This fall, Birmingham-Southern is one of 40 schools in the country to host a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, and one of the few selected schools to welcome an instructor who has already worked with its students and faculty.

Fulbright Scholar Maria Augusta Zhunio comes to the Hilltop from the University of Cuenca in her hometown of Cuenca, Ecuador, to teach in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, engage with students and faculty across campus, and serve as a visiting scholar to the greater Birmingham area.

The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program aims to enhance internationalization efforts at U.S. colleges and universities and encourages visiting instructors to get involved in many different parts of campus – in and out of the classroom – to provide new opportunities for students.

Zhunio completed her undergraduate degree in finance and international business and her master’s degree in economics from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, before returning to Cuenca to teach courses in business at the university.

Linguistics is also an important and developing interest of hers. Along with her business courses at the University of Cuenca, Zhunio teaches English language at the university and teaches Spanish to international students at the CEDEI Foundation, where BSC students studied during E-Term in 2017 and 2019.

“Because the language was a barrier for me when I was studying in the United States, I’ve always sympathized with those who are studying a second language,” Zhunio says. “So, when this institution needed a Spanish teacher, I volunteered. It gave me a broader perspective of an international education.”

Professor of Spanish Dr. Barbara Domcekova and Professor of Chemistry Dr. Laura Stultz – who serve as the codirectors of the Fulbright project – first met Zhunio through the CEDEI classes that were part of their Cuenca E-Term project, a three-week immersion in Spanish language and Ecuadorian culture.

“Our students got to know Maria Augusta well – she was very outgoing, and she included them in activities outside of the classroom,” Stultz says. “We knew that she connected well with our students and was able to teach them at different levels.”

The biannual E-Term trip is open to all students, no matter their level of Spanish, and places them in Spanish classes based on their skillset. Students take classes in the mornings, return to their host homes for lunch, and then have activities in the afternoon, like visits to hospitals for pre-med students, lectures, visits to the Chamber of Commerce, museums, and downtown Cuenca, and more. On the weekends, students go on excursions outside the city.

“The idea is that the students are completely immersed in Spanish,” Domcekova says. “This experience increases their proficiency and raises their confidence because they are communicating entirely in Spanish, whether it is with their host families, teachers at CEDEI, or people they interact with outside the class while they explore Cuenca and the local community.”

In Zhunio’s course this fall, “Introduction to Economic Development in Latin America,” she combines her background in finance and economics with her experience teaching Spanish and English as second languages. Though the class is taught completely in Spanish, she still guides students through obstacles that can come with new, complicated terms and topics.

“It is one thing to know a language in a general way, just to get by in a different country,” Zhunio says, “but it’s another to discuss economic topics and vocabulary related to business. To see students grow in their linguistic skills for this specific topic, that I enjoy. And Latin America is such a complex region that they might not have had the opportunity to learn about before.”

Students in the class have an intermediate knowledge of the language, and each pick a country of interest that they will study throughout the term and see how the economic and cultural principles they are learning about function in different regions.

“I have some students of Hispanic heritage, and to see them realize where our culture is coming from, how it has been shaped by different socioeconomic aspects, to see them get a better understanding – that definitely is a plus for me,” she says.

Paired with her love for teaching, Zhunio hopes to bring awareness to Latin America and the importance in learning Spanish as a second language. Since coming to campus, she has helped the Cross Cultural Committee plan events for Hispanic Heritage Month and has held a weekly Spanish Conversation Club at noon on Wednesdays, a place for students to have casual conversations outside of the pressures and grades related to the classroom.

“You need 10 units and one internship to major in Spanish, and I think that’s such a great opportunity for students to complement their academic profile, no matter what they’re studying,” Zhunio says. “A second language would open opportunities, both academic and professional.”

Senior BSC student Chris Watts saw this opportunity when she first worked with Zhunio during E-Term – the trip that convinced her to change her education major to Spanish – and is now continuing to improve her skills as a student in Zhunio’s fall class.

“Having Professor Zhunio here this year has helped me as a student tremendously,” Watts says. “Usually, when I speak Spanish, I’m very timid, but whenever I speak to her, it’s so comfortable, even when she does correct me. I feel more motivated to practice and speak more. I couldn’t ask for anything more because all I want is to become fluent.”

Watts attends Zhunio’s Spanish Conversation Club every week and has taken Zhunio and her husband around Birmingham on various outings – from visiting the Vulcan and the Birmingham Rage Room to grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.

In the same way BSC students dive into new cultures during E-Term, Zhunio has been immersed in a new culture and is taking advantage of as many new experiences as she can. She danced at the orientation square dance, cheered for BSC at home games, and visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to learn more about the city’s history.

Zhunio has also spoken to classes about economics, immigration, and other topics that relate to departments across campus. Through these visits and her own course, she has enjoyed the small class sizes at BSC – something different from the University of Cuenca – and getting to have more personal relationships with her students.

“To be exposed to something new makes you grow as a person,” Zhunio says.

We are honored to host Zhunio in Birmingham as a Fulbright recipient this fall. Special thanks go to Domcekova and Stultz for making this experience possible, as well as Dr. Joe Chandler, director of grants and special projects, Anne Ledvina, associate director of the Sklenar Center for International Programs, the Office of Residence Life, and the Provost’s and President’s Offices.