Today’s faculty spotlight focuses on Spanish Chair Alvaro Kaempfer. Kaempfer has served as chair of three different academic departments over the last 15 years at Gettysburg College. He arrived on campus as an associate professor in 2008 and became chair of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Department in 2009. From 2016-2020, Kaempfer served as chair of Globalization Studies before assuming oversight of the Spanish Department in 2020.
Throughout his time at Gettysburg, he has been committed to the growth and strategic direction of the institution, serving key roles on the Presidential Search Committee, Faculty Governance Committee, and the College Steering Committee for reaccreditation of Gettysburg College by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Kaempfer is a graduate of the Universidad Austral de Chile and attained a master’s in Latin American literatures from the Universidad de Santiago. He completed his Ph.D. in Hispanic languages and literatures at Washington University in St. Louis.
Kaempfer takes an interdisciplinary approach to his research, which focuses on the textual intersections of history, politics, and culture over narratives of colonialism and globalization throughout the 19th century in the Hispanic world, particularly in Latin America. His book, “Relatos de soberanía, cohesión y emancipación: las declaraciones de Independencia de Argentina (1816), Chile (1818) y Brasil (1822)” was published in 2009 and he has contributed to dozens of other books and publications. In 2023, Kaempfer was awarded a fellowship to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at the University of Tampa.
On campus, his goal is to help students creatively analyze and better understand the various narratives forming and informing our cultures under the impact of colonialism and globalization that shapes them and reshapes them. Kaempfer encourages his students to engage in open discussion to create civil dialogue on topics in society. By sharing information and viewpoints, he believes society can navigate disagreements and opposing opinions in an intellectual and respectful way. This fall, he will oversee a First-Year Seminar called “Journalistic Writing and Media Coverage of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.”
“The most substantial aspect of a liberal arts education for me is a learning process tailored individually to our students, which includes smaller classes, available faculty, open doors, and the invitation to question and voice their ideas in and outside the classroom,” Kaempfer said. “Let us explore, analyze, and learn to figure it out together. Professors, at least in my departmental experience, go way beyond the classroom to support our students. This is what I love seeing here and the faculty commitment to keep making it possible.”
By Corey Jewart
Photos by Corey Jewart
Posted: 07/23/24