Araceli Masterson

Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois was the original partner and collaborator of CEDEI. The concept of CEDEI began over twenty-five years ago when two of the Augustana professors, Tom Brown and Steve Wille, began to travel with students to Cuenca. These experiences were the seeds that grew into CEDEI, an institution of education and bridge-building that has worked with students from around the world for decades. This interview with Dr. Araceli Masterson, Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the Ecuador Study Abroad program, along with other Latin American programs, shares some of the story and how CEDEI continues to partner with Augustana.  

What is the typical student response after studying abroad at CEDEI?

I have NEVER had a student that did not notoriously grow from this experience. In this day and age, where people travel continuously and ten thousand study abroad programs are available, students who return from the Cuenca, Ecuador program are proud and well aware of the centrality of the experience they had. The fact that they dared to work the whole time in Spanish, and to push the limits of language borders, cannot be emphasized enough. They return with an awareness of the complexity of every locale, a love for the Andes, and an increased sense of the importance of the many years  invested in learning a language, the most generous and arduous manifestation of cultural and communicative awareness. They rethink their position in time and place, and realize the importance of the process over the outcomes.

Augsutana students outside of Quito on CEDEI trip

What is your role with students at Augustana and why do you believe it’s important for students to study abroad?

My role is to push the boundaries of learning in collaboration with students. I have worked in Study Abroad programs for twenty years now, taking students to Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, and of course, Ecuador, and know how important my role is in the study abroad experience. Above all, I work with students to think beyond what they are learning, and to consider how they are learning, and what the implications of this might be. In the Study Abroad Context, students cannot have the same demands as if they were in a US setting. They need to gradually be able to see, listen and evaluate FROM the realities of the context in which they are in. In many ways, I facilitate these bridges. The lines between study abroad opportunities and ‘marketing tourist experiences for students’ can become blurry, and my job is to take every opportunity to assure that the former does not slip into the latter. I am also a firm believer that faculty accompanying students must speak the language of the place of destination, and have ties via scholarship to those settings. As a Latinamericanist, and with a focus on Ecuador, I feel equipped to anticipate students’ thoughts and respond by providing them with lenses that will allow them to see FROM the Ecuadorian context.

Augustana students learn salsa at CEDEI

What is the Augie Choice and how does CEDEI fit into this opportunity?

Augie Choice was designed to offer some economic assistance that would encourage students to engage with learning opportunities nationally and internationally. All Augustana students are guaranteed a scholarship of $2,000 that can be used towards various purposes, including Study Abroad. For the Ecuador program this has been key. During the summer, students cannot use financial aid, and therefore this economic buffer often marks the difference between students’ being able or not to join the program. Most of the students I take to Cuenca have received this monetary assistance… From my perspective, it offers simply a great incentive for students to think outside the box of academic possibility and venture into learning opportunities beyond the Augustana campus classroom.

What types of projects do students work on while in the CEDEI program- Do they do any papers/internships/research outside of the CEDEI curriculum?

Courses focus on Arts of the Americas with attention to cultural ecology; those are heavily constituted by experiential learning experiences. In addition, they collaborate with the school of San José de Calasanz in an ongoing program of exchange that also involves community engagement.

Augustana Art Exhibit

What is your pedagogical and critical position regarding study abroad–Why is it important? What makes a program stand out compared to others?

What makes a program good is to prioritize learning experiences over student immediate satisfaction and loose concepts such as ‘fun’. Some programs water down complexity, or pay no attention for instance to the language component. For me, as a director, it is key that students are at all times aware of all the aspects they might be missing even while present, and to push them to turn discomfort or uncertainty into opportunities for inquiry and growth.

What is a day in your life like when you are leading a program?

Busy! In fact, I mostly watch students, and engage them in conversation, talk to the personnel and faculty at CEDEI about a variety of circumstances tied to the program, and start working on elements of fine tuning so that each program reaches further. Above all I need to be available to both students, and all their universe in Cuenca (CEDEI, their families there and at home, etc.) to anticipate any potential challenge, and turn as many experiences as possible into ongoing questions and conversation.