School of Language, Culture, and Society

I have been teaching at OSU since 1994, after completing a Ph.D. in Latin America Colonial Studies at the University of Oregon. My areas of interest are Colonial and Postcolonial narratives, with emphasis on social justice, incorporating Human Rights in Latin America and Spain. In the past few years I have become interested in experiential learning and participated in programs in Central America, working closely with local communities.  This summer a group of students and professors from OSU will travel to Guatemala as a delegation with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, an advocacy organization based in Washington D.C. and Guatemala City.

Sometimes students ask me what I love more, teaching language or culture, but I can’t say I like one more than the other.  I love teaching culture, guiding students to find meaning in their studies.  But I also enjoy helping them to develop their languages skills. I teach language classes in Spanish and the Media, and also Spanish for Business, in addition to an introduction to literatures and cultures in Latin America and Spain. When possible I like to go beyond the boundaries of Spanish Language, including translation of poems or songs in Catalán, Quechua, Katchikel and so on, to illustrate the linguistic diversity inside the Spanish speaking world.