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Elisa Lucchi-Riester

Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish, 2007

While completing her undergraduate coursework at the University of Rome- La Sapienza in her native Italy, IUPUI alumna Elisa Lucchi-Riester had no intention of teaching. She was working towards a BA in Modern Languages: "I always knew I wanted to work with languages, because I loved them," she explains.

However, it wasn't until her last year that she discovered her true passion while tutoring fellow students in Spanish and French. Lucchi-Riester quickly found that she wanted to "pass on love for languages to anyone I can touch."

After graduating from La Sapienza in 2001, Lucchi-Riester moved to Indiana, got married, and accepted a part-time teaching position at Butler University. However, in order to become a full-time faculty member, she was required to earn a master's degree, and that was where the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Spanish came in.

She soon fell in love with the campus and Department of World Languages and Cultures. "IUPUI reminded me of my own campus in Rome—it felt like home to me. Right away I knew, this was my program, and I just loved it." She began her courses in August 2004.

Although she was teaching and raising a family, Lucchi-Riester completed her graduate degree in three years, walking across the stage in June 2007. It was easy for her professors to see her dedication and talent along the way. Professor Emeritus Nancy A Newton, former director of graduate studies in Spanish, remembers Elisa well. "She has enormous energy and a great and deep passion for teaching. I could not think more highly of her and her talents and accomplishments and am consistently struck, whenever I see her, by her 'aliveness'!"

As a teacher, Lucchi-Riester tries to bring that same sense of aliveness to her classroom, and feels the master's degree courses provided a key component of her educational philosophy. "I could not have expected more of the classes. I could really walk out and say 'okay, I know what I'm doing now!'" says Lucchi-Riester of the M.A.T. program. One aspect of the curriculum she particularly loved was her cultural immersion experience in Salamanca, Spain. "I've never believed in learning languages without traveling," she says firmly.

In addition to study abroad, Lucchi-Riester believes that language teaching and cultural education go hand in hand. Her job, she says, is to empower her students, giving them the tools to continue their cultural exploration if they choose. "You can always stay in the box if you want—it's your call," she tells them. "But there's a whole, brand-new world out there. Be open to it."

--Diana Poncar
Liberal Arts News Bureau

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