By Anna Lee ’08

Once, on an Interim trip to Venezuela, the chief of an indigenous group wanted to welcome visiting Wofford students, co-led by Dr. Nancy Mandlove, with a meal, so he had a native fish prepared in their honor. As a special gesture, the chief removed the fish’s eyeballs and presented one to Mandlove to eat.

“They were considered a delicacy, so not wanting to offend the chief, she just popped it into her mouth and ate it,” recalls Dr. Camille Bethea ’91, professor of Spanish.

That easy-going enthusiasm was one of the many reasons students loved Mandlove, who taught Spanish at Wofford from 1994 until her retirement in 2009 and co-developed and directed the college’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.

Mandlove died in Spartanburg, S.C. on May 11 at the age of 84.

A recipient of the Phillip Covington Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mandlove was well-known for her Interims, often taking students on trips that crisscrossed Latin America.

“She enjoyed introducing students to the culture and always tried to make her Interims accessible to students, especially those who had not traveled before,” Bethea says. “She was the kind of teacher who was able to reach all types of students, and the students loved and respected her for that.”

Mandlove also traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and was awarded Fulbright fellowships to Brazil and South Africa.

“More than anything else, she was passionate about the subjects she taught, and that came through in her relationships with students, colleagues and the people she met,” says Dr. Laura Barbas Rhoden, professor of Spanish.

At the start of class every semester, Rhoden says Mandlove had a tradition of showing the students photos from her far-flung travels.

“Nancy brought the humanities to her studies and teaching,” she says. “It wasn’t just subject matter. It was people and cultures and the places that were special to them.”

Dr. Begoña Caballero-García, professor of Spanish and another former colleague, says Mandlove was also a natural leader with expertise in wide-ranging fields, from Spanish and Latin American poetry to global public health.

“In any meeting, she was the one who leapt in with the best ideas,” Caballero-García says. “She was so smart, so empathetic and the best mentor and colleague.”