Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Headlines

Spanish professor
Eduardo Gonzalez-Viana has been an instructor and writer here for quite some time. Growing up in Peru, he went to school and began his career at Peru's National University of Trujillo. In the early 90's he was invited by the University of California, Berkeley to be a visiting professor for a year. After spending his first year there, he was invited to come back for another two years.

During this period of time in Peru there was a dictatorship ruling the country. After experiencing the freedoms that people have in America, he decided he wanted to stay instead of going back to Peru and applied for a position at Western Oregon State College in 1993. Gonzalez has been here ever since being promoted to professor in 1996. He states that the reason why he likes it here is the small size of Western, and he considers Oregon one of the more beautiful places he has ever seen.

As soon as he moved to Monmouth he noticed a "misunderstanding" between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking residents. He saw that it was hard for Mexican and other Spanish-speaking immigrants to assimilate themselves into society so that they could succeed. Because of this he started a program called "Building a Bridge" that aims to make the vast changes that these people experience less difficult.

The program sends his students who are learning Spanish into the households of Spanish-speaking families. Students go into homes and teach the family members various things. They help them with their English, American History, DMV rules and regulations, essentially anything that gives them skills for success. By his own estimation he believes since he started the program in 1993 that over 1,000 locals have benefited from the program. "My mission is to help us get along with each other, and to get along with ourselves," said Gonzalez.

Other than helping local families immerse themselves into American culture, Gonzalez loves to write. He has been writing professionally for a long time and was first published when he was 15. He writes a weekly column that gets published throughout the Americas in nearly 40 different newspapers and periodicals called "Correo de Salem." He has published over 20 books and nearly 400 articles.

He has been recognized in the Latino community as an excellent author. One of his more recent publications called "Los Suenos de America," has been translated into English and is a New York Times bestseller. It was originally published in Spain. The book is an anthology of 20 short stories that includes the accounts of some of his student participants in the Building a Bridge program and also includes some of his own experiences in America.

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