2016. With Dr. Autumn Reed.
“Floods, waves, and surges: The representation of Latin@ immigrant children in the United States mainstream media”. North Central Council of Latin Americanists, “Immigration, Emigration, Exile, and Return”. Waukesha, Wisconsin, September 24-26, 2015. With Emily Alcock, '17.
“What’s in a word? Presidente and presidenta in the Brazilian context.” North Central Council of Latin Americanists, “Immigration, Emigration, Exile, and Return”. Waukesha, Wisconsin, September 24-26, 2015. With Dr. Pedro dos Santos.