Faculty Profile: Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau
Dr. Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau is recognized as a master teacher in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies and beyond. She is a finalist in the 2021 Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence competition.
In describing Dr. Aliaga-Buchenau, Dr. Michèle Bissière, Department Chair stated, “She shines in the classroom and always receives near perfect evaluations that are well above the department mean. Students’ comments are full of superlatives, such as “amazing,” “awesome,” or “best ever.” Students praise her infectious enthusiasm for the material, her positive and compassionate attitude, her ability to relate to students from different backgrounds and at different levels of proficiency, and her availability outside class.”
A gifted and versatile classroom instructor, she is generous with her time. Students seek her out for mentoring and are eager to help with the many extracurricular activities she organizes.
Aliaga-Buchenau joined the Department of Languages and Culture Studies as an Assistant Professor in German and Comparative Literature in 2002, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006, and to Professor in 2019. She has served as Associate Chair for the department since 2014.
She restructured the German curriculum, making it more relevant to students and future employers by including career-oriented courses in translating, business, and engineering and adding humanities-based offerings in youth literature and contemporary literature and culture. She led the development of undergraduate and graduate Certificates in Translating, as well as certificates in Business German and German for Engineering. She also had an important role in development of the Minors in Chinese and Arabic Studies and the creation of the Minor in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights.
Under her leadership, the number of German majors has more than quadrupled, an achievement that drew national attention, with The Chronicle of Higher Education ranking the program in Spring 2019 as #2 in the U.S. and #1 in North Carolina for the number of graduates.
“Dr. Buchenau is honestly the best professor that I have ever had. She is constantly presenting us with opportunities to go further in the German major. I have never had a professor more willing to help you succeed in your field,” said Eric Stetter, a student majoring in International Business and German.
Other opportunities created for students by Dr. Aliaga Buchenau include a Spring Break study abroad program and an intensive summer language program at the Goethe-Institut in Germany for which she raised scholarship money to enable students to attend
Aliaga-Buchenau says, “The students are what interest me. I am fascinated to see what happens when they learn a language, in this case German, and more importantly, how they grow and change when they come in contact with another culture. ”
Her awards and accolades include the 2009 Bonnie E. Cone Early-Career Professorship in Teaching, a nomination to the Carnegie Professor of the Year Award in 2011, being a finalist for the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence in 2012, and receiving the UNC Charlotte International Education Award in 2018.
Aliaga-Buchenau is one of three finalists for the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence, which is open to full-time, tenured faculty members with at least seven years of service to UNC Charlotte.