Dr. Roseli Rojo, a new Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of History and Foreign Languages, is from Havana, Cuba, but earned her MA in Latin American Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and her PhD in Spanish Culture and Literature at Rutgers University. 

Rojo comes to JSU with hopes of helping to grow the Spanish program by sharing her expertise and working with Spanish heritage speakers and first-generation college students. She also enjoys having colleagues form the history field of work, as she likes to read history books and do archive research. Rojo specializes in Colonial Latin American and Caribbean literature and culture. “I study the intersection of race, class, and gender in novels, newspapers, and legal and medical documents by considering topics such as fashion, transportation, and urban settings to explore the influence of vulnerable communities in the construction of Latin American nations,” she explained.

This semester, Rojo is teaching Elementary Spanish (SH 101), Intermediate Spanish (SH 201), Spanish Grammar and Composition (SH 310), and Contemporary Latin American Cinema (SH 417). She is also working with Spanish heritage students. Rojo shared, “It is thrilling to help them acquire the academic and professional skills they need to grow their competencies in Spanish and understand their Hispanic roots.”

Teaching is Rojo’s favorite part of her job, as she has always known that she would follow in the footsteps of her grandmother and become a teacher. She loves to be able to see her students’ progress when they learn enough to write sentences and have brief conversations after a few weeks of Spanish classes. “Sharing and discovering new ideas with my students in the classroom fills me with energy and makes me feel happy,” Rojo said. Rojo loves the teamwork and camaraderie of the History and Foreign Languages Department. “We share the primary goal of helping our students to succeed in their careers. We work together, and we spend time together with our families,” she explained.

Rojo hopes to be able to motivate and excite her students during her time at JSU. She wants them to understand the benefits and importance of learning a foreign language in order to become successful leaders in a global world. Rojo also said she wants her students “embracing foreign cultures as a means of understanding their own.”

During her time at JSU, Rojo plans to be able to launch several initiatives directed towards the Spanish curriculum. “I am currently leading a teaching circle to develop three new courses: Spanish for Criminal Justice, Spanish for Nursing, and Spanish for Heritage Speakers. My colleagues, Professors Pacheco and Michels, and I will devote this year to creating the curriculum and launching those courses,” she shared. Afterwards, Rojo will update the Spanish at JSU website so it contains information about opportunities to get involved, such as the courses, the Spanish Club, and the study abroad program in Salamanca.

In addition to her role as a teacher, Rojo is also a member of a group of scholars and poets who have created Candela Review, a peer-reviewed journal that “promotes decolonial artistic and academic work.” Their second issue – which focuses on “Insurgencias y resistencias” – will be published this Fall and features a section highlighting Latin American performance and theater.

Rojo completed her Ph.D. earlier this year at Rutgers University, where she was named a Fellow of the Institute of Research on Women. Earning the title was significant for Rojo, as it “enabled [her] to learn from prominent gender scholars from different fields, including anthropology, Latinx studies, the social sciences, and microbiology.”

In her spare time, Rojo enjoys cooking, dancing, gardening, traveling with her family, and reading. She is currently reading Manuel Barcia’s Seeds of Insurrection, a novel about how African slaves in Cuba resisted colonial power during the nineteenth century. Rojo also likes to teach science projects and languages to her sons; as a family, the Rojos love to learn about different places and the cultures that lie within.

If Rojo had to give her students advice, it would be to travel while learning about different places and the languages and cultures there, which can be done best through study abroad programs. Rojo also encourages her students to expose themselves to new opportunities. As she recently told MaCalaah Johnson, Spanish Club President, “Always try [by applying for jobs or scholarships], even when you think the answer you receive might be negative. In the end, all your experiences will help you to grow, both professionally and as a human being.”