Álvaro Leiva (he, him, his, etc.), originally from Santiago of Chile, earned his Doctorate and Undergraduate degree in the State of Florida. For more than twenty years, he has been teaching Spanish in private and public liberal arts universities such as Albion College, The University of Michigan, Grand Valley State University and Berry College where he has taught a wide range of Spanish language courses for undergraduate students from a diverse scope of disciplines and socioeconomic backgrounds.
When he is not teaching, he likes to read and write poetry and take photographs in black and white. He is proud to be a first-generation student, and he stands with the Mexican poet, Juan Inés de la Cruz, who said this four hundred years ago: “I don't study to know more, but to ignore less.” In terms of Spanish Language and Culture, Álvaro is interested in writing and lecture over new trends of language teaching and new platform internet-based instruction for beginning, intermediate and literature courses in Spanish. His interests are also aimed to conduct research on language and culture exchange with migrate workers, local Hispanic organizations (newspapers, radio, public events) in rural and urban areas in the USA.