Published Saturday, May 4th, 2024
The prestigious award, sponsored by State Nebraska Bank & Trust, was presented at the Spring 2024 baccalaureate ceremony.
Wayne State College is proud to announce that Dr. Alan Bruflat, professor of language and literature, was presented the State Nebraska Bank & Trust Teaching Excellence Award at the college’s May 4 baccalaureate commencement ceremony. Bruflat has taught at Wayne State since 1990.
Matthew Ley, chief executive officer and trust officer of State Nebraska Bank & Trust in Wayne, presented the award during the undergraduate ceremony. This prestigious honor recognizes rigorous standards that require a superior level of effective teaching.
David Ley, the bank’s chairman of the board, established the award in 1998 as a way of recognizing and strengthening outstanding teaching at Wayne State College. State Nebraska Bank & Trust has served the Wayne community for more than 130 years and supports the college in many ways, including numerous scholarships, capital investments, employment of students, and service on the Wayne State Foundation Board of Trustees.
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such wonderful students over the years,” said Bruflat. “It is truly a privilege to teach at Wayne State College.”
Bruflat teaches Spanish classes at Wayne State. Prior to Wayne State, Bruflat taught at Monmouth College in Illinois and at the University of Louisville.
Dr. Bruflat has participated in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, the CARLA Workshop in Content-Based Language Instruction, and the Summer Seminar on Spanish for Business (through the University of South Carolina). He has also written articles on Hispanic poetry in Hispania, Hispanófila, Confluencia, Hispanic Journal, Romance Notes, Notes on Contemporary Literature, España Contemporánea and the Cincinnati Romance Review (all refereed journals).
Bruflat is also affiliated with the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), the Mid-America Chapter of the American Translators Association (MICATA), and the Conference on Christianity and World Languages (CAWL).
Bruflat's teaching and research interests include modern and contemporary Spanish poetry, Christian literary scholarship, and Spanish for the professions. He also performs community interpreting and translating. Bruflat recently authored a journal article titled “Ana María Fagundo’s ‘Letanía’: Theopoetics and Form” in the Journal of Christianity and World Languages (Volume 23, 2022), pp. 57-66.
Bruflat earned his bachelor of arts degree in Spanish from Augustana College (South Dakota) in 1979; his master of arts degree in Spanish from the University of Iowa in 1981; and his Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Kansas in 1986.