Hasta luego Pascucci

by Tim Baldi
Staff Writer

With the semester near its end, Michele Pascucci, associate professor of Spanish, is preparing for a year-long sabbatical to immerse herself in the culture of the Spanish-speaking world.

Pascucci plans to move out of her apartment in Chattanooga on May 15 and begin her year abroad with a month in Spain and then proceed on a two to three month “grand tour of Latin America.”

During her trip, she hopes to visit places such as Chile, Bolivia, the Rio de la Plata in Argentina and Machu Picchu in Peru for the first time, said Pascucci.

With transportation plans still open to possibilities, Pascucci says she may travel by “bus, train, plane, mule or whatever.”

“I feel the need to get reconnected with some of my Spanish,” said Pascucci.

According to Pascucci, she will work on several projects while on sabbatical. Her big project, she said, will be taking her 620 page doctoral dissertation and turning it into a publishable book. Her other projects include publishing articles based on her dissertation and expanding possibilities for Spanish majors at Bryan.

Bryan College has hired year-long substitute, a currently unnamed native of Venezuela, to cover Pascucci’s classes.  According to Pascucci, the substitute will be teaching one level of Elementary Spanish per semester, both sections of Intermediate Spanish each semester, Latin American Culture and Civilization in the fall and Advanced Grammar and Composition in the spring.