Raven Chakerian
Raised in Oregon, Raven Chakerian has also studied, worked and travelled in many areas of the world including an academic year spent at the Universidad Católica de Quito in Ecuador in 1998. During her travels she had the opportunity to acquire fluency in Spanish, French and Italian. She is also interested in lesser known languages and has studied Quichua, Ndebele and Sicilian. Before completing her M.A. in Spanish at Portland State University, Raven worked as a bilingual social worker for nearly ten years.
Raven taught Spanish courses at Portland State University and other Portland area colleges for 5 years before coming to OSU. In addition to teaching 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Spanish and Italian courses, Raven also served as the undergraduate adviser for World Languages and Cultures during the 2013-2014 academic year. As well as focusing on Romance language pedagogy, Raven is interested in sociolinguistics, bilingual-education, inclusive pedagogy and service learning. One of her greatest joys as a language teacher is connecting students to real life learning situations where they can see their language learning put to use.
Off campus Raven can be found enjoying time with family and friends and engaging in conversations with her bilingual child, a constant source of linguistic delight. When time allows, she also enjoys hiking, dancing, travelling, biking, gardening, reading, music and crafts.