Assistant Teaching Professor Colleen McAlister intertwines her interests in archaeology and Spanish literature, allowing her to teach a variety of classes at the university over the past two years.
McAlister grew up in Monroe, Connecticut and attended the University of Connecticut where she received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Spanish in 2013. From there, she continued on to get her master’s degree at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a degree in romance languages and literatures with a concentration in Spanish in 2016. She again graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2023 with a doctorate in the same subject area as her master’s degree.
Prior to her interest in teaching, McAlister pursued archeology. She completed two digs in Connecticut, including one at a colonial homestead and another at the Pequot Reservation, where she looked for Native American stone tools.
“I really enjoyed the academic side of it, like the reading and studying about the different sites and cultures, but I didn’t really love the fieldwork side of it,” McAlister said.
After completing her undergraduate degree, McAlister taught Spanish for one year at a primary education private school. It was from this experience that she realized she wanted to continue teaching Spanish, but in a higher-level setting where she could teach Spanish literature specifically.
“I realized I loved it,” McAlister said. “I just kinda fell in love with it [teaching] in that one year and I decided to apply to grad school to keep studying and be able to teach college.”
While at URI she has taught a variety of classes, including: SPA 325, SPA 205 and SPA 580.
The advanced seminar course is typically delivered to a group of specialists of fellow professors, so McAlister had to adjust to the new crowd.
“Learning or talking about [the seminar] with undergraduates was definitely a different experience, but these literature classes are what I enjoy teaching the most,” McAlister said.
When not in the classroom, McAlister publishes articles within her research specialty of 19th century romantic literature from Spain. Her dissertation focused on similar topics, including literature written about architectural ruins. She explores the idea that the ruins of Medieval Spain were a highpoint of Catholicism and the power of religion as a uniting force. Additionally, McAlister writes about the connection between the ancient ruins and women’s continued oppression in Spain at the time.
“I kind of naturally just steered toward that topic,” McAlister said. “Some of the literary works that I studied in my dissertation are focused on the ruins and other times the ruins are kind of more like the backdrop of what’s going on.”
In the next five years, McAlister hopes to still be teaching, but also to teach a variety of courses in addition to her personal research outside of the classroom.
“It’s a lot easier to teach the same courses over and over again with slight modifications, but definitely challenging myself to branch out and teach different types of courses and different levels,” McAlister said.
While she teaches several levels at the university, McAlister works to modify the main focus of each course for the learners. For beginners, she looks to improve four main areas within her students’ abilities: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Intermediate is a mix of improving grammar, but also of studying cultural texts. Advanced courses focus on what students are able to produce and encourage higher order thinking with more in depth topics, according to McAlister.
“I try to have a lot of lower stakes assignments towards the beginning of the semester to establish where students’ levels are at so I can have an idea of what I can expect from them, to maintain academic integrity and also how I can best help them throughout the semester,” McAlister said.
Throughout all her classes, McAlister aims to incorporate creativity so students can showcase both their ability and comprehension of the material.
“What I like most about [teaching] is when I can see students using their skills to produce something creative,” McAlister said. “They can put a little bit of humor and creativity into it.”
When not in the classroom or researching, McAlister enjoys watching college basketball, dancing and cooking.
Next semester she will be teaching two sections of SPA 325 and sections of SPA 205, which are both classes she has taught in the past. She hopes to use the extra time in her schedule to revamp SPA 325 to introduce new texts.
