A Lifelong Teacher: French Professor Maria Rebbert Retires
“People who knew me knew I would be a teacher,” Professor of French Maria Rebbert says of her career choice. “From the time I was tiny, anytime someone taught me something and I thought ‘Wow, they made that easy to learn,’ I would go home and practice it on my brothers and sisters, not only what I learned, but also how I had learned it.”
After serving for 32 years as a professor in Hillsdale’s French Department, Dr. Rebbert retired at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. Her parents were both teachers who, when they helped Rebbert and her siblings with homework, would point out their methods for teaching and memorizing. “It just became part of me to think about how you teach and how you learn,” Rebbert explains.
In addition to her curiosity about teaching and learning, Rebbert says that she has always loved languages. “My mom was Mexican, so I should have studied Spanish,” she jokes. While she did learn some Spanish at home, Rebbert decided to study French in high school so that she would have not one, but two foreign languages.
By the end of her high school career, Rebbert was certain that she wanted a career in teaching, although she wasn’t sure what she would teach. Much more proficient in French than in Spanish at that point, Rebbert chose to continue studying French in college, along with chemistry. After a single year of college, her passion for languages won out and she dropped her chemistry focus to study another language and take courses in linguistics.
After teaching in graduate school, and then for a year at the University of Wyoming, Rebbert learned of an opening at Hillsdale and came to interview. She loved the other department faculty and was impressed by their determination to teach language by immersion. Excited by the idea of teaching at a small liberal arts college and further impressed by Hillsdale’s commitment to independence, Rebbert happily accepted a position and began teaching French at Hillsdale in 1984.
In her many years at Hillsdale, Rebbert says that she has been impressed by the passion and drive of her French students, recalling some who would come by her office in the afternoon “just to chat” so that they could practice their oral language skills, and others who worked ahead to skip a semester of French so that they would have time to complete the major, take more literature classes, and study in France. “You don’t know what people can do until they do it,” she remarks. “It depends on how much they want to do it, as well as on their abilities and preparedness.”
When asked what she plans to do in her retirement, Rebbert immediately responds that she plans to read, as well as become involved in volunteer work with the Humane Society, a local medical care facility, and with St. Anthony’s parish in Hillsdale. She also hopes to enjoy some outdoor activities such as kayaking, hiking, and cross-country skiing.
Rebbert says that she has enjoyed seeing the growth of foreign languages at Hillsdale and expresses confidence that the department will continue to flourish in years to come. She admits to being “a little sad to leave,” partly because of the exciting new teaching methods offered by ever-improving technology, and partly because of the increasing quality of the incoming French students. “It’s been wonderful working with the students I have now,” she says, “and they just keep getting better and better!” But Rebbert is confident that the two newly hired French professors, along with Chairwoman of French Marie-Claire Morellec, will pass along the tradition of excellence. She hopes, on occasion, to attend the French conversation table in the dining hall, and looks forward with excitement to watching Hillsdale’s French students continue to excel.
Printed in the Spring 2016 Alumni Magazine