Dr. Linda Materna retires after 33 years at Rider

Longtime faculty member Dr. Linda Materna of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures is retiring and making a change from her time abroad as a professor and in the classroom. Her retirement to-do list already includes moving part time to Spain where she has many friends, developing her watercolor artwork, studying and practicing Buddhism, and exploring her new interest in Portugal. 

Materna is a seasoned traveler (she led at least 10 groups of students on faculty-led study abroad programs over the years), and her passion for languages and travel began at an early age. She grew up in Milwaukee, Wis., where in high school she initially chose to study Latin. One day, during her sophomore year of high school, her father, a truck driver, came home with a book in his hand. He said, "I found this Spanish language textbook and I thought you might be interested in it." The book was called El Camino Real, and it featured a picture of Mexico on the cover. It was then that Materna realized the wonders contained in a foreign language. 

Later, while attending Beloit College in Wisconsin, Materna met Spanish Professor Dr. Nancy Neiman, who recognized her student’s passion and facility with languages. Through her mentoring, Materna traveled to Granada, Spain, on a faculty-led semester abroad in fall 1967 and remained, finding a job teaching English in Madrid in the winter of 1968 that satisfied Beloit’s requirement that students design an experiential semester program. Neiman had encouraged her to study abroad, and it was in Granada, and then in Madrid, that Materna found her true passion and vocation. "I recognized then that I had an aptitude and a love of languages and cultures that, along with traveling, have always stayed with me," she says. "That's why I tell my students as Joseph Campbell said: 'Follow your bliss."

Since 1983, when she arrived as an adjunct instructor, Materna's interest in creating exceptional experiences beyond the classroom have impacted the Rider experience for hundreds of students and made an indelible mark on the University. In the late 1990s, she proposed to then Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs Dr. Phyllis Frakt the creation of a university-wide program focused on a common theme. She became the first director of this initiative, the University Theme Program, which linked academics and student life in a freshman experience, theme-related courses and co-curricular activities. Because of her passion for languages and cultures, Materna encouraged her students to study abroad and was instrumental in the creation of the Center for International Education (CIE) in 2008. While chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, she brought the study of Chinese to Rider.

The creation of the CIE came about because of then President Mordechai Rozanski’s vision for international education "I wrote a vision statement for study abroad that I sent to (then) Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs Dr. Don Steven, who sought input for President Rozanski regarding the internationalization of Rider," she says. "It included a faculty-led semester in London, among other ideas. President Rozanski then encouraged me to develop further ideas for studying abroad, international student services and the creation of a Center for International Education." Working with faculty members, the Center offers students dozens of opportunities to study overseas year-round and supports Rider’s significant international student population.

Regarding teaching, she remembers her own earlier fear in the classroom. "I understand how students feel when they're studying a foreign language," she says. "There is a fear as you are learning the words, the meaning. It requires that you grapple with your own sense of self and disorientation. I tell students, 'This is an orchestra. I am the conductor and you are the instruments and we're going to make music.'

"Teaching is a very humbling and enriching vocation," she says. "It's humbling to the extent that you come up against your own demons and prejudices; you make mistakes and you realize that the amount of knowledge is vast and infinite, so it's humbling to grapple with it in a meaningful way. And, ultimately, teaching is also enriching because you are doing something for others."

As she looks forward to retirement, she recalls a quote from Louis Pasteur that has resonated with her over the years. “I have been really lucky, but, as Pasteur said (and I share these words with my students), ‘Fortune favors the prepared mind.’”

In this new path of her life journey, her former students, colleagues and staff wish her the best and most-rewarding of travels.