Julie Stephens de Jonge holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Kansas. Since arriving at UCM in 1996, she has taught all levels of Spanish language, literature, film, and civilization courses. She is the co-author of an intermediate-level textbook program that uses film to teach language: Ambientes (one-semester) and Contextos (two-semester). Additionally, she is the coordinator of a yearly foreign language film festival for students in middle and high school. She is committed to the scholarship of teaching and learning and is particularly interested in second language acquisition, the pedagogy of critical thinking, and the development of reasoning about ethics through film and literature.