The Team

Sergio Romero is a linguist and anthropologist with an interest on the structural ,and sociocultural aspects of language variation and change. His current work examines the diachronic development of dialectal variation, its social meaning and the emergence of pastoral registers in indigenous languages, using both ethnographic and philological methods. Most of his research focuses on Mayan languages, especially K’iche’, Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel and more recently Awakatek and Ixil. He has also published on Nahuatl, especially on dialects formerly spoken in colonial Guatemala, and has served as pro-bono translator for Maya migrants in the United States.

Ignacio Carvajal is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Indigenous Languages Graduate Research Assistant at the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on evangelization and language during the colonial period in Guatemala.

Mareike Sattler is senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University and has been teaching K’iche’ since 2009. She holds a master’s degree in Altmerikanistik (Pre-Columbian Languages and Cultures) from the University Hamburg, Germany. She has taught in, and directed the Mayan Language Institute-K’iche’, a summer field school in Guatemala.

Juan Manuel Tahay Tzaj is a teacher from Nahualá Sololá. He has studied Anthropology at the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala and Arquitecture at the Faculty of Arquitecture in Quetzaltenango. He is presently seeking a degree in Education in Pedagogy and Social Sciences. He has contributed to doctoral dissertations of students at UT Austin and assisted in K’iche’ language classes and workshops at the Universidad de San Carlos in Quetzaltenango. During the summers of 2014 & 2015, he was an instructor in the Nahualá-based Maya K’iche’ Institute, hosted by Vanderbilt Universit and the University of Texas at Austin.

Carl Blyth is the Director of the Center of Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) and Associate Professor of French Linguistics in the Department of French and Italian.  He has held several administrative positions prior to COERLL: Coordinator of Lower Division French (1993-2002), Acting Director of Technology, Literacy and Culture (2001-2002), and Director/Asst Director of the UT Summer Program in Lyon, France.  He has worked with colleagues on an online reference grammar of French (Tex’s French Grammar), and a multimedia-based first year French program (Français interactif).

Sarah Sweeney is the Project Coordinator for COERLL. She holds degrees in French and Global Communications. She enjoys learning and teaching languages and has worked on marketing, communications, education, and online projects in various fields.

Pat Kyle is COERLL’s Senior Programs Coordinator and Online Language Course Manager for UT’s College of Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services. Pat holds a PhD in French Linguistics from Indiana University as well as the MBA and Master of Education in Information and Learning Technologies from the University of Colorado.  She has taught French language and culture for over 30 years and enjoys instructional design and language program management.  Pat’s main responsibility is to assure the pedagogical integrity of COERLL’s outreach events and materials.

Nathalie Steinfeld Childre is the Publications Manager/ Web Developer for COERLL. Previously to moving to Austin, Nathalie studied art history at the University of Zürich and completed an art program at the local art academy. She then graduated with degrees in art history and computer science. She has a passion for art, languages, and cultural studies and creates tailored websites and tools that enhance the student’s online experience with foreign languages and culture.