Farewell to a Poet: Remembering Olga Muñiz
The Hillsdale College community mourned the loss of Assistant Professor of Spanish Olga Muñiz, who passed away on May 6, 2016, after a lengthy battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband, Associate Professor of Spanish Kevin Teegarden, and their daughter, Ariana.
A native of Isabela, Puerto Rico, Muñiz came to the United States in 1981 to attend graduate school at Indiana University after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez in English with minors in Spanish, Italian, and German. She was pursuing an M.A. in Italian when a professor recommended that she add a minor in Spanish. Taking his advice, she enrolled in a Spanish literature class, where she met Teegarden. The two continued taking Spanish classes together for the next two years, both earning their master’s degrees in 1984. That same year, they married.
Muñiz and Teegarden were both hired to teach Spanish at Hillsdale College in 1991. In an article she wrote for a College newsletter, Muñiz noted that “the experience of teaching in the same place has strengthened our marriage and our professional goals. We teach many of the same students, sharing about their needs and following their academic and personal success.” Indeed, their shared experiences have strengthened the academic experience for students as well. They co-authored a grammar book, Manual de referencia, and many other class materials. Each summer, they traveled to Spain and met with students studying abroad through Hillsdale’s program in Seville, while also conducting research for their classes and professional interests.
Muñiz enjoyed writing poetry, publishing a bilingual poetry book titled The Sparrow’s Song/El canto del gorrión. She also enjoyed painting with watercolors. She often incorporated creative exercises using art, music, and poetry into her classes. It was not unusual for her students to give poetry recitations, sing Spanish songs, or write plays. In 2014, she assigned her Intensive Intermediate Spanish class the task of writing a sequel to an open-ended one-act play they had read in class. Muñiz selected one of the sequels and the class performed the play, complete with costumes and a set, which was open to the whole student body. “[This is a chance] to see all the talent these students have, the creativity, and to see what we can do with the Spanish language, not just take exams and quizzes,” Muñiz said in a Collegian article.
Stephanie Umphress Maxwell, ’96, who minored in Spanish, remembers those creative classroom activities and how much they fostered her Spanish-speaking ability. “I had Dr. Muñiz for only one class, but I think my fluency in the language increased more in that one class than in all the others combined,” she says. “She often had us role play or come up with impromptu skits that we then had to perform in front of the class. She was also a very caring and compassionate professor and continued to take interest in me long after the semester ended.” Even students who did not take classes with Muñiz benefited from her contributions to the Spanish Department. “Although I never studied under Dr. Muñiz, I could feel her energetic determination throughout the curriculum of the Spanish Department,” recalls Spanish major Betsy Peters Howard, ’10. “I still frequently reference the grammar textbook that she wrote with Dr. Teegarden as I teach Spanish students of my own now.”
Spanish Department Chairwoman Sandy Puvogel remembers Muñiz’s talent for showing students the beauty in poetry. “Reading and analyzing poetry can be a daunting task for many students, but Olga had a talent for guiding them through those challenges,” Puvogel says. “As a poet herself, she knew the power and the beauty of the written word and she cared deeply about passing on that knowledge to her students.”
Muñiz was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent treatment. She was declared cancer free after that, but years later, the cancer returned. Her husband was a source of strength and inspiration to her during those difficult times. As she wrote in 2012, “Kevin has been my ‘silent wings.’ He has taken up my academic duties when I couldn’t and is my right hand in everything I need.”
“Olga’s many talents and the grace and courage that she showed throughout her illness will not be forgotten,” Puvogel says.
Printed in the Spring 2016 Alumni Magazine