Dr. Benjamin Schmeiser
- About
- Awards & Honors
Biography
Benjamin Schmeiser is Professor of Spanish at Illinois State University. He earned his PhD in Spanish Linguistics, with a specialization in Phonetics and Phonology, from the University of California, Davis in 2006.
Current Courses
SPA 234.001 Advanced Oral Communication in Spanish
SPA 215.001 Introduction To Spanish Linguistics
SPA 214.002 Oral Communication In Spanish
SPA 214.002 Oral Communication In Spanish
SPA 311.001 Spanish Phonetics & Phonology
SPA 412.001 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
Teaching Interests & Areas
Since entering the teaching field in 1994 as a licensed teacher (K-12 Spanish, 6-12 TESOL), he has taught Spanish at many levels, ranging from elementary, junior high, and high school to junior college and the university. He has also taught English and Portuguese at the university level. As an assistant professor, he received Honorable Mention for excellence in teaching in 2011. He was awarded tenure and promotion in 2012. As an associate professor, he was the co-recipient of the Kenneth A. and Mary Ann Shaw Teaching Fellowship for the 2019-2020 academic year. He was promoted to full professor in 2025. He has twice been recognized as an ‘MVP professor’ by student-athletes. He teaches courses in Spanish (linguistics, grammar, writing, conversation), Portuguese, and English (European film).
Research Interests & Areas
His research concentrates on Spanish, Portuguese, and Pali, diachronic variation, dialectology, as well as general areas of phonetics and phonology in cross-linguistic terms. He has published in, and served as an invited reviewer for, premier journals, conferences, and publishers. In sum, he has either taught, conducted field work, presented and/or published his research in the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Thailand; within the United States, he has taught in five states, namely California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Kentucky.
He is the author of Las variedades del mundo hispano: Introducción a la dialectología española and the accompanying website, www.lasvariedadesdelmundohispano.com. Follow him @lasvariedades1 on Twitter/X and Instagram.