# Xiomara Hipólita Feliberty-Casiano Senior Preceptor (Spanish) !["Portrait of a smiling woman in front of leafy greenery with orange flowers.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8296/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-03/feliberty-casiano.jpg?itok=UoQJjLvt) location\_on Boylston 416 smartphone [(617) 495-8476]() email **Office Hours** Wednesdays 1:00PM-3:00pm **Academic Degrees:** Ph.D. Hispanic Studies; Latin American Literature. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, 2020. M.A. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. School of Communications, 2008 --- **Xiomara Hipólita Feliberty-Casiano** holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies (Deans of Humanities Award) and a Master's in Communications from the University of Puerto Rico. Her academic prowess is further underscored by a dual Massachusetts teaching certification, encompassing both English as a Second Language and Spanish as a Foreign Language. Feliberty-Casiano’s professional experience includes teaching Spanish as a second language (beginning to advanced levels), assisting course coordination, curriculum design, and instructors' mentorship. She also served as Bok Center Pedagogy Fellow and completed the Certificate in Teaching Language and Culture at the RLL Department, Harvard University. Feliberty-Casiano is a proud Q Award Recipient. She has received the Certificate of Distinction and Excellence in Teaching Recipient, for every course taught at the RLL Department. She also received a Special Commendation for Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times, given by Dr. Amanda Claybaugh, Dean of Undergraduate Education, based on the undergraduates feedback about teaching staff deserving special recognition during Spring Semester, 2020 (transition from classroom to Zoom during the initial phase of the pandemic; given to 281 teaching members out of over 2,500). In the same way, her contributions to the Spanish Language Program and the Department of Romance Languages at large earned her the honor of being awarded the Department teaching award for exemplary teaching and the "Solomon Lincoln Fund Teaching Prize Awarded for Teaching and Service" (only given to one or two instructors each year). Feliberty-Casiano's academic pursuits are dedicated to equitable practice. She has a comprehensive understanding of diverse pedagogical approaches and the importance of equity in understanding diverse backgrounds, identities, and needs such as first generation students, heritage learners, and students with reasonable accommodations, as defined by the Disability Access Office. She envisions a classroom as a safe and pedagogically nurturing space for all. As part of a Departmental effort toward inclusivity and belonging, she helped design and submit a start-up project titled "The Binary Decoder." The project, aiming to explore and use alternative grammatical structures that capture the essence of non-binary and Latinx identities within language and culture classrooms, received a finalist mention from the Harvard Culture Lab Innovation Fund (2021.) Feliberty-Casiano's approaches integrate new technologies, visual arts, and literary texts. This aims to cultivate critical thinking skills across all levels of language acquisition to spark the curiosity and inspire students to continue studying languages beyond College requirements. Thereby nurturing a generation of adept communicators and critical thinkers. ### Spring, 2026 [### SPANSH 30 - Upper-Level Spanish: Arts of Resistance, Narratives of the Impossible, and Foods that Gather Us ](/class/spansh-30-upper-level-spanish-arts-resistance-narratives-impossible-and-foods-gather-us-0) **Semester:** Spring | **Year offered:** 2026 | **Link:** [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-114200/2025/spring/12225) An advanced language class that reinforces the practice of oral and written communication in Spanish through topics in contemporary cultural materials from Spain and Latin America. Students will focus on improving proficiency, refining pronunciation and acquiring vocabulary... [### SPANSH 40 - Advanced Spanish Language I: Identity, History and Movement in Latin American Narrative and Film ](/class/spansh-40-advanced-spanish-language-i-identity-history-and-movement-latin-american-0) **Semester:** Spring | **Year offered:** 2026 | **Link:** [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-125014/2025/spring/12249) An advanced language and culture class that further develops linguistic competence using a region or regions of the Hispanic world as a focus for class discussion, grammar review, and an introduction to Hispanic social contexts and texts. Course materials may also include... - ## Department Role [Language Faculty](/department-role/language-faculty) - ## Language [Spanish](/language/spanish) - ## Research Interest [Latin American](/research-interest/latin-american) [Spanish](/research-interest/spanish) [Gender and Sexuality](/research-interest/gender-and-sexuality) [Race and Ethnicity](/research-interest/race-and-ethnicity)