Felicidades to Professor Angela Bailey for receiving the 2019 Premio Jose Martel award, bestowed by Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Honor Society, to its triennial outstanding faculty advisory.
This year’s convention was held in San Diego, California, at the national convention of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, where Professor Bailey was surprised with the award. Bailey advises Illinois State University’s longstanding Sigma chapter, Eta Upsilon, which also garnered its second Premio Octavio Paz, awarded to chapters that maintain Honor Chapter status for three consecutive years. Eta Upsilon was one of only five chapters in the nation to receive this award in 2019, and it adds this distinction to a long list of national awards.
Through Bailey’s guidance and encouragement, Sigma takes on outreach projects at Illinois State as well as at local elementary, junior, and high schools. These include Walkin’ Tacos Study Break; the presentation of a bilingual play, El Raton Perez – a Hispanic tooth fairy story; Pintxos y Pinceles (Snack and a Painted Masterpiece); playing Twister en español; and a celebration of Carnaval, among many other events and activities. In addition to her dedicated work with Sigma, Profesora Bailey teaches intermediate Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and she is the co-author, along with Monsterrat Mir, of ¡Que me dices!, a textbook intended to facilitate Spanish conversation for fourth or fifth-semester university Spanish learners.
Those interested to know more about Illinois State’s chapter of Sigma Delta Pi can contact Chapter Advisor Angela Bailey de las Heras. For additional information on the Premio José Martel, contact Sigma Delta Pi’s Executive Director Mark P. Del Mastro.
