“Upon graduation from OWU in 1970, I went directly to graduate school. I earned an MA in Spanish at the University of Minnesota, and went on to earn a doctorate, also in Spanish, at the University of Wisconsin (Madison).

I worked for 41 years as a Spanish teacher, my first 10 years after graduate school in college (Bates, Bethany, Bradford Colleges) as an instructor, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor, and then 31 years at a prep school (Phillips Academy, Andover—PA). In those various venues, I have taught all levels of language and literature and culture from basic Spanish language, to AP Spanish language and literature (high school), to college level language and literature courses and senior (college) seminars. I have also taught ESL in the PA Summer Session, and was an English teacher at an adult school in Burgos, Spain, while on sabbatical in 2002-03.

Administratively, I served as Spanish Department Chair at Phillips Academy, was a member of the Faculty Evaluations Committee and Curriculum Committee at Phillips Academy, and organized and led many student groups abroad (in Spain and Latin America) both at the college level and at Phillips Academy. I served as mentor to a number of the Teaching Fellows we brought into the Spanish Department at PA.

I am very passionate about study abroad and its many benefits (linguistic, cultural, and maturational). I studied in Madrid for the academic year 1968-69 while a student at OWU. I have also lived in Spain for extended periods of time doing research, and on a year-long sabbatical (2002-03). I walked the Camino de Santiago from Roncesvalles (in the Pyrenees) to Santiago de Compostela three times (1995, 2003, and 2012), and very much believe in that kind of cultural travel. The Camino was actively incorporated into one of the study abroad groups I co-founded, and co-led with Myriam Medrano beginning in 2007 (and it continues to be a feature of that program, today called INESLE). I also volunteered as a “hospitalero” (monitor) at a pilgrim hostel in the north of Spain in 2013 as a way of giving back to the Camino. The Camino changed my life.

I led a student group to Costa Rica in 1995, organized a PA study program in Guadalajara, Mexico in the late 1980’s, and directed our term-contained Spanish study programs in Madrid (in collaboration with Colegio Estudio) and Burgos (in collaboration with Colegio Internacional Campolara) with which we had reciprocal agreements (our students studying there, their students studying here). Similarly, while chairman of the Spanish Department at PA (1997-2002) I oversaw and led 3 times our summer program in Salamanca. I also co-organized a study/travel course to the Dominican Republic in the early 2000’s in collaboration with my colleague Margarita Curtis, working in conjunction with a school in Santo Domingo that, again, involved a reciprocal study agreement.

I was an active researcher while teaching at college, doing research both here in the US and in Spain, and I published a number of articles in professional journals about topics in medieval Spanish literature, as well as an edition of a medieval Spanish romance (chivalric tale) with accompanying scholarly introduction and analysis. I participated in a number of workshops related to language pedagogy (at Georgetown, Dartmouth, and UNH), and was certified as an oral proficiency examiner when ACTFL first rolled out the foreign language proficiency guidelines.

For ten years at PA, I served as a house counselor, co-directing large dorms (44 students in one, 38 in another) and singly as sole house counselor in a small dorm (6 students).
At PA, I served for many years as a coach: JVII boys lacrosse was my principal coaching assignment, but I also oversaw intramural athletics (basketball, soccer, and frisbee). I was also involved in our outdoors activity program (at the time called Search and Rescue) that involved camping, hiking, climbing, and map skills activities. I received training for this via participation in a NOLS course in Wyoming in 1996.”

John is interested in supporting students involved or with an interest in studying abroad, attending graduate school, personnel evaluation, prep school teaching, and experiential learning. He is willing to support the OWU community with the following:

• Speaking with a student virtually or on the phone
• Presenting to a class in person
• Mentoring a student
• Serving as a resume reviewer for OWU students and/or Alumni
• Participating in OWU events such as speed networking, mock interviewing, panels, etc.