Spanish Professor Often Mistaken for Student
Longwood welcomes recent graduate Kate Neff to staff
Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: Features
By Mackenzie Hoover
Rotunda Reporter
As I walked into the office for this interview, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Where is the professor?" The woman at the desk looked like someone who would be sitting beside me in Spanish class, not the person in front of the room teaching it. But looks can be deceiving, I soon learned, when she introduced herself to me as Spanish Professor Kate Neff.
Neff graduated from the master's program at the University of Virginia (UVA) earlier this year. Prior to that, she received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Spanish at Grove City College, a small school in northwestern Pennsylvania, close to where she grew up.
So how did Neff end up at Longwood? "It's kind of a funny story," she said. "I was in the master's program at UVA with a girl whose mother is [Director of International Affairs] Lily Goetz, so she let me know that she had given her mother names of all the graduates that year. Longwood actually contacted me."
And she is very glad they did. Neff is finding Longwood - and Farmville - to be the perfect fit. "One thing that I really like about Longwood is that it's small, so there's more of a sense of a community," she said. "I'm well acquainted with small towns...so my first thought on Farmville was, 'well this looks familiar.' And when I got to the campus I was struck by how much it reminded me of my alma mater, Grove City, so that was a pleasant association."
Neff hadn't always intended on becoming a professor. "I thought about translation for a long time…but it seemed more practical to go the academic route because translation is something [I] can always do on the side," she said.
"I have always loved literature, and I knew as soon as I came into college as an undergrad that I wanted to study English. I picked up the Spanish major the first semester I was there," Neff said. "And I didn't particularly want to teach, but I had so many good professors throughout my college career that it started to look a lot more attractive."
Rotunda Reporter
As I walked into the office for this interview, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Where is the professor?" The woman at the desk looked like someone who would be sitting beside me in Spanish class, not the person in front of the room teaching it. But looks can be deceiving, I soon learned, when she introduced herself to me as Spanish Professor Kate Neff.
Neff graduated from the master's program at the University of Virginia (UVA) earlier this year. Prior to that, she received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Spanish at Grove City College, a small school in northwestern Pennsylvania, close to where she grew up.
So how did Neff end up at Longwood? "It's kind of a funny story," she said. "I was in the master's program at UVA with a girl whose mother is [Director of International Affairs] Lily Goetz, so she let me know that she had given her mother names of all the graduates that year. Longwood actually contacted me."
And she is very glad they did. Neff is finding Longwood - and Farmville - to be the perfect fit. "One thing that I really like about Longwood is that it's small, so there's more of a sense of a community," she said. "I'm well acquainted with small towns...so my first thought on Farmville was, 'well this looks familiar.' And when I got to the campus I was struck by how much it reminded me of my alma mater, Grove City, so that was a pleasant association."
Neff hadn't always intended on becoming a professor. "I thought about translation for a long time…but it seemed more practical to go the academic route because translation is something [I] can always do on the side," she said.
"I have always loved literature, and I knew as soon as I came into college as an undergrad that I wanted to study English. I picked up the Spanish major the first semester I was there," Neff said. "And I didn't particularly want to teach, but I had so many good professors throughout my college career that it started to look a lot more attractive."
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