Dear HISP & Friends,
I am very pleased to announce that recent Hispanic Studies graduate Mr. Blaine Billings has been awarded the prestigious Mario Vargas Llosa Award, given by the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Sigma Delta Pi (press release follows):
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25 May 2020
For Immediate Release
Blaine Billings Receives National Mario Vargas Llosa Award
Mr. Blaine Billings (College of Charleston ’20), triple major in Spanish, Computer Science and Math; double minor in Religious Studies and Linguistics; past President of the Linguistics Club; and past Secretary of the College of Charleston’s Nu Zeta Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, will be awarded the Mario Vargas Llosa Award for his outstanding achievement in all upper-division Spanish courses completed and his exemplary involvement in extra-curricular activities as related to Spanish. The Mario Vargas Llosa Award is granted yearly to one undergraduate Spanish major or minor who is a member of Sigma Delta Pi and whose chapter adviser is an active member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. This national recognition is co-sponsored by Sigma Delta Pi and the AATSP and is selected by a joint committee comprising academic leaders from both organizations.
Established in 1919 at the University of California, Berkeley, Sigma Delta Pi honors those who have completed three years of study of college-level Spanish, including at least three semester hours of a course in Hispanic literature or Hispanic culture and civilization with a minimal grade point average of 3.0 in all Spanish courses taken. Candidates must also rank in the upper 35% of their class–sophomore, junior, or senior–and must have completed at least three semesters or five quarters of college work. Graduate students may also be elected to membership upon completion of two graduate courses in Spanish with an average which, if continued, will make them eligible for a graduate degree.
With over 625 chapters nationwide, Sigma Delta Pi is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, the nation’s only certifying agency for college and university honor societies.
For more information, contact Sigma Delta Pi’s National President:
Lucy F. Lee
llee@truman.edu
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To say that we in Hispanic Studies are proud of Blaine and his accomplishment is—to put it mildly—an understatement.
Saludos cordiales,
Mg
Dr. Michael A. Gómez
Professor of Spanish
Affiliated Faculty in Philosophy
Chair of Hispanic Studies
Department of Hispanic Studies
College of Charleston