Department of Foreign Languages: UNLV

Dr. Villanueva received his Ph.D. in German Studies from Duke University. Prior to UNLV, he served as Research Associate at the Aspen Institute Berlin. He is affiliated both with the Department of Foreign Languages and the Honors College, and is German Club advisor as well as Campus Coordinator for the Congress-Bundestag exchange programs with Cultural Vistas (formerly CDS International).

Dr. Villanueva teaches translation, film, literature and Business German courses as well as all levels of the German language. A translator of scholarly articles and several books, he also created the undergraduate "Certificate in Translation, German-English" for the Department. His most recent translations include a first-person Holocaust survivor memoir (Von Sterbfritz nach Las Vegas, CoCon Verlag 2011) and a scholarly work on the history of the trombone (edition crescendo, forthcoming 2012). His current translation project is a book-length guide to the German Parliament (Bundestag).

For the Honors College, Dr. Villanueva regularly offers upper-division seminars on European culture, politics, film and instructional leadership as well as mentoring Senior Honors Theses. He is the founder and director of the SAGE Academy, a 3-week summer academic program for gifted high school students and coordinates the Honors first-year experience (FYE) seminar for some 120 entering students each fall semester.

Dr. Villanueva's research and publications include the areas of modern Austrian literature, German and European political culture and language pedagogy. His first book, Europe as a Political Project in the CDU: Precedents and Programs was published by VDM Verlag in 2009. Among other honors, he has received the Honors College's "Master Teacher Award," the "UNLV Alumni Association Student-Centered Faculty Award" and the "German-American Friendship Award" from the German Foreign Ministry.