Education
M.A., Spanish, University of Virginia (2012) 
Ph.D., Spanish, University of Virginia (2016)

As a teacher of Spanish language, literature, and cultural studies, Dr. Eriksen aims to engage students in the cultural and communicative aspects of language learning. Eriksen has taught, lived, and researched throughout Spain, Germany, France, and the US. His lessons emphasize themes of cultures-in-contact, contemporary applications of language, and global citizenship in the modern world. Dr. Eriksen truly believes that language learning should be culturally immersive, enjoyable, relevant, and goal-oriented. Denis Diderot once wrote that language learning allows people to become “strangers nowhere in the world” in relation to their interactions and communities; this maxim serves as a broader goal in Eriksen’s courses in fostering intercultural connection across borders and seas.

A monograph book on his research, Garcilaso de la Vega and Artistic Works in the Spanish Mediterranean, is forthcoming through Routledge. Dr. Eriksen is originally from Princeton, NJ, and has lived in Charlottesville since 2010. In his free time, Eriksen is an avid gardener and enjoys spending time outdoors with family, friends, and Jack Russell Terrier, Mikey.