I am originally from Michigan and began teaching in the Department of French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia in 2010. I attended a large university for my undergraduate degree (Michigan State University), but as an English and Spanish major in the Faculty of Arts, I always had a close relationship with my peers and ample opportunities to actively participate in my classes and to interact with my instructors. These are also some of the many benefits that programs like Jump Start, Arts One or even studying in Arts in general continue to offer to students and I am so happy to be a part of these dynamic teaching and learning communities! I teach all levels of Spanish and coordinate Beginners Spanish I and II (Spanish 101 and 102), so I often get the chance to work directly with students during their first year at UBC and to see them through the Spanish major and minor programs! Apart from my role in language instruction and coordination, I teach literature and culture classes in Spanish and in English that grapple with different aspects of the Hispanic context, with a particular focus on politics, gender, and resistance in Latin America. For instance, Spanish 280 Revolution, a course I will teach this September, looks at how revolution as concept and practice is first imagined through first hand accounts of major leaders and icons of revolution (Che Guevara (Argentina, Cuba), Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), Subcomandante Marcos (Mexico), and others) and then disseminated, exported to other movements, and transformed through literature, art, graffiti, music, and film. When I am not teaching, I spend as much time as possible with my friends and family (especially my 9 year old daughter) either here, in the United States, or in Spain (my husband is from Madrid, Spain!). I also love to exercise, cook, and explore all that Vancouver has to offer!