Education

M.A., Purdue University
B.A., Fisk University

Biography

Estelle Finley, M.A., is a native of Nashville, Tennessee where she completed elementary and secondary education in the parochial school system. A recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduate with departmental and university honors from Fisk University in Spanish and History, Finley was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society.

She attended graduate school at Purdue University, where she was inducted into the Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society and graduated with a Master of Arts Degree in Spanish Literature. Finley has received further training in Spanish and Education from Georgia State University and Emory University. As a part-time instructor, she joined the foreign language department at Spelman College in spring 1974, and continued with the department full-time in fall 1974 until the present.

Over the past 44 years, Finley has taught on all levels of Spanish, revised, and created courses.  She has also taught FYE and ADW courses at Spelman, traveled with departmental study abroad programs; and has chaired, been a liaison to, or participated in departmental and college self-study committees.

At the College, she has also served as senior adviser to the Mortar Board Honor Society; and as afounder and charter member of the Spelman College Epsilon of Georgia Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, she served as president and treasurer of the campus organization. She also founded the Lambda Nu Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society in the Department of World Languages and Literature.

Courses Taught

Elementary Spanish 101-102
Intermediate Spanish 201-202
Intensive Intermediate Spanish 222H
Spanish 307 (Spanish Composition)
Spanish 309 (Survey of Spanish American Literature)
Spanish 311 (Survey of Spanish Literature)
Spanish 360 (Women of Color)
Spanish 400 (Independent Study)
Spanish 478 (Seminar)
Spanish 485 (Senior Capstone Seminar)
Education 443 (Curriculum and Methods for Teaching in P-12)
ADW 111-112 (African Diaspora and the World)
FYE 101-102 (First Year Experience)

Research Interests

Afro-Hispanic Literature and Culture
Afro-Hispanics in Traditional Spanish and Spanish American Literature and Culture

Publications

Recorder’s Report: “Comments on the Donald Stewart Inaugural All-Day Symposia on the Future of Women’s Liberal Arts Colleges:  Presentation for the Humanities Division:‘Eve  and the Two-Headed Serpent,’ by Barbara Crockett Dease, and ‘Reaffirming the Value of Today’s World in Career Options,’” by Rosalyn Pope Glazerman, Spelman Messenger, Inaugural Issue, November, 1977, p. 40-41.

Translation: La granizada (The Hailstorm), Afro-Hispanic Review, Carlos Truque, May,1984,   p. 25-30.

Abstract: “Faculty Abstracts: ‘Bush-Hewlett Group Grant: Research Approaches to Teaching Spanish 360H: The Universe of the Woman of Color in Afro-Hispanic Literature,’ Crossing Disciplinary Bridges through Faculty Research, Faculty Research Day,” November 10, 2006

Article: “Re-Authenticating the Dialogue among the Disciplines in Liberal Education: Bridging the Gap with Art and Technology,” NYU Faculty Resource Network Publications, 2014

News

Howard and Fisk ΦΒΚ Anniversaries Recall Their Historic Significance, The Key Reporter, Winter 2004, Volume 69, Number 1, p. 1, 4 
http://www.keyreporter.org/Media/Default/PdfArchives/Winter2004.pdf