By Kinga Fraczkiewicz
Carlos Vázquez Cruz started teaching at Kalamazoo College almost three years ago, but has spent a total of 26 years teaching. He is inspired and motivated by his students to be a better professor.
Vázquez Cruz sat atop the brown desk in front of the grey Dewing classroom and presented his class with a dilemma. A student athlete chose him as their Most Valuable Professor (MVP), and Cruz was unsure if he should attend the basketball game the student invited him to because of his social anxiety. The class unanimously responded yes, he should show his support. Vázquez Cruz stopped gently swinging his legs, took a steadying breath and agreed to go. When he attended the event, he had a blast. Dr. Vázquez Cruz reflected on the moment; “I asked myself, where was this student hiding? It was a totally different person, and gifted player, and I became their fan immediately. I learned that I should show some level of engagement in what my students do if I demand from them to engage in class.”
Clara Salinas ‘25, a student of Dr. Vázquez Cruz majoring in Political Science and Spanish, took her first class with him in the winter trimester of her senior year, but they had developed a relationship before that when she visited the Spanish Department. “He was excited for me to enroll and take a class with him,” said Salinas. “He’s not just about the work in class, but also about what the students do outside of the classroom, which I think is amazing because I feel like a lot of professors don’t do that. He really cares about his students.” Vázquez Cruz brainstormed with Salinas on how she could implement Spanish in a political science career and in her daily life outside of class.
Although a professor now, Vázquez Cruz originally intended to pursue a career in chemistry. He studied chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico but switched to music. “I didn’t want to be isolated in a lab; I’m a people person,” he said. Passionate about music, he wrote and composed for a music company, selling his first song, “¡Oh Mama!” about a terminated pregnancy, at the age of 19 that played on local radio stations. “It was weird to listen to my own music in the radio. I had no car, no money but someone was singing my music,” said Vázquez Cruz. Even now, he has a music book within easy reach (and many more sandwiched in his bookshelves) in his office at K and will gladly flip through the pages and sing each part all the way through when bored.
His passion for music never wavered, but he did not want his beloved hobby to turn into a career, fearful that a career in music would dwindle his passion for it. Influenced by his high school teachers’ passion for their work, he switched to studying Spanish Education at the University of Puerto Rico. “I am a teacher not because of what I know but because of what the students teach me,” explained Vázquez Cruz.
“It is obvious that Carlos loves what he does and wants his students to learn and enjoy learning. He is an incredibly dedicated educator, colleague and scholar,” said Cynthia Carosella, professor of Spanish at Kalamazoo College, who started working with Vázquez Cruz two and a half years ago.
Vázquez Cruz’ upbringing greatly influenced his career as a teacher. He is from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, a small rural town surrounded by lush green countryside, rushing cascading waterfalls, and towering mountains. As a child, he played in the forests and fields, ate wild avocados, tomatoes, and passionfruit. His family grew and harvested sugarcane and coffee; the aroma of roasting coffee wafted through the air. “I am the kind of professor that I am because I am still going back to my origins and not forgetting who I am,” said Vázquez Cruz.
He was particularly “marked by the lives of the women I saw,” he said. Watching his sisters experience many injustices of the patriarchy awakened a sensitivity within him, influencing his teaching and literary work to this day. Passionate about storytelling and exploring the many facets of his identity, Vázquez Cruz has published ten books in his lifetime, five of which have won awards. His books include stories, poetry and literary criticism, and each is written in Spanish. They explore the lives of LGBTQ+ and Black people living in Puerto Rico and critique societal behaviors and problems.
His most recent publication, in 2022, Las Siete Partidas, explores themes of his identity such as queerness in the Puerto Rican community, and helped him win a $25,000 award from the Flamboyàn and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundations. His passion for storytelling makes him a meticulous perfectionist. He spent eight years completing a 105-page book, Talón de Brea, a fictional retelling of the years he spent as a Ph.D. and postdoctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Music influences his writing as well. “It has to be artistic; it has to sound. If it doesn’t sound, it won’t go out,” he said. He hears melodies in accents and enhances his sentences with rhyme. He reads his work aloud, paying close attention to how meaning is conveyed through the pronunciation, accents, and rhythm of the prose to “explore the richness of language, specifically, of the Puerto Rican dialect of the Spanish language,” he said.
Vázquez Cruz lets his passion for writing, music, and teaching guide his life. “If the students knew what they mean to me… of course, I hope they don’t,” he joked, playing off the connection, compassion, and time he has for his students.
“You will always be my students, no matter if the class ends, no matter if the term ends, no matter if the year ends, until you graduate, you’re gonna be my student,” Vasquez Cruz said, “and you better find a great job because I am going to be there and once I see you I’m gonna say give me a discount.”
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