Having completed both her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Southern California, Cathy Irwin is now teaching English at the University of La Verne. She enjoys poetry and likes to engage students to participate in class discussions.

Sean Bernard is a fiction writer teaching English at the University of La Verne. Bernard will emphasize composition skills in his college writing classes.

Gabriela Capraroiu specializes in translation and is teaching Spanish and literature at the University of La Verne. Capraroiu said she likes to have a balance between lecture and student interaction.

by Kady Bell
Arts Editor

Photography by Sergio Sandoval

Words such as charismatic, enthusiastic and encouraging could readily be used to describe Sean Bernard, Cathy Irwin and Gabriella Capraroiu, the trio of full-time professors recently hired within the modern languages department at the University of La Verne. Together, they are expected to bring the writing program and study of discourse to new levels, piling their specialization in academia and unbridled passions for dialogue and the written craft into the classroom.

Coincidentally, Bernard and Irwin, both assistant professors of English, as well as Capraroiu, assistant professor of modern languages, were immediate fans of ULV, absorbing the support of their colleagues and the overall sense of community on campus upon first visit.

“I came to campus and fell in love,”Irwin said. “I love mentoring students and when the teacher-student ratio is so low, you can spend a lot of time with them, which is something that is harder to do at larger universities.”

“I was looking for a small liberal arts college, something very different from the larger schools I’ve taught at, and was very welcomed and feel very much at home,”Capraroiu added.

Associate Professor of English Kirsten Ogden, a member of the committee formed to hire the new faculty members, said Bernard and Irwin joined the modern languages staff as English professors in customary practice, though the creative writing program has been detached from the English department for several years.

“Sean’s interested in every person as a writer – what the role of writers is and will be in the future and Cathy’s had a lot of experience working with developmental and intermediate writers, bringing different strengths to the department,” Ogden said.

While the English and modern languages departments were originally housed together, the two programs separated when different areas of focus became apparent.

Ogden said the writing program emphasized the use of literature to explore the many avenues of English in efforts to cultivate writers, though both departments share similar goals.

“In the languages, basically what you’re doing is learning to read, write and speak well, whether it’s French, German, Spanish or English,”Ogden said. “The English department focuses on response to literature and the writing program does that too, but also helps develop writers.”

Irwin, who has taught at Scripps College, the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University, said 12 years of academic study in English had inspired her mission to modify negative perspectives concerning the art of writing.

“I hope to bring my excitement about being a teacher, as well as my love and passion for writing to the modern languages department,”Irwin said. “My job is to get students excited and to change the notion that writing is boring. Writing is a way to discover yourself, your opinions, what you want to do and how you can define yourself.”

Inspired by a fascination for reading and writing fiction as a child, Bernard also said he hopes to bring his composition skills and love for teaching to the creative writing program.

Accustomed to teaching at the college level at such institutions as the University of Arizona and Iowa, he said he aimed to maintain a relaxed, student-oriented environment centered on the fun of writing.

“I try to create a lighthearted atmosphere in the classroom for the most part,”Bernard said.

“Most of the classes I teach are lecture-based but I like sitting at student level, asking them questions and letting them talk to each other rather than talking at them.”

Ann Hills, modern languages department chair, said Capraroiu had a wide range of cultural experience, mostly stemming from her love of transatlantic and translation studies, to offer students, thus broadening the scope of the Spanish program.

“She is a knowledgeable, innovative and engaging instructor of language and literature, and after living in Ecuador for many years, she is prepared to share all the levels of her first-hand knowledge of Latin American culture with her students,”Hills said.

Originally from Romania, Capraroiu also said she grew up loving the complexity of language. She decided to specialize in Spanish during her junior year of high school, though she was also fluent in her native tongue and French, earning her bachelor’s degree in foreign languages and literature at the University of Bucharest.

It was a teaching fellowship at San Francisco State University, where she received her master’s, that later led her to instruction at the college level.

“I don’t think I chose teaching without the foreign languages; in my case, they went hand and hand,”Capraroiu said. “I love the dialogue with students and the fact that, after so many years, every single class I teach is a learning experience for me.”

The new faces of ULV said they hoped to better acquaint themselves with their students and coworkers, positively contributing to the environment that warmly embraced them from day one.

“Of course we’ll say it, but we mean it too,”Bernard said. “We don’t feel alone or estranged from the faculty here because they’ve been so kind and helpful, though it’s also nice not to be the only new person.”

Kady Bell can be reached at rzezna65@yahoo.com.