Expanding Horizons: Eduardo Contreras

Eduardo Contreras, Ed.M.’09, used to spend his afternoons learning Hindi in tailor shops, at cricket matches, and on street corners all over the city of Udaipur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Today, the El Paso, Texas, native is still learning, only now as a doctoral candidate in Higher Education at the Ed School.

Contreras, who holds a master’s degree in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Texas (UT), originally wanted to teach about Indian religions. While studying Hindi-Urdu and Sanskrit at UT, he had the opportunity to participate in an 11-week intensive language program in western India that transformed his outlook on education and the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone.

“It really changed the way I thought about learning,” he says. “Before that trip, I had never thought about studying abroad.”

Upon his return to Texas, Contreras immediately wanted other students from similar backgrounds to experience their own international adventures. He landed a job at the UT study abroad office, where he worked as an advisor for undergraduates who wanted to study in Asia and the Middle East. After two years, he began working with faculty to create new study abroad programs all over the world, including in Costa Rica, Spain, China, The Netherlands, India, and Singapore.

In 2005, Contreras and UT colleague Daniel Reyes formed the Study Abroad Student Mentor Program to encourage underrepresented minority undergraduate students to travel internationally.

“Like me, Daniel was a Latino who hadn’t even thought about study abroad as a kid,” Contreras says. “We wanted to introduce this option to more students like us, at an earlier point in their academic lives.”

The program employed enthusiastic student mentors who ultimately created the magazine, Abroadly Speaking, that highlights diverse study abroad opportunities and encourages underrepresented students to incorporate international experiences into their curriculum. As a result of such endeavors, UT currently boasts one of the largest study abroad programs in the nation.

After working in higher education for several years, Contreras decided he wanted a change of pace. With some prodding from his wife, he applied to HGSE’s Higher Education Program.

“I picked that [master’s] program because it looked perfect and it was only one year. If the New England winters were too much for me, I could always go somewhere else!” he says.

Fortunately, he acclimated quickly to the change in setting and ended up loving life in Boston. While he confesses that he misses good Tex-Mex, barbeque, and family, there are definite trade-offs. “In Texas we have two seasons: kind of hot and super hot. Here there are different seasons, and I like that,” he says. “I don’t even mind the winter now that I have a nice coat and boots. Plus, my wife and I love walking everywhere and not having to worry about a car.”

As for the Ed School, Contreras mentions that his favorite aspects are the students and faculty. He especially admires his doctoral cohort peers, who “somehow remain egoless despite their outstanding resumes.” While he adores a number of different faculty members, he admits that his advisor, Professor Julie Reuben, stands out from the crowd. “She is a great advisor, a brilliant scholar, and a wonderful teacher. She really cares about her students and she does a lot for us, while also maintaining her research and all of her many commitments to the school. I’m lucky to work with her.”

Contreras, who recently received a Dean’s Fellowship to conduct research on the historical origins of study abroad in the United States, has been asked to teach a course in the fall at Fisher College in Boston for first-year students. It is designed to ease the transition from high school to college by providing the tools necessary for success through object-centered learning and material history, and it is inspired by a Harvard course taught by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Ivan Gaskell.

In the long term, Contreras plans to keep encouraging students to study abroad, perhaps through a career in teaching. “Whatever I wind up doing, I hope I can continue to work with some of the wonderful people I’ve met here at HGSE.”