Carlos Benavides

Dr. Carlos Benavides is Professor of Spanish/Linguistics and Chair of the Department of Global Languages and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He has been an educator for over 40 years, teaching a wide range of Spanish language, culture, literature, and linguistics courses at graduate, advanced, intermediate, and elementary levels. His contact information includes cbenavides@umassd.edu and phone number 508-910-6469, with his office located in Spruce Hall.

Dr. Benavides' educational background includes:

• PhD in Linguistics from the University of Iowa (1999)
• MA in Linguistics from the University of Texas at El Paso (1993)
• BA in Business Administration from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (1986)

His primary research interests focus on Hispanic linguistics, with particular expertise in morphology, lexical semantics, voseo in Latin America, corpus linguistics, and conceptual structure. Dr. Benavides has made significant contributions to understanding Spanish derivational morphology and the semantic component of motion verbs in Spanish. His work bridges theoretical linguistics with practical applications in language teaching, particularly through the use of corpus linguistics in Spanish grammar instruction.

Dr. Benavides has received recognition for his teaching excellence, including the 2018 Faculty Civic Leadership Award for his contributions to advance UMass Dartmouth's mission of promoting engaged learning. He was also nominated by a student for the 2018 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching for his "unique teaching strategies and great enthusiasm for education and multiculturalism." He has consistently incorporated service-learning projects in his courses for over 18 years, and has made significant contributions in promoting the institutionalization of this teaching methodology at UMass Dartmouth.

His professional affiliations include membership in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), where he served as College/University Representative on the Board of Directors. Dr. Benavides is also actively involved in non-profit community organizations.

As an educator, Dr. Benavides has taught courses such as Applied Linguistics for Teachers of Spanish, Medical Spanish, Spanish Composition and Conversation, and Business Spanish, demonstrating his commitment to both language instruction and practical application in various professional contexts.