Faculty Fascinations: Dr. Deborah Forteza

One thing you’ll repeatedly hear from Covenant students is how much they appreciate time spent with professors in the classroom, in their offices, or around tables in the Great Hall. But it can be easy to forget that these professors have lives outside the classroom, too. 

Many pursue projects that might surprise their students. I recently caught up with Dr. Deborah Forteza, assistant professor of Spanish, who told me about the scholarly article she's writing on an unpublished manuscript by a Spanish Renaissance poet.

What Is a Project You Have Been Working on Lately?

I recently received the Norris and Billie Little Faculty Endowment, a three-year Covenant College research grant for faculty to work on academic projects. My project is to produce an article to be submitted for publication to one of the top two peer-reviewed journals in my field of Renaissance studies. The article I’m writing focuses on an unpublished manuscript by Bartolomé Cairasco de Figueroa, a well-known Spanish poet and contemporary of Miguel de Cervantes. I am researching what some of the poems tell us about Anglo-Spanish relations and why Cairasco’s portrayal of King James Stuart is so positive.

Since Covenant is a Christian institution that takes seriously loving God, neighbors, and creation, we also take research very seriously. The more we understand the world, the better equipped we will be to love God, others, and creation, and we will not shy away from talking about racism, poverty, and all types of hard things. Because of this, we are strong supporters of research and have donors who have funded professors to pursue it.

What Are Some Challenges You Have Faced?

When I started my PhD, I wasn’t sure I could write a dissertation because writing does not come naturally to me. Through the years, I learned that reading and writing were ways of deepening my knowledge, but I’m slow at it, so writing a dissertation was a daunting task. To my surprise, I really enjoyed researching and writing it, and now research is even more important to me because it makes me a better teacher.

Before I got this grant, I was wondering if I needed to cut back on research because I was busy teaching. It was hard to be faithful to both. But getting this grant was a confirmation that research is part of my calling, and it will help me gather ideas and material for future projects.