Debbie Berhó

MA in Latin American Studies; PhD in Latin American Studies | 1995; 1998

Photo: Debbie Berhó

Job : Chair, World Languages, Sociology & Cultural Studies Department/Professor of Spanish, George Fox University
Location : Newberg, OR

Debbie chose UNM for her graduate studies after an international search that included Universidad de Valparaíso in Chile. She and her family felt that Albuquerque was a safe city, and financially reasonable. The LAS program in particular allowed her to continue to work across disciplines to choose her foci. She gained valuable teaching experience as an assistant for the Spanish & Portuguese Department, and also had rigorous faculty who were available during their office hours for assistance. The LAS degree allowed her to meet her goal of becoming a university professor. As she continues to do interdisciplinary research focused on the Latino Protestant Congregations of the U.S. (read about the research team on the LPC Project website), she draws on the knowledge gained about the church in Latin America while she was at UNM. Debbie is currently Professor of Spanish and Department Chair of World Languages, Sociology, and Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary department focused on "knowing the other." She spends a lot of her time in department administration, but still does teach advanced Spanish and Culture & Civilization of Latin America (in Spanish). For the latter course, she draws heavily on history courses taken at UNM. A significant portion of her time is focused on ethnographic research on the religiosity of Latinos in the United States. She continues to travel to Latin America regularly, both to visit family and to evaluate study abroad programs for her students.