La Voz de Seguin September 2011.pmd - La Voz Newspapers

La Voz de Guadalupe County - September, 2011Page # 13Texas Lutheran University Faculty ProfileIn the coming months, La Voz deGuadalupe County will featurein each issue a Texas LutheranUniversity faculty profile. Thepurpose of these profiles is tobetter aquaint the community withthe university and its staff.La Voz: How long have you been afaculty member at Texas LutheranUniversity?Rodriguez: I am now in my 30 th yearof service at TLU. Vine jovencito yme voy bien arrugado.La Voz: In addition to teachingclasses, I understand you areinvolved with a group called MASA.Tell us about your involvement withthis group.Rodriguez: When I came to TLU, I,along with some truly gifted anddedicated Raza students,organized the Mexican AmericanStudent Association (MASA).Since then and excepting two years,I have served as MASA’s advisor.La Voz: Are you involved with anyother campus based groups atTLU?Rodriguez: I am the founder andadvisor of another MexicanAmerican organization based atCMAS. It is the Mexican AmericanAlumni and Friends Association(the M double A F A), which seeksto bring the Mexican American,Latino, and other TLU alumnitogether to address issues and toexplore cultural expressions directlyrelated to Mexican American andLatino students on campus. The Mdouble A F A was founded over adecade ago.La Voz: Where were you teachingbefore you came to Texas LutheranUniversity?Rodriguez: Well, after doingdoctoral studies at the Universityof Iowa, I got my first, “real wages”,Profe Juan Rodriguezuniversityteaching positionat the Universityof Arizona inTucson. After ashort stint there, Itook a position atthe University ofCalifornia at SanDiego (La Jolla),and then I movedon to theUniversity ofCalifornia atBerkeley. Afterteaching at theUniversity ofWashington (Seattle) for a shorttime, I accepted a position at theUniversity of Texas at Austinbefore coming to Texas LutheranCollege, as TLU was known backthen.La Voz: Share with us, if you will,aspects of your early upbringing?Are you originally from Texas?Rodriguez: Soy Tejano deLinburgo, as we Chicanos callEdinburg. I was born into a familyof Mexican peones. Lo digo conorgullo. Though born in the Valleyof the Río Grande, I grew up in asmall town south of Lubbock,where we dropped out of the cottonpickingmigrant stream. I come froma family of twelve. I am the only onein my family to have graduated highschool or pursued a universityeducation. My brothers and sistersdid not finish their public schoolingnot because they were intellectuallyincapable of doing so, but becausepoverty and Jim Crow were doubleblows to the gut near impossible toovercome.La Voz: How did you go aboutmaking the decision to go tocollege?Rodriguez: I don’t know. Myeconomic and social circumstancescertainly didn’t warrant such adecision. I can, however, say withcertainty that—early on in myschooling, in the first grade,perhaps—I found great joy in whatwas then the mystery of words. Too,for some odd reason, I loved the feelof a pencil in my hand and the senseof clean a brand-new Big Chieftablet gave me when I attended thefirst grade in a segregated schoolin the Valley.As to why I attended college manyyears later, I suppose that havingbeen the valedictorian of my 8 th and12 th grades, led me to believe that Icould do it . . . and should try. I’mglad I did.La Voz: Who were some of thepeople who extended a hand to youearly in your career?Rodriguez: I am what I am becauseof the “habits of the heart” my fatherand mother, brothers and sisters,instilled in me. I owe them the most.In later years, I could not havepursued post-graduate studieswithout the many sacrifices my exwifeand my children from thatmarriage made for me. Along theway, there were—as there must bein such cases—teachers who caredand encouraged: my junior high andhigh school English teacher, Mrs.Head, particularly.Demanding andunrelenting, shetaught me English andits grammar. Acoscorrones, peroaprendí, and I shall begrateful to her until theend. May she rest inpeace.La Voz: How did theidea of going tograduate school comeabout?Rodriguez: By the time I receivedmy B.A.,I knew in my heart and mindthat I could handle graduate studies.Not only that, but by then, I was sostricken with loving the challenge oflearning new things about the world.El mundo era ancho y ajeno, Ilearned, but it could be mine,intellectually and spiritually.La Voz: During the years you werein college, were you involved in anycampus organizations?Rodriguez: While I participated inseveral student organizations, I ammost proud of those I founded orco-founded. Among the latter areLos Tertulianos at Texas Tech andtwo at the University of Iowa: theChicano Native American Unionand the Graduate Student Union.La Voz: Tell about the collegeexperience in your family. Where didyour children go to college and whatdo they do today?Rodriguez: My oldest daughterattended Austin CommunityCollege. She works with the federalcourt district in Austin. Anotherdaughter attended the University ofTexas and works retail. Two of mysons attended TLU; one is aurologist in Galveston and the otherworks for the IRS in Austin. My twolittle girls from my second marriageare in the 4 th and 2 nd grade,respectively.La Voz: Given that literature is yourfield, what are some of the booksthat you highly recommend?Rodriguez: How much time do youhave? Cervantes’ El Quijote, ofcourse. Then there’s Cien años desoledad (García Márquez), El llanoen llamas, de Juan Rulfo. You wantChicano books? Try MiguelMéndez’ Peregrinos de Aztlán, anyof Rolando Hinojosa’s short storiesor novels; Aristeo Brito’s El diabloen Texas, etc. I could name worksfrom other countries and othertraditions including the US. Thereare so many great books to read outin the world.La Voz: Let’s change up thequestions. Tell us:Favorite quote: “Al cielo se sube apie”Favorite food: ChineseFavorite color: BlueFirst car you ever owned: ’54Chevy; first mode of transportation:a bicycle and then a motorcycleThe thing on your bucket list thatyou still want to do: Learn how tofly a plane.La Voz: Any last words?Rodriguez:I want to encourage allparents to send their children toTLU. It’s a good place to send yourchildren to be taught not onlyacademically but spiritually as well.Besides, it is your local university,your local connection to highereducation . . . es tuya, and I am hereto welcome you on campus whenyou come. Muchas gracias, Alfredo,por la visita. You are doing a greatservice for the Seguín andGuadalupe County communities.