The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 30, 2003 Page: 8 of 15
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8 April 30, 2003 The University News
The University News April 30, 2003 9
Features
dios,
azorla retires a ter 45 years at D
by Meghan Kuckelman
Editor in Chief
When Hazel Cazorla, pro-
fessor of Spanish, retires after
45 years of teaching next
month, there is one thing she
will not miss.
"I shall miss everything ex-
cept marking papers," she said.
Cazorla came to UD in 1958
when she and her husband ar-
rived in the U.S. for what they
thought was going to be a short
stay. Her husband Eugemo, a
lawyer from Spain, accepted a
fellowship to study law at
SMU, and the two, along with
their young daughter traveled
to Dallas.
Since the stipend her hus-
band received for his fellow-
ship would not support three
people, Cazorla decided to ap-
ply for a job teaching Spanish.
Then when Cazorla attempted
to obtain the proper papers in
order to work in the U.S., the
British Consul told her she
would have an easier time if
she legally immigrated as the
U.S. was trying to fill a quote of
British immigrants as it was.
So the family did just that,
with no intention of staying
until her husband decided to
seek a degree in American
common law. They have been
here ever since.
When Cazorla applied for
jobs in the area, the acceptance
letter she received came from
Dr. Eugene Curtsinger, then
dean of the university. UD
was a new school at that time,
and Cazorla called it "terribly
exciting."
"Even to get here one had
to bump along a sort of dirt
road,"' she said, likening the
trip to work to heading to the
Wild West. "Everyone felt
there was something to be
done here;'
Cazorla joined a staff of one
in the Spanish department, and
when the other professor left
the next year, she took over,
teaching "everything that had
to be taught."
Cazorla served as chairman
of the Spanish department and
made sure that it maintained
the pioneering spirit common
to the rest of UD. Under her
direction, the Spanish depart-
ment produced many plays in
Spanish, making UD the first
university in north Texas to do
so. The French department
followed shortly after with its
own plays.
When performing plays in-
cluding Bodcts c/e Sangre, La
Celestinci, and La Cabeza del
Bautista, Cazorla said students
utilized every place on campus
they could think of.
"We even used the atrium
around the fountain in
Braniff," she said.
Cazorla said the drama and
art departments were always
very helpful in assisting with
sets, costumes and perfor-
mance space. The Spanish stu-
dents even performed in the
Margaret Jonson Theater a few
times.
"I have often thought that it
would be wonderful if we
could go back and view once
again some of those produc-
tions," Elizabeth Sanchez,
chair of the Spanish depart-
ment said. "But, alas, they
were done in the good old days
before the video earner."
Cazorla has a great fondness
for not only Spanish drama,
but drama in general.
"I suppose it's certainly be-
A
photo by Eric Martinez
Since 1958, Hazel Cazorla has been a fixture in the modern language department. She
will retire next semester after 45 years of teaching spanish at the University of Dallas.
photo by Eric Martinez
Although she will miss many aspects of teaching at UD, correcting papers is not one of them.
mg in contact with wonderful
language that has been writ-
ten," she said. "It is a coming
together of people in a com-
mon, fun enterprise."
Students in Cazorla's
classes have taken note of her
great love for Spanish culture
as a whole.
Sanchez recalls a moment
when she said she really under-
stood how deep Cazorla's pas-
sion for Spanish culture goes.
She sat in on a senior capstone
class which Cazorla gave on a
late 15th century Spanish play.
"I watched m awe as she be-
gan to lecture, first stoking the
imagination of her audience,
helping us see what she wanted
us to see...asking probing
questions, engaging the stu-
dents in a lively
discussion...choosing just the
right passages to make her
points.
"We were left feeling almost
as if we had been present at a
live performance of La
Celestina," Sanchez said.
Cazorla developed this love
for Spain during World War II.
At the time she was a high
school student in
Northampton, England, where
many teachers and students
from London were sent to
avoid the bombings. There,
Cazorla met one teacher in par-
ticular who was very instru-
mental in shaping the rest of
her life named Lydia Mary
Gee. Gee was an English
woman who had helped evacu-
ate children in Spain during
the Spanish Civil War. She
was fluent in Spanish, and,
though a mathematics teacher,
was invited by Cazorla's head-
mistress to teach Spanish to
girls interested in the subject.
Over the next few years,
Gee taught Spanish to six girls
from Cazorla's class. Five of
these girls continued with their
studies at the university level,
and three ended up marrying
Spaniards.
Cazorla was one of them .
She went on to study Spanish
at Oxford, where she was ac-
tive in the theater. She loved
to travel to Spain during breaks
and actually took classes there.
"My first experience of
Holy Week was in Granada,"
she said.
After her graduation,
Cazorla moved to London to
work as a translator, where she
again participated in a theater
group. However, after a few
years, she said she felt like she
was losing her Spanish skills
Gonzalez leaves mark
on Spanish program
and decided to look for a job
in Spain. A bit of searching
found her a job in Seville at the
British Council, where she
worked organizing libraries of
English books.
"That sort of sealed my
fate,*' she said
When Cazorla retires next
month, she hopes to volunteer
around Dallas, particularly at
the Spanish art museum at
SMU. She and her husband
also plan to spend more time
in Spain, where she intends to
write and publish works about
Spanish theatre.
Cazorla said she will indeed
miss UD.
"One of the most delightful
things about it is the sponta-
neity, the enthusiasm of the
students," she said.
"Professionally I can't think
of anywhere I would have been
happier," she said.
Sanchez said she will al-
ways remember Cazorla the
way she during the La
Celestina lecture.
"That is the image I took
away of Hazel teaching, and
that classroom magic, I think,
is the mark of a great teacher.
She will be sorely missed next
year around Carpenter Hall,"
she said.
by Chris Bowman
Features Editor
Dr. Ana Maria Gonzalez sits
quietly in her office, sipping soup,
and waiting for Carlo.
"Are you Carlo?" she asks, but
it is only a reporter.
Carlo is supposed to perform
in the second annual poetry and
music recital. Gonzalez is anx-
iously awaiting word of his per-
formance so she knows what to
write in the program. With no sign
of Carlo ever showing up,
Gonzalez prints the programs
without his musical number. Fi-
nally, when the programs are all
copied, she folds them.
This is the approach that
Gonzalez takes towards seem-
ingly every activity she organizes
for the Spanish department. Her
hands-on commitment has been
pivotal to the success of many of
Spanish activities during the past
four years.
She will leave the university
next semester, but even in her last
weeks, Gonzalez continues her
diverse involvement in and out of
the classroom.
When she is not teaching, she
is working with the Spanish Club,
Or with the Latin American Stu-
dent Organization (LASO). Or
with the Mexican Folk Dance
Group that she started three years
ago. But no matter what the ac-
tivity, Gonzalez does it with the
intensity that can only be found
in a short, unassuming Spanish
teacher.
Gonzalez came to UD in 1999,
just five years after moving to the
United States from Taxco,
Guerrero, Mexico. She was work-
ing toward her Ph.D. from the
University of Massachusetts -
Amherst when UD came to her
attention.
"To put it simply, I found diem
on the internet," Gonzalez said.
Although it might not have
been the most romantic way to
begin a relationship with a uni-
versity, Gonzalez has enjoyed her
four years with a school she has
loved since then.
In her second year at UD,
Gonzalez organized a Spanish po-
etry recital honoring the poet
Delia Pro de Munoz, grandmother
of one of her students. The fol-
lowing year, the entire modern
language department joined the
Spanish students to present the
first Annual Poetry and Music
Recital.
"I hope that this will continue
after I leave," Gonzalez said. "I
like to think that this is the seed
that I planted at UD, and that it
will grow from there '
Besides the poetry recital,
Gonzalez has been a driving force
behind many other activities at
UD. She has promoted the cel-
ebration of Hispanic Heritage
Month, which consisted of an en-
tire month of events last semes-
ter, including activities devoted to
one Spanish speaking country
every day of die week for diree
weeks.
Gonzalez has also organized
the Dia de los mnertos with the
Spanish club for the last three
years.
Outside of UD, she also started
photo by Eric Martinez
Dr. Gonzalez is swamped with work as she juggles classes,
Spanish clubs, and a folk dance group at the same time.
a Mexican folk dance group that
has performed at UD and at many
other venues in the metroplex, in-
cluding SMU and the Bath House
Cultural Center.
And on top of that, Gonzalez
has been the faculty advisor for
LASO for the last two years.
But what she is most proud of
in her four years at UD is the
progress of her students.
"I am so proud of my students,"
photo courtesy of Ana Maria Gonzalez
Dr. Gonzalez dances with senior Spanish major Sara Upton during last year's Hispanic
Heritage Month. Gonzalez started a Mexican Folk Dance group three years ago.
she said. "They are what really
matter. There is something truly
exceptional about UD students."
At the second annual poetry
and music recital held earlier this
week, Gonzalez watched as her
students performed for her for the
last time. But even when her stu-
dents stumbled over their own
mispronunciation of Spani sh lit-
erature, Gonzalez was there to
catch them and guide them to-
wards their goal.
"I understand how challenging
it is to perform," Gonzalez said
"Trust me, it's just as hard to or-
ganize it! But for me and for the
students, there is an incredible
feeling of pride when it is com-
pleted."
And so Gonzalez's four years
at UD are also near completion.
She planted a seed of Mexican
culture, and she, too, feels the
same pride that her students feel
when their hard work comes to
fruition.
Over 50 students attended the
poetry recital, and Carlo showed
up, too. He sang beautifully.
Gonzalez has decided it is time
to move on and to make a change
in her professional career. Next
year, she will leave UD behind
and head south to teach Spanish
for tenure at Texas Lutheran Uni-
versity. She devoted four years of
her life to Spanish at UD, and she
hopes diat die students here will
not forget the love for the culture
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Hendrickson, Janet & Kuckelman, Meghan. The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 30, 2003, newspaper, April 30, 2003; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201565/m1/8/?q=%22Places+-+United+States+-+Texas+-+Dallas+County+-+Irving%22: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Dallas.