My advisor and absolute favorite professor from college is being nominated for an award and some of his former students were asked to write a letter in support of his nomination. I got the email a few days ago and need to finish my letter now because it's due today. Now, I am thrilled to write it because anyone who knows me knows how influential this professor was for me, but I'm having a hard time writing a letter that's as good as I want it to be. I figured I'd use this post as an outline to help me organize my thoughts and I'd get a chance to talk about at truly amazing professor.
Professor H. really took me under his wing when I transferred schools and was having a really rough time with it, to say the least. We bonded talking about my Puerto Rican family whom he had met while working on his college thesis (over 40 years ago!) and he gave me brutally honest, but priceless academic advice. He listened to me talk, as I held back tears, about my transfer woes and about wanting to take time off to figure things out. He gave me all the academic support I needed to make a decision about what I wanted to do. He signed off on my petition form to take time off, but encouraged me to find a way to stay in school. Just his caring enough to listen made a world of difference considering I felt totally insignificant in all of my classes where not one of my professors knew my name (seriously, I made a comment halfway through the semester in a religion class and the TA asked if it was my first day there!). Now, obviously a lot had to happen to change my situation at school and a large part of it had to do with getting involved in extracurricular activities and improving my social life, but Professor H. absolutely shaped and guided my academic life in college.
A year and a half after transferring and finally finding my niche at UVA, Professor H. went to the mattresses for me and my fight to study abroad with a particular program in Chile. My school had some sort of deal with a certain study abroad program and would not let me study with the program I chose (I chose it over the other one after a lot of research and many recommendations from students and professors alike, mind you). If it weren't for him and his effort (think very firm/angry phone calls and letters to stupid 20-somethings in charge of ALL of study abroad programs) to make sure I got my program approved. I did! but it's only because he fought for me and got the entire Spanish department to do the same. I'd probably still be speaking Spanglish at best if it weren't for him and the program, of course!
Professor H. is also the most interesting and engaging professor I've ever had. He is an expert on Brazilian history, literature and culture and he's fluent in Brazilian Portuguese (including ALL slang), but what's more, is that his passion translates into excellent teaching. I took each of the classes he taught at UVA because his history lectures were fascinating and his Portuguese classes were so entertaining we students all brought friends to class with us. I worked my ass off to get good grades in his Portuguese classes because he really challenged everyone of us to excel.
Perhaps most importantly is Professor H.'s dedication to his students both inside and outside of school. Granted his classrooms were always small because there isn't a huge interest in Brazil and Portuguese at my alma mater, but he still went above and beyond for his students. Proportionally speaking (# of students and department $), he invited more people (professors, friends, famous musicians) to our school than any other professor. He often took his students out to dinner just to be able to practice Portuguese outside of school. I also remember he helped pay for a student's plane ticket to visit his father in the hospital because the student couldn't afford it. And for me, he is the reason my boyfriend got his visa to visit the U.S. last March, but I probably shouldn't get into it here or in my actual letter, haha. (NOTE: We have NEVER lied to the embassy! I can assure you all of that.)
I think I feel so compelled to share about this professor because I don't think he'll get the award, even though he deserves it. He singlehandedly created the Portuguese department at UVA and is a favorite among everyone from my major, but people at the top don't really care about. Portuguese and Latin American Studies don't bring any money into the school and things like that matter to the point that I think it would affect the outcome of a prestigious award like this. I hope I'm wrong, but if he's gone over 30 years without the recognition he deserves, I doubt "they'll" even throw him a bone as he retires. What's worse is that I think the Portuguese department will disappear after he leaves. He created it and I think his life's work will virtually disappear since he hasn't found a suitable replacement. It's tragic to think about, but it's very likely. Here's hoping...
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