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Blackwell Residence Hall

Headshot of Sandra Quammen

Contact

sandra.valnes@duke.edu
(919) 6608436
106 Language Center
Box 90257
Durham, NC 27708

Sandra Valnes Quammen

Senior Lecturer of Romance Studies​

I’m very happy to begin my first year as faculty in residence at Blackwell! Though this is my first year living on East, I’ve been teaching at Duke since 2008. I’m a senior lecturer in Romance Studies and Linguistics, and the director of the French Language Program. I teach all levels of French language courses, with a particular love for teaching introductory and intermediate language courses.

I took French all through high school, but didn’t really start enjoying it until undergrad. I’m currently working on improving my very rusty Spanish (which I began studying with amazing faculty who are now my colleagues in the Spanish Language Program here at Duke) and have just started trying to learn the rudiments of Finnish.

Broadly speaking, my research focuses on second language acquisition, with a particular focus on the intersections between language learning, multilingualism, and sustainability. With my colleague Liliana Paredes
in Spanish, I also research theories of translanguaging and their roles in language learning and in fostering multilingual communities of practice.

I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and even after 20+ years living in North Carolina, am still not used to the heat! I do, however, love Durham, and I enjoy discovering new green spaces, coffee shops, and restaurants! 

In my free time, I like to spend time with my husband and two daughters, who are also excited to be joining the Blackwell community! I also like to cook, listen to music, watch movies, play games (board and card; I am unfortunately horrible at video games), read, and hike.