Esther Fernández is Wiess College’s newest Resident Associate! Dr. Fernández is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Peninsular Literature and Culture in the School of Humanities. She is the author of Eros en escena: Erotismo en el teatro del Siglo de Oro [Eros on Stage] (2009) and co-editor of Diálogos en las tablas: Últimas tendencias de la puesta en escena del teatro clásico español [Dialogues on the Stage] (2014). She enjoys teaching contemporary and Early Modern literature with a focus on contemporary social and political issues.
HC Rice had the opportunity to ask Professor Fernández some questions:
What motivated you to become an RA?
To be part of the Rice community in a different way than through teaching and being a professor. I guess that coming from 12 years teaching in liberal arts schools, I missed to a certain extent my involvement with my students beyond the classroom. I will reiterate that to be part of a close community that is also self-governing and forming leaders is a great honor and I am grateful to have been chosen for this position that I consider a privilege.
What is your favorite thing about Wiess?
When I interviewed for Wiess, I was about to leave to Spain after a very intense semester and with a very difficult personal situation at home in Madrid. I didn’t have any hopes that I would have a chance. However, when I opened the door at the Wilson House and saw the smile in the students’s faces, their energy, their effort in trying to look for the person that cared about them, I told myself, “Esther, you can’t let them down now. You are here, they are excited to meet you and you have to be yourself and keep fighting for something you have wanted for a long time!” I will never forget that welcoming smile, Wiess energy, and generosity that I have found in many of you!
Why do you enjoy teaching?
I always wanted to teach since I was I kid. I invited imaginary friends over and taught them. Teaching and researching is for me a vacation. Specially teaching literature has the magic of making people change, and discovers things in themselves that not many other disciplines can. When I am in the classroom I transform myself. I leave my insecurities, my problems, myself behind and just enter in those extraordinary worlds. I can live many lives and I can make my students live them too if I put my passion into it. We take journeys together and we learn so much from each other in these journeys, which is why it is so hard to say goodbye at the end of a semester.
What is one thing a lot of people don’t know about you?
There are two answers to that question: a sad one and a much more comic one. The sad one is the many personal and professional sacrifices I had to do to get where I am, and the generosity of many people I have found along the way that have helped me. Sometimes I think about what I left behind, the difficulties I had to overcome by myself in Spain and here and I can’t believe I made it all the way. The more cheerful – even ridiculous – one is that I am a frustrated actress!
Guilty pleasure?
Antique shops!
Wiess College is beyond fortunate to have Dr. Fernández as its new RA. Be sure to congratulate her if you see her around campus!