ISU Spanish MA Alumna Visits Spanish 5500 to Share Story of Acquiring Academic Job

Tracy Stapleton, MA alum of ISU’s online Spanish program, visited Spanish 5500 virtually to share her inspiring journey to becoming a Spanish professor at USC-Upstate! Grad students got real-world advice on teaching, connecting with students, and navigating today’s classroom.

Tracy Stapleton, MA, graduated from ISU’s online Spanish MA program in May 2024. Previously, Stapleton used to be an ecologist. These days however, she works as an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina- Upstate, teaching undergraduates in Spanish 1 and 2 courses mostly. On Wednesday, March 19th, Stapleton visited Dr. Marin Laufenberg’s Spanish 5500 (University Pedagogy of Spanish and Advanced Grammar) class to tell the current MA students about her journey and to answer their questions about how she achieved her position and what she does every day as a Spanish language instructor.

Students currently in the Spanish MA program at ISU are completing the degree with many post-graduation goals in mind. Some students carry on to PhD programs in Spanish and Hispanic studies. Others are looking to deepen their knowledge in order to teach further courses at their current K-12 schools. Some students go on to look for positions in translation or interpretation. And yet others, like Stapleton, hope to acquire a teaching position at a university or college. 

Tracy Stapleton, MA, talks with Dr. Marin Laufenberg’s Spanish 5500 class in Spring 2025. This ISU class focuses on how to prepare MA students for future language instruction at the university level. 

The students in Spanish 5500 asked Stapleton how her time in the Spanish MA helped to prepare her for her current role. Stapleton expressed a feeling that she had become very comfortable and confident in her language skills and the ability to speak to and in front of audiences through her time in the MA and that those skills were the most valuable asset she had acquired which apply to her current job. Current students also wondered what advice Stapleton would give them about how they could best prepare their high school students for success in Spanish courses at a college level. Stapleton responded that language instructors need to emphasize the importance of language learning, the doors it opens, and the ways it creates connections between cultures and helps to further our understanding of all humans. She believes that these values are the most important thing we can highlight for our students to encourage them to see the value in their language studies. 

Students were also curious about what Stapleton sees as the struggles that she faces teaching first and second year Spanish at a regional state school in South Carolina. Stapleton expressed the difficulties that can come with hybrid and online course instruction and in competing with students’ attention when technology is everywhere. The Spanish 5500 students were eager to know how Stapleton created interactive and communicative language lessons for students in the online environment that is so common these days. Stapleton responded that electronic textbooks have become very advanced and include the ability to facilitate back-and-forth conversations. Plagiarism in online classes is incredibly frequent too which can be frustrating for an online instructor. Also, university students need to study a lot and many new university students are not accustomed to the pace of class yet. Stapleton also mentioned, “Son chicos de Covid. O sea que, parte de su desarrollo importante ocurrió durante Covid. Nos hemos dicho en la universidad, tener un poco de gracia con ellos.” (They are children of Covid. That is to say, an important part of their development happened during Covid. We´ve said in the university that we need to have some grace with [the students].) 

Stapleton is enjoying this new shift in her professional life immensely, and plans to continue teaching Spanish in the higher education realm in the future. She enjoys including little moments of culture and literature even in her classes with beginners.