Alumni Spotlight
March 24, 2017
Shelli Rottschafer, Ph.D. completed her doctorate from the University of New Mexico in Latin American Contemporary Literature and a minor emphasis in Portuguese(2005). Since 2006, Rottschafer has taught at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Aquinas is a small liberal arts college dedicated to community and learning. Shelli is an Associate Professor of Spanish within the Department of World Languages. She teaches Chicanx and Latinx Literature, Film and Gender Studies as well as Advanced Composition in Spanish and Service Learning culture classes where students mentor at César E. Chávez Bilingual Elementary School. In addition to her World Language Department duties, Shelli teaches in the Inquiry and Expression Program which is the first-year student research writing course. Her class has a Sustainable and Environmental theme.
This past academic year, Shelli participated in the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association in Salt Lake City, October 2016. She presented “Does Social Citizenship Imply a Right to Stay? Perspectives from the Short Story “La Operación” (2003) by Luis J. Rodríguez and Chris Weitz’s Film A Better Life (2011). Shelli also Chaired three different panels focused on Chicanx Narrative, Film, and Children’s Literature. Several UNM alumni and faculty attended this conference demonstrating our LOBO loyalties are maintained beyond graduation.
Also, April 2017 Shelli will Chair and present at the Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies in Salt Lake City. Her paper, “Convertirse en una mujer: Las obras Caramelo (2002) de Sandra Cisneros y Rumbo al hermoso norte (2009) de Luis Alberto Urrea” is a collaborative effort with one of her students at Aquinas College.
Additionally this Spring, Shelli will be taking four of her upper level Spanish language students to present at Wayne State University in Detroit’s “La Academia del Pueblo: Latino and Latin American Studies Conference”. They will present “Redefiniendo la Raza Cósmica en la obra Zoot Suit de Luis Váldez y la película Mi Familia”.
Outside of her academic life, Shelli writes poetry, nonfiction, and fictional narrative. When not in front of the computer she can be found running with her black Labrador along the Lake Michigan beaches. Or, during the colder months, the San Juan Mountains beckon her winters.
