In June, Heather Hennes, Ph.D., was appointed director of the Latin American and Latinx Studies program. Hennes is a professor of Spanish and was the director of the Spanish program from 2011 to 2016. The Hawk met with Hennes to learn more about her new role.

The Hawk: How do you feel about your position as the director of the Latin American and Latinx Studies Program?

Hennes: It’s a program that is important to a number of us on campus and all of my colleagues have a lot of responsibilities in their other programs. We all take turns making sure that it continues. It is extremely helpful having been a director before because a lot has changed at the university since 2016. And so it’s helpful to understand the program, our goals, a lot of the moving parts of the program and to know my colleagues well. We’ve been working together for many years, and we know each other well. We rely on each other, we trust one another, we enjoy working together.

The Hawk: What roles and responsibilities are included in your position?

Hennes: There are several facets to it. One is academic advising for students who are interested in completing the Latin American Studies minor. But a larger part of it is just encouraging students to engage with Latin America in a variety of ways. That might be participating in one of our study tours that goes to Latin America, or studying abroad in Latin America. A lot of our time and energies have gone into making sure that there are scholarships available that are need-based so that those opportunities are open to all students. That’s something that we’ve been working on for a number of years, thanks to some very generous alumni.

And finally, this year, we have multiple scholarships that we can offer and some are full scholarships for study. So, that’s in terms of time commitment. And then all the financial stuff that happens, all the administrative stuff, is a big time commitment.

The Hawk: What are your current and future plans as the new director?

Hennes: Our number one priority this year is to really solidify the scholarship availability and to make that something students are aware of, so that even as freshmen, they’re aware that these scholarships exist when they’re ready to do a study tour to Latin America. So getting that word out and also making it something that’s being announced and has visibility, that’s a big priority.