Spanish
Connect to the world through language
Professor Eloy Gonzalez thinks it's important to know at least two languages. “The ability to communicate in a foreign language contributes to a student’s overall achievement of personal and professional career goals,” he says.
More than memorization
Gonzalez uses a communicative and interactive teaching style, and has high expectations for students. He teaches undergraduate and graduate Spanish language courses along with a research methodology class. Many students attribute their success to the impact Gonzalez had on their educations.
Widely published and the author of two books, Gonzalez has collaborated with graduate students on research focused on providing better explanation and new interpretation of literary works by Spanish or Latin American authors. These team efforts resulted in three published articles in professional journals.
Lifelong benefits
Gonzalez believes that diversity is essential for the challenges of the future in our interconnected world.
“When studying a foreign language," he says, "students have the unique opportunity to understand their nature as young men and women and their relationship to the world about them. Such realization leads to a different approach to learning and growing and extends far beyond the language classroom.”
Actress and movie producer Blanca Blanco, who graduated from WSU in 2003 with a degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish, said, "I credit Eloy Gonzalez for supporting my endeavors and regarding me as an individual."
That says a lot about a professor, who not only knows how to push his students to higher standards, but at the same time respects them as individuals.
