Getting to know...Laura Barbas-RhodenThere are two sides to Wofford professor Laura BarbasRhoden. First there is the academic side, which comes out in the classroom and in two of her biggest passions, reading and writing. Then there is the other side, the side that yearns to get out and about, away from the academic routine in the office.
The second side manifests itself in a couple of ways. First there is gardening.
“I come from a family of gardeners,” says BarbasRhoden. “I think a connection with the dirt is a connection with my past. After grading papers and going to meetings, it's good to get out and do something outside."
Then there is travel.
“My family has traveled since I was a child,” she explains. “I've traveled a lot in Mexico and Central America. I'm headed soon to Panama and will be traveling to Brazil this summer to give a conference paper in Rio de Janeiro.
“When I travel, though, I prefer to be in smaller towns. When we went to Mexico recently, we went to Michoacán, a very rural state that sends a lot of immigrants to the U.S. It's beautiful, but very poor.”
BarbasRhoden came to Wofford straight out of Tulane University, where she earned a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Spanish.
"This was the first job I took," she says.
It’s a job she puts a lot of herself into. BarbasRhoden especially enjoys challenging her students to do as she does...experiencing the language by learning about the people who speak it.
“I think our students are curious about other cultures when they arrive,” she says. “The way we teach them, using media from Latin America, opens up their world to a different reality. I like to take that classroom experience and push them to think about other people and cultures out there. And sometimes out there is just across the street.
“For example, in my Advanced Spanish classes, the students are required to spend time in the local Latino community. Many work in schools and after-school programs where they might just meet a child from Michoacán whose family has migrated here to Spartanburg. Opening students' eyes to the reality around them, and seeing their enthusiasm for new knowledge, is the best part of this job.”
Outside the job, she says she reads a lot of Latin American and environmental literature. She also reads children’s books to her kids.
“My interest in children's books pre-dates my own children,” she says. “Illustrated, bilingual books offer a wonderful window into culture, and the artwork is often phenomenal.”
BarbasRhoden also writes when she can.
“I'm working on a book now on literature and the environment in Latin America,” she says. “It's work related, but I really enjoy it.”