Faculty Profile
Fernando Unzueta, Ph.D., new chair of the department of spanish and portuguese
by Ligia Lundine

After serving for several years as an Associate Professor of Latin American Literatures and Cultures, and as Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, this past summer Dr. Fernando Unzueta was appointed as Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Originally from Bolivia, where he studied at La Salle in Santa Cruz, Dr. Unzueta came to the United States in 1979 and obtained a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, an M.A. in Spanish from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin.

Unzueta, who loved reading since he was a child, continued to nurture his passion for literature while he studied engineering. Through a course of independent studies, he read the works of different Latin American novelists, such as Carpentier and Vargas Llosa. His inspiration did not come from the classics, however. Instead, Unzueta says that along the way he always had great professors and colleagues who provided him with inspiration about different academic topics.

During the first years of his professional career, Dr. Unzueta taught at small liberal arts colleges. In 2001, he was visiting professor at Cornell University. He came to Ohio State in 1992, attracted by the creation of a new position in the field of 19th Century Latin American Literatures and Cultures, which is Dr. Unzueta’s area of expertise.

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese has grown significantly since it was established as a new unit in 1989, expanding the number of faculty members to 24 and its curricula as well. It now offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in Hispanic linguistics, and in the literatures and cultures of the countries of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. The department offers courses as varied as Spanish for business, Spanish in Ohio, sociolinguistics and Latino literature. In recognition for all the hard work and progress achieved during the past years, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese received the Departmental Teaching Excellence Award in Spring 2004, one of only two such awards granted across the entire university.

For Dr. Unzueta the future holds many challenges. One of his main goals as Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese is to improve the quality of the Undergraduate Program. He also wants to work closely with Hispanic-heritage populations, who are either Spanish-speaking or have the Hispanic cultural heritage. By providing them with the opportunity to become Spanish majors or minors, Dr. Unzueta expects that the quality of the program will improve since these students will be able to take more advanced courses sooner than the general student population. The goal is for these students to consider this program as an option, just as they or many other students consider English or other Humanities areas as possible majors, double majors or minors. In addition, Unzueta wants to give special attention to the Portuguese Program, a small but solid language program at Ohio State, with a few majors and minors.

With regard to his current research work and publications, Dr. Unzueta has published La imaginación histórica y el romance nacional en Hispanoamérica and numerous essays on a myriad of topics, including colonial and post-colonial subjects, and the relations between literature and history. Currently, he is working on two major projects, one related to the formation of modern subjectivities in Latin America, and the other focused on the contribution of 19th century Bolivian newspapers.

Dr. Unzueta and his wife Cheryl have three kids, Mónica (6), Micah (4), and Carla (2). During his free time he enjoys going out on walks or traveling with the family, and playing soccer.