Pedro Bravo-ElizondoPedro Bravo-Elizondo

professor, Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Pedro Bravo-Elizondo has spent the past 35 years at Wichita State. In that time, he said, it was the students who helped make his job so satisfying.

Bravo-Elizondo served as a professor of Spanish and of Latin American literature and film. He said he enjoyed imparting his knowledge of the subject he loves so much to his students. "Among my fondest memories are the countless students who shared my interest in Latin America and went on to successful careers of their own," said Bravo-Elizondo, whose wife, Judy Berry-Bravo, is chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Pittsburg State University.

His best moment during his career was winning a 1989 Fulbright Scholarship, which allowed him to conduct research for six months in Central America during a sabbatical.

The following year he won the Ollantay Award for best research in Latin American theater.

While at WSU, Bravo-Elizondo spent many of his summers taking part in National Endowment for the Humanities seminars, including at Yale University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Ohio State University.

Bravo-Elizondo has been published widely from 1975 to the present and said those works helped make Wichita State a familiar name in Latin America and Europe. Much of his research focused on Latin American theater and socio-cultural aspects of the Nitrate Era in Peru and Chile: 1820-1930.

"Since no man is an island, I owe my thanks to the staff of Interlibrary Loan and the generous support through the Office of Research Administration," he said.

Now in retirement, Bravo-Elizondo continues devoting time to research. But he also looks forward to spending more time on his favorite hobby -- cooking.