Believing that all students have the capacity to succeed in both the classroom and in life, Michael Ugarte is committed to ensuring that students be provided with the optimal opportunity to achieve their maximum potential.
Ugarte’s commitment to his students’ intellectual growth is readily apparent in the creative and innovative courses he has developed, and the care he takes in mentoring those who pursue individual programs of study under his direction.
Equally popular among undergraduate and graduate students, he is one of the department’s most sought after dissertation directors. His fluency in both Spanish and English makes him an invaluable model in courses designed for majors and minors, but he doesn’t shy away from offering courses for nonmajors as well. He has designed and taught large lecture general education courses on Spanish civilization and offered a number of courses for the Honors College and the Peace Studies Program of which he was chair from 1992–1995.
Ugarte holds the title of Catherine Paine Middlebush Professor of Romance Languages, which recognizes his teaching and scholarly achievements. Most of his published research focuses on issues related to 20th-century Spanish Peninsular literature; however, his interest has expanded to include the literature of Equatorial Guinea, Spain’s only colony in Africa. In this capacity he worked closely with exiled writer Donato Ndongo Bidyogo. Through Ugarte’s efforts, MU was able to secure a three-year appointment for Donato as a writer-in-residence. To make Donato’s work more accessible to the English-speaking world, Ugarte took on the task of translating one of Donato’s early novels into English.