Spanish@UTA

Is it hard to be retired? Judge for yourself: Dr. Elizabeth Ordoñez taking a break in Taormina, Sicily

For over 20 years, Dr. Elizabeth Ordoñez taught Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages, touching and changing lives through her passionate teaching and kind collegiality. Although Dr. Ordoñez is now retired to Colorado, where she lives with her husband Guido, her colleagues at UT Arlington remember her fondly. I am delighted to present the following, recent interview with her for her old friends and for members of the UTA community who are curious about “the way things were” in our department when Dr. Ordoñez taught with us. But first, some context:

Dr. Elizabeth Ordoñez is the author of many ground-breaking articles on Spanish women writers and the book Voices of Their Own: Contemporary Spanish Narrative by Women (1991) as well as one of the foremost authorities on ethnic women’s writing, specifically Chicana literature. Dr. Ordoñez published over 35 articles during her career, including articles that have appeared in some of the field’s most prestigious journals such as Letras Femeninas, the Journal of Spanish Studies, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, and Anales de la Literatura Española Contemporánea. Moreover, Professor Ordoñez has presented her research at over 50 different academic conferences and venues around the U.S. and the world. Her articles have also appeared in ground-breaking anthologies of cultural criticism that mapped out the field of gender studies in the Spanish-speaking world and the U.S., including Hernan Vidal’s Cultural and Historical Grounding for Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Feminist Literary Criticism (1989), In the Feminine Mode: Essays on Hispanic Women Writers Ed. by Noel M. Valis and Carol Maier (1990), and Chicana (W)rites on Word and Film Ed. by María Herrera-Sobek and Helena María Viramontes (1995) also contributed to her ongoing visibility as one of the leading figures in feminist and feminist ethnic literary studies.

At UTA, Dr. Ordoñez taught all levels of Spanish, as well as Chicano literature, Women’s Literature and Modern Spanish literature. For several years she served as Coordinator of the Spanish Section and also was Chair of the Department of Modern Languages.

I feel privileged to have had such a distinguished scholar and wonderful teacher as my colleague in the late 90’s. Wherever I went, when colleagues in the field met me and heard that I taught at UTA, they would often ask: “Doesn’t Elizabeth Ordoñez teach there?” Well, as far as all of us in Modern Languages are concerned, Elizabeth will always teach with us! –Christopher Conway

A Visit with Our Friend and Colleague, Dr. Elizabeth Ordoñez

1. How did you become interested in becoming a professor of Spanish?

Becoming a professor of Spanish was the result of a life-long love affair with the language, cultures, and peoples of the Spanish speaking world. I suppose it goes back to when my parents were enrolled in adult education classes in Spanish, and I went along for the ride. I picked up a small vocabulary by listening in at the back of the class and then, a few years later when I had begun my own study of Spanish in Middle School, I went on to win a trophy in identification at a regional modern language field day. Also in those days, photo journalists visited local college campuses with their travelogues, or “armchair adventures” as they were called. My parents and I were armchair adventure groupies, so I dreamt then of joining up with those beguiling story-tellers and crafters of alluring images. Those early experiences seduced me, and the rest, as they say, is history. I just kept piling on degrees in Spanish because that was what I loved doing. When a late graduate professor of mine at UCLA advised me (in words unquotable here for their lack of political correctness) that as a woman my career prospects were slim to nil, I replied, unfazed, “this is what I want to do, and even if no one hires me, I’ll do it anyway!”

2. When did you arrive at UTA, and how did you see it change over the years?

I began my career at UTA in 1979. I suppose the kindest thing to say about UTA and the Department was that both were beginning their “transitions to excellence.” As you know, UTA has evolved over the years from a modest teaching institution into an increasingly important component of the University of Texas system. When I arrived, I was part of a new generation of young scholars who expected to “publish or perish.” Unfortunately, the institution was not yet sufficiently prepared to vigorously support these goals. There was little in the way of research leaves or reduced teaching loads. Assistant professors were under pressure to “do it all.” Fortunately, with youthful energy and enthusiasm, that wasn’t so hard to do.

3. Could you give us a snapshot view of the Spanish faculty in the 1980s, and what the Spanish section was like?

In the 1980s our growing pains as a section began. I was the only junior faculty member, so sometimes I felt isolated personally and academically. But my senior colleagues were generally welcoming and kind. I worked most closely with Professors Sanchez and Studerus and came to see the three of us as a sort of pandilla who did most of the academic heavy lifting and section leadership. With Professor Viña, who was also very helpful, we loved to go out for lunch together. We did that a lot, at least until the dietary restrictions of advancing age crimped our style.

4. As a professor at UTA, what were your favorite classes to teach and why?

My favorite classes were literature courses in areas that complemented my research projects. There is hardly a greater pleasure in our field than the exhilaration of sharing emerging ideas with students and receiving their illuminating and critical insights. My work in contemporary Spanish women’s narrative, Chicano literature, nineteenth century Spanish literature, and theory all benefited from such exciting and fruitful cross-fertilization.

5. Could you share one special memory of your years at UTA?

I’m afraid I hung around UTA too long to be able to single out only one special memory. My recollections are like a collage, but what stands out in bas-relief are conversations: lively classroom discussions as well as the occasional deadbeat class hour; putting my head together with colleagues’ to develop new courses or simply to grouse about administrative pressures; conversations about literature with colleagues at the copy machine or at lunch and confessional conversations with my feminist reading group; bobbing in the ebb and flow of words around our dinner table with colleagues who became life-long friends.

Overall, I remember a rich and satisfying career at UTA in a department where I was able to “do what I wanted to do,” as I declared long ago to that faculty advisor at UCLA. In fact, as I count my blessings in this beautiful place I now call home, I’m especially glad that I spent most of my working life at UTA. In Texas, I could devote most of my energies to professional development without the distractions of ubiquitous ski slopes and hiking trails. And now I don’t have bum knees from decades of over skiing.

6. What have you been up to since leaving UTA?

Since leaving UTA in 2001, I worked as Chair of Modern Languages at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. In 2004, I left that post to become a traveler, skier, and hiker. Since the end of my “second career,” I’ve traveled in Sardinia, Ireland, Chile, Argentina, Sicily, Spain, Morocco, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. I’m presently putting the finishing touches on an itinerary to Turkey. When not planning a trip, traveling or writing about it, you can usually find me at high altitudes. On the side, I try to make myself useful with a few political, community and charitable projects.