Meet Our Faculty: N. Carolina Bloem

Name: 

N. Carolina Bloem       

 

Pronouns: 

She/Ella

 

Title: 

Associate Professor of Latin American Studies and Spanish / Director Center for Latin American Studies

 

School of: 

Humanities and Social Sciences

 

Department: 

Languages

 

What you teach: 

Latin American Studies, Spanish for language learners and Spanish speakers, Medical Spanish

 

Number of years teaching at SLCC: 8

 

Degree(s) earned and institutions: 

PhD in Latin American Literature and Cultures, University of Utah

MA in Latin American Literature and Cultures, University of Utah

BA in Spanish, University of Utah

 

Why working at SLCC matters: 

I love working at an institution that focuses on teaching. I love meeting students whether in the classroom or campus and sharing with them about different resources: how academia can be a tool to achieve the goals and dreams they have, or scholarship and research opportunities. I love that we all come from different backgrounds and experiences. 

 

Greatest professional challenge: 

How to best serve heritage speakers of Spanish and learners of the language at the same time while showing them how languages and cultures are a positive tool in their lives. At times, we take our languages and home experiences from granted. It is a challenge to show students and our communities, how we can integrate both, how we can recognize and grow from within bringing our full selves to the classroom. 

 

Great professional accomplishment: 

Coming to work every day and working with our students is something I do not take that for granted. Being where I am is a huge accomplishment for a fist-generation and immigrant Latina woman. On a more professional note, one of my biggest accomplishments is being a part of the Ya mfeni cultural collective group with orali(terat)ure and art from Valle del Mezquital, México. It is a project that was created by Hñähñü author Rosa Maqueda Vicente and has grown to a full team of about 7 collaborators where we publish trilingual poetry (Hñähñü, Spanish, and English) with the creative design, illustrations, everything done by members of the Hñähñü community. It is a self-sustainable non-profit project. It is an accomplishment because we unite our talents to bring about a unique project where the recognition goes to Ya Mefeni and the community. 

 

Advice for students or others: 

To never stop dreaming, ask questions, and enjoy every day. 

 

Future plans: 

Focus on growing our newly founded Center for Latin American Studies at SLCC. It is a center where we support the interdisciplinary study of Latin America and support students and faculty. Also, it serves as a place that aims to motivate our community to learn more about our cultural identities and use our talents as tools to accomplish academic and professional goals. We want to inspire future generations to study, from different disciplines, topics related to our cultures and Latin America. 

 

Family: 

Wife, mother, and daughter. We keep busy with all our heritage cultural activities: Venezuelan, Basque, Dutch, Navajo, and EuroAmerican. 

 

Hobbies: 

Too many to list, but here are a few: I play cuatro and guitar, love photography, dance flamenco, I’m into home DIY projects and power tools!

 

Awards/accomplishments: 

One I would like to highlight for students: Getting a TAShip for my master’s and doctoral degrees. You can get your graduate school paid for! If education is a dream of yours, you can do it!