Lara Granero is the only graduate student thus far to teach Advanced Spanish through Literature and Film, a prerequisite course for concentrators, twice. She designed the syllabus for the course to cover a vast array of texts —from Columbus’ diaries to excerpts of the contemporary history of the book by Irene Vallejo, including contemporary Spanglish poetry by Rhina Espaillat and nineteenth-century Cuban memoirs about slavery. 

“A Medievalist by training, Alba brought to class the confidence of a strong generalist while also giving her course an emphasis on gender and privileging the voices of the marginalized in both the Spanish and the Latin American traditions,” shares Felipe Martínez-Pinzón, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for the department of Hispanic Studies.

When she taught Advanced Spanish Through Film and Literature for a second time, she redesigned the course to make it thematic and more community-oriented, calling it Spanish for Environmental Justice.

“This course not only provided a platform for academic exploration but also fostered a sense of community engagement by learning about environmental issues relevant to the territory we currently inhabit, regardless of our origins or destinations after college” says Lara Granero.

“She thinks very deeply about how to give her students the tools to be inquisitive and independent learners, setting them up for success but allowing them space to get there on their own and via the route that is best suited to their experience and learning style,” shares Sarah Thomas, Associate Professor and Chair of the department of Hispanic Studies. 

“Each teaching experience holds a special place in my heart,” shares  Lara Granero. 

Through collaborative research, the students in the course developed a Rhode Island Repository of Environmental Causes in Spanish, an initiative aimed at spreading and collecting knowledge within and from the broader community.  Lara Granero also organized a series of local Latinx speakers who presented on environmental justice issues, including Teodulio Martinez, a farmer originally from the Dominican Republic, who spoke about sustainable farming and his life as a migrant in the U.S.  Lara Granero found teaching this course to be an especially rewarding experience.

Lara Granero has honed her pedagogical skills by seeking out opportunities for improvement and training. She has participated in workshops on Heritage Spanish instruction and teaching via art objects, the Sheridan Center’s teaching certificate on Critical Reflection and Inclusive Classrooms, and the Teaching Race Fellowship through the Mellon Centering Race in the Arts and Humanities Consortium.

“While some graduate students see teaching as an obligation, Alba views it as an opportunity—for personal growth, ethical action, and student engagement, among others,” says Thomas.

The students Lara Granero taught gush about her courses.

“She fostered dynamic and inclusive discussion in the classroom, making us feel not like student and teacher but like a community of learners, and prompted us to think deeper about the subject matter. She created an environment where we all felt like we were not only respected, but supported and encouraged,” shares one nominator.

“I firmly believe in the transformative power of education, which, as a rural, first generation student I have experienced myself, so this award is an encouragement to keep working in that direction. I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the countless people who have shaped me into the educator I am today, inside and outside the classroom,” says Lara Granero.

Outside of the classroom, Lara Granero’s dissertation, Concierto Desconcierto, delves into the cultural history of health, focusing on women's significant, yet overlooked, contributions to health and illness discourses in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Iberia. She approaches the concept of 'health' as a dynamic historical construct, shaped by discourse and power dynamics, and explores how perception, spirituality, and physiology intersect in shaping narratives. 

She has studied archival material in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese to demonstrate how women’s writing on the body and their perceptions of health have often been dismissed as irrelevant due to the patriarchal and ableist application of contemporary Western scientific ideas on medieval healthcare. 

Jack-William Barotta, Alba Lara Granero, David Peede and Anna Soifer received Excellence in Teaching Awards at the University Awards Ceremony on May 1, 2024.