Hispanic Studies Faculty Focus, April 2023: Prof. Devon Hanahan

Hispanic Studies Faculty Focus, April 2023: Prof. Devon Hanahan

Hispanic Studies’ Faculty Focus for April 2023 in Prof. Devon Hanahan.

Who is that in the kitchen and what exactly is she doing? Why, it’s HISP’s own Prof. Devon Hanahan and, by the looks of those electrical outlets, I’d say she is in Spain whipping up some sort of delicious cultural culinary experience for participants in the department’s longstanding and fabled Trujillo, Spain study abroad program.

A graduate of the College of Charleston (where she attained her B.A. in Spanish) and of the University of South Carolina (at which she earned an M.A. in the same field), Prof. Hanahan has been a member of the Department of Hispanic Studies on and off since 1995 and full time since 2000, assuming her present role as Basic Spanish Language Coordinator in 2014.

As her students and colleagues will both attest, Prof. Hanahan is a fixture at many of the Department’s events, including Tertulia and those held by the National Spanish Honor Society, Sigma Delta Pi, the latter for which she has served as faculty advisor since 2020.

To sum up all the many ways in which Prof. Devon Hanahan has made Hispanic Studies (to say nothing of CofC at large) a better place is simply not possible to do in the present context. As such, the writer of this feature will end merely by expressing his gratitude to Prof. Hanahan for all she has done and continues to do, as well as his hope that she sticks around for many years to come.

In her own words…

“I am so grateful to have a job I love, and it all comes down to people and places. The College of Charleston campus and the town of Trujillo are two of the most beautiful and welcoming sites on earth, and it is a privilege to work in both of them. But it is the people that make teaching for the Department of Hispanic Studies such a joy. My colleagues are not only my co-workers but also my advisors, teachers, and cherished friends. My students are my professional raison d’être: watching them get excited about learning never gets old, and every one of them is unique and brings something special to my classroom and my life. I love my job as much as I did on day one, and I have never been bored in my life. That is my definition of success!”