An educator, I enjoy public engagement and consider it a key part of a healthy society.
Experience
With over twenty years teaching in both public and private universities, I know how to engage an audience. Whether large venues of over 100 or small workshops, I am equally at home at scholarly conferences and with local community organizations. In the last several years I have spoken at elementary schools and universities, historical societies and church groups.
Topics
Below are samples of the topics I can address:
- California and its Cultural Heritage
- Native Americans
- Spanish Exploration
- Colonization of California
- Missions and Missionaries
- Migrations and Immigrations
- Women in Spanish and Mexican California
- Literature and Culture
- Don Quixote
- Explorers and Their Books
- Kerouac and Cervantes: Brothers Across Time
- Native Voices in Colonial Latin America
- Education
- The Humanities Crisis: Skills vs. Knowledge
- The Liberal Arts and Higher Education
- The Value of Learning Foreign Languages
- Technology the Humanities
Recent Conferences and Symposiums
- Latin American Studies Association (Barcelona, Spain)
- California Missions Foundation (San Diego, California)
- Franciscan University (Steubenville, Ohio)
- Foothill College (Los Altos, California)
- University of Nebraska, Omaha
Recent Local Speaking Engagements:
- Mission San Luis Obispo Docents
- California Pioneers of Santa Clara County
- Half Moon Bay Historical Society
- Sonoma Valley Historical Society
- De Vargas Elementary School, San José, California
- Vargas Elementary School, Sunnyvale, California
- Arroyo Seco Elementary School, Livermore California
- Sacred Heart Elementary School, Saratoga, California