Meet Associate Professor of Instruction Julia Rajan of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Weinberg College welcomes Associate Professor of Instruction Julia Oliver Rajan to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese!

Rajan recently answered a few questions about her current research and what inspired her to pursue linguistics. In addition to teaching, Rajan is a certified Spanish tester and rater for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). She performs Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPI) for students and professionals seeking official assessments, e.g., for grant applications, studying abroad, and placement for Spanish courses.

Where are you from? Where did you study?
I am from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. I grew up on a farm close to the beach, so I had the best of both worlds, the countryside, and the coast. It was paradise. I earned my Ph. D. in Hispanic Linguistics with a specialization in Sociolinguistics and Phonology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. There, I worked for the College of Education on a federally funded project to train bilingual teachers from the Chicago Public Schools. This molded my career and initiated
my interest in heritage speakers’ pedagogy.

What inspired you to pursue your area of study?
I was studying biology because I was always interested in how the brain works and how we learn. I took a linguistic course as an elective in my second year of college. The linguistic professor said we could only understand the brain by studying how language works. I was hooked! After this course, I finished my master’s in Applied Linguistics at 22 years old.

Please describe your research.
I have two areas of interest, one researches the language and identity of the communities in the coffee zone of Puerto Rico, and the other investigates the impact of service-learning among college students
who are Spanish heritage speakers.

What are you working on right now that excites you the most?
I am currently working on a placement test for Spanish heritage speakers. Testing the cultural competence and the language skills that most heritage learners acquired by listening to their mother
tongue can be challenging. I am piloting a test to place students who learned Spanish at home in the best class tailored to their needs or to keep developing their language skills.

How do you enjoy spending your free time?
I love traveling, especially to India. I have been there multiple times. Being on the train crossing the country from Delhi to Chennai is a must. Essentially, traveling and knowing other cultures is what I enjoy
the most in my free time. I also love cooking for my family and friends, everything from scratch.

What is most fulfilling to you about teaching?
Being able to see my students’ success. I love when students tell me they have used Spanish in their work or professions.