Taste Testing: Faculty Exchange Program Brings Professor from Mexico to WVU

Ángel Tuninetti, chair of the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguisticsand associate professor of Spanish at West Virginia University, will exchange classrooms this semester with Paola Vera Báez, professor of culinary anthropology at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Mexico, as part of a short-term faculty exchange program. 

Tuninetti is the first WVU faculty member to participate in the exchange, which is sponsored by the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration. As part of the exchange, he traveled to Mexico to teach in Báez’s class April 9 to April 13. Báez will come to WVU to teach Tuninetti’s class April 22 to April 29.

“I think this is a great opportunity because it’s a clear example of internationalization at home,” Tuninetti said. “Usually when people think of internationalization, they think about students going abroad or international students coming here, but there are other ways of going around that and to bring connections with other countries through different models. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for our students to be able to interact with students from another university and also to bring to our campus a professor with a different perspective.”  

Beyond teaching in Tuninetti’s course, Báez will also offer a lecture on Mexican gastronomy sponsored by the WVU Latin American Studies program on Wednesday, April 25 at 5 p.m. in 126 Ming Hsieh Hall. The lecture will explore chocolate symbolism in Mexican culinary culture. She will also participate in other classes and cultural activities in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. 

To continue reading: https://eberly.wvu.edu/news-events/eberly-news/2018/04/23/taste-testing-faculty-exchange-program-brings-professor-from-mexico-to-wvu