When Florencia Henshaw, director of advanced Spanish at the University, was trying to decide where to teach in the U.S., she was immediately recommended to the University.

“I fell in love in terms of the professors and the diversity and community within Champaign-Urbana,” Henshaw said.

The University is home to people of many different cultures, including professors and graduate students. This provides a unique experience for students and teachers in their classrooms. Some international faculty members share their experience here at the University.

Raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Henshaw knew from the time she started undergraduate studies that she wanted to teach Spanish full time. She attended Cal State in San Marcos and completed her bachelor’s in Spanish.

She knew she wanted to continue her studies to hopefully teach at an American university, so she moved to the U.S. Henshaw completed her Master’s Degree and Ph.D. at the University.

In the fall of 2017, Henshaw was appointed the director of the Center for Language Instructions and Coordination on campus.

“I absolutely love it, it is such a great community,” Henshaw said about her experience teaching at the University. “I have great colleagues; the students are very dedicated and truly interested in whatever they are here to learn.”

Despite teaching at a large campus, Henshaw said she is still able to create strong connections with her students.

“A lot of the time when people think of big universities — which we are — they think of just being another student,” Henshaw said. “I’ve never had that experience, I have taught lectures and created relationships with many of my students, like my colleagues. Professors are still very much involved in their students.”

Ane Icardo Isasa is a TA in the Spanish and Portuguese department at the University and is originally from Irun, Spain. The opportunity to both study and teach at the same time is what drew her to the University.

“I heard about people who were teaching in the U.S. and doing their graduate studies at the same time, and it was very interesting to me how you could teach and not have to pay for your tuition,” Icardo Isasa said.

For many, the cost of tuition when attending an American university as a foreign student can be near impossible to pay. The teaching assistant route is one that draws many not just to the University, but to jobs in the U.S. in general, Icardo Isasa said.

Icardo Isasa did a year abroad during her undergrad in Colorado and immediately fell in love with the U.S..

“I wanted to teach and come back to the U.S. really badly, so that’s why I chose to move in the first place,” Icardo Isasa said.

After applying to six of the Big Ten schools, she received acceptances from five. But she sought advice from her trusted professors who all recommended the University.

She explained that she chose to come to the University because of the teaching opportunities at such a good university she knew she could not pass up.

Konstantinos Kourtikakis, teaching associate professor of political science at the University, also thinks of this campus with great pride. Kourtikakis was born and raised in Greece and moved to the U.S. for higher level education.

He attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed his Master Degree and Ph.D.

His experience with American academics and the University in particular, is one that Kourtikakis holds to a high standard and respects.

“The University does complete its mission to serve the students of Illinois, but at the same time it attracts people from all over the world,” Kourtikakis said. “For faculty, that is very important, teaching here and training the students.”

When choosing a university, Kourtikakis was drawn to the University because of its rank, the diversity among students and faculty, as well as the community and environment in which the University is based on.

The academic status, clubs and the attitudes of all members of the community play a huge part in why these professors chose to work at the University.

When asked how he would describe the attitude of students and faculty at Illinois, Kourtikakis says, “There are people who want to be there, either to teach or study. You see people of all races and nationalities here.”

Ultimately, everyone has a different reason for coming to campus, and everyone experiences different things. At the University, both the faculty and students hope to evoke a positive environment.

“Teaching makes my heart full, it has brought me so much more joy in life,” Icardo Isasa said. “The students are so eager to learn and to experience; it makes me so happy.”

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