Faculty Profile: Dr. Stephany Slaughter
When Stephany Slaughter went to college, she planned to major in French and English with a teaching concentration. But around the time she discovered her college didn’t offer a study aboard program in France, a spot opened up to study abroad in Spain.
“I’ve always been addicted to languages and travel,” the assistant professor of Spanish says, “but the switch from French to Spanish was really accidental. The spot opened up in November, and by January I was in Spain.”
She still was able to experience France when she taught English and US History at the University of Pairs after graduating from Washington College.
She entered a graduate program at Millersville University while teaching high school, and was able to travel to Mexico for a summer program.
“I realized I really enjoyed cultural studies,” she says. “It allows you to talk about one problem and see it reflected in many different genres.”
She earned her doctorate from the Ohio State University, and her dissertation focused on how gender plays into the representation of the Mexican Revolution in media.
Slaughter received a Fulbright grant to work in Mexico in 2005 to investigate the representations of the United States in Mexican Cultural production. Finding many documentaries dealing with immigration and the US/Mexico border led her to work with the Ambulante documentary film festival.
While working with the festival, she became a field producer for “Which Way Home,” a documentary about children passing through Central America and Mexico on their way to the United States.
She came to Alma after working in Mexico City at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in a post-doctorate position, researching and studying gender.
“When I came for my interview, I was really impressed that people at Alma seem to really enjoy what they do and who they work with — both colleagues and students,” she says. “I’ve been continually impressed with the interest and engagement of the students. I was pleasantly surprised how many of them came to the 8 a.m. breakfast during my interview!”
In her spare time, Slaughter enjoys films, reading and spending time with her husband and daughter.
