(Posted January 9, 2017)

Henry Thurston-Grisword has taken contingents of students, faculty and staff to Guatemala.
File photo
Henry Thurston-Grisword has taken contingents of students, faculty and staff to Guatemala.
File photo

will speak about his involvement in the educational mission of Asturias Academy, a private, nonprofit school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science.

            The lecture is free and open to the public. Juniata’s Bookend Lecture Series offers monthly lectures during the academic year from faculty at the college.

            Thurston-Griswold first traveled to Guatemala in 1990. In his lecture “Paying It Back and Forward through Education in Guatemala,” he will cover the mission and vision of the academy as envisioned by its founder, Jorge Chojolán. The school provides a transformative education that its founders hope will empower students to rebuild their communities and promote equality throughout the country.

            Since 2002, Thurston Griswold has led frequent educational and medical delegations to the school, often during summer or spring breaks. These delegations include Juniata students, faculty and staff, as well as interested professionals from surrounding communities. He also will outline the lessons learned from the college’s most recent educational project for Juniata students, an interdisciplinary colloquium, “Spanish and Service Learning in Guatemala,” which was offered for the first time during the spring and summer of 2016.

Thurston-Griswold started his career at Juniata in 1992. He came to the college as an assistant professor from Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Va., where he taught from 1990 to 1992. He received his undergraduate education at the State University of New York -- Cortland, graduating in 1981. He went on to earn his master’s degree in 1983, and doctorate in 1989, both from the University of Texas at Austin.

Thurston-Griswold continues to publish papers and essays, particularly in his area of specialization, Spanish and Spanish-American literature. He has published articles in the Hispanic Review, Cincinnati Romance Review, Romance Quarterly and the Spanish publication Dactylus. More recently, he has presented workshops on how to weave Hispanic music into classroom lessons to integrate language and cultural knowledge.

He is a member of the Modern Languages Association, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portugese, and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. He was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and was named full professor in 2000. He serves as chairman of the Department of World Languages and Cultures and has taught courses in contemporary Spanish-American narratives and myth and magic realism. He is co-adviser of the Spanish Club.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.