Though far from her original home of Argentina, Claudia Wakefield, Assistant Professor of Spanish is giving students at UAS the skills to learn another language and appreciate different cultures.

“When I was in Argentina I was considered Asian, when I was in Japan I was half European, and here I’m Hispanic,” Wakefield said who was born to a Japanese father and an Italian mother in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

While growing up her father owned a dry cleaning business and her mother was a stay at home mom, taking care of her and her two older brothers.

Wakefield stated that growing up in Argentina is a lot different from the U.S. with one of the main differences being the Italian influence and closeness of the families.

 “In Argentina you are so close not just to your immediate family, but all the relatives. With such a big Italian influence, about 80% of the people are Italian descendants, the family gets together every Sunday, the food is Italian, many traditions and even the accents are Italian,” Wakefield said.

At the age of 19, Wakefield lived in Tokyo, Japan for a short time before returning to Argentina. While back in Argentina, Wakefield attended the Universidad de Buenos Aires were she earned her Juris Doctor, specializing in civil law.

In Argentina, where public education is free, Wakefield explains that everybody has the same opportunities to receive an education as long as they do the work.

Wakefield went to law school with Antonio de la Rúa, son of Argentinean president Fernando de la Rúa at that time.

“Nobody else is going to get a better education because they have deeper pockets. He

 (Antonio de la Rúa) would just arrive with his chauffeur and his bodyguards outside the classroom and I would take the train for 25 cents and we were receiving the same education,” Wakefield explained.

Tired of working 6 to 7 days a week and 12 hours days as a new graduate out of law school Wakefield decided to leave Argentina and come to Juneau in 2000 following her desire to take a year off to see a bit of the world.

 Wakefield had a friend who lived in Juneau who persuaded her to come but she was also drawn in by the fact that it was so different from Argentina. “I found it so exotic and different than 13 million people in a city,” Wakefield said.

Though she loves the simplicity and safety of Juneau after living in a city as large as Buenos Aires, Wakefield is not a fan of Juneau weather. “It drives me crazy, the rain. Hate the rain, hate the cold, hate the ice,” Wakefield said.

Wakefield attended classes at UAS, starting out as a student worker before becoming an Admissions Coordinator on campus.

It was in one of her political science classes that Wakefield met her fellow classmate and eventual husband Jeremy Wakefield.

The couple was married not once, not twice, but three times! They married once in Brazil and twice in Juneau in order to accommodate family members.

In 2003, Wakefield and her husband lived in Ecuador for a period of time while conducting research on the Tsachila tribe that lives in the Ecuadorian jungle. The research was primarily due to their personal interest in the tribe, as well as an independent study in anthropology.

Wakefield has since earned the full-time position as a Spanish professor at UAS, after teaching as an adjunct professor. Her husband currently works as an apartment building manager as well as a bartender at the Red Dog Saloon in downtown Juneau. Together they have 22 month-old son, Tiago.

Wakefield enjoys teaching at UAS, and in particular enjoys her students.

“I love when they (students) tell me, ‘You know what, I went to Valentine’s this weekend and I ordered my breakfast in Spanish and they understood me,’ or ‘Oh, I finally get the commercial from Taco Bell.’ Things like that. When they use what they learn in class in the outside world and they make it work,” Wakefield said.

With millions of Spanish speakers in the U.S., Wakefield feels that it is important for students to learn other languages. “I think it’s really becoming essential to be bilingual, not only for work opportunities, but also to understand other cultures,” Wakefield said.

Though she has accomplished a lot in her life, Wakefield and her family had to overcome some cultural difficulties along the way. In Argentina, they were considered part of the minority due to her father being Asian and in Japan their mixed race was frowned upon by the community.

Wakefield feels that her father and husband have been the most influential people in her personal life and have helped her to pursue her goals.

“My father is such a strong, intelligent person and went through so much in his life, war, migration, and economic crisis in Argentina, and he’s still strong. My husband because he’s a crazy dreamer, and I love that about him,” Wakefield said.

Wakefield also was greatly impacted by Clive Thomas, a political science professor at UAS. Wakefield took many of his classes and felt that he always pushed her to be better.

Wakefield plans to teach at UAS for one more year and then continue her education in the fall of 2009, when she plans to pursue a PhD in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Hawaii.