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Pardo

COLUMBUS, miss.-- Dr. Amy Pardo will always have a place at The W as a professor emerita of English.

Pardo represents what is best about Mississippi University for Women to Dr. Leslie Stratyner.

For 25 years, Stratyner has seen Pardo’s commitment to superior teaching and ability to use her work to foster a community of peers. To Stratyner, Pardo’s dedication to The W stems from the fact she has spent most of her life developing a connection to The W community.

“She is a light bulb of a woman, always shining,” said Stratyner, a professor of English. “I can’t help but think that The W will be a little dimmer without her.”

Pardo decided to retire from The W after the 2022 spring semester. She was recognized at The W’s Summer Commencement held Friday, July 29 as a professor emerita of English.

“I feel like I had my time to enjoy my career and it is time to let others have their opportunity,” Pardo said. “I am overwhelmed at being honored. What an amazing thing.”

Pardo first came to The W in the summer of 1982 between her junior and senior year of high school. Cathy McCloud Motes, who had served as a youth church leader when she was a student at The W, encouraged Pardo to apply, so she joined the PEP program, a residential program for rising high school seniors to take courses in the summer. Pardo then attended The W from 1983-87 and earned a bachelor’s degree in English. She returned in 1996 as an adjunct instructor before she worked as director of academic support and as an instructor in English. In that time, Pardo grew to love The W and found it was more than just a place to work.

“The W has been my heart,” Pardo said. “Without The W’s support as an undergraduate, I don’t know what would have happened to me, but in no way would I have had the courage to go to graduate school. So many of us alumni hold The W dear for the life it gave us and the early opportunities to excel in a world that accepted us as women.”

Stratyner said Pardo’s love for The W comes through in her teaching. She said Pardo developed a unique ability to temper exacting standards with a real kindness toward her students that showed she was dedicated to their success.

Dr. Kendall Dunkelberg, the chair of the Department of Languages, Literature, & Philosophy, said Pardo has been an integral part of The W for many years in a variety of roles, first in the Humanities Division and then in the Department of Languages, Literature, & Philosophy.

“She has served as mentor to generations of students, teaching composition and American Literature surveys to the general population, serving on the Advising Corps and as Advising fellow and teaching countless sections of UN 101, while also taking on challenging upper-level courses: English Capstone for several years, Literary Theory, Early British Gothic and many popular special topics courses,” Dunkelberg said. “She has also been unflagging in university service, most recently serving as faculty senator.”

Pardo said her students at The W are her fondest memory in part because she was a first-generation college student and she could relate to the fear of going into a college classroom and being under-prepared. She said she always told each class she was a proud W graduate and that she was the first to attend college in her family. 

Pardo’s willingness to mentor her students allowed everyone in her classroom to grow. Early in her career as an instructor, Pardo said she was eager to tell her students everything she knew. She came to realize imparting knowledge is valuable but it also is important to give students the space to think about the literature first. 

“To ask questions, either to me or to themselves, is now my cornerstone in teaching,” said Pardo, who will teach in the fall at the University of Alabama. “I like the relaxed environment of the classroom, the civility of recognizing different ways of learning and interpreting a text.

“I think my students realize my sincerity in teaching them. I treat each student with respect, meeting them with where they are, not where I think they should be. Our students have the right to learn in an environment that imparts agency to them. Simple good manners can go a long way in life.”

One of Pardo’s favorite memories at The W is the Integration/De-Segregation literature class she taught to help commemorate The W’s integration anniversary. She said the class examined literature surrounding civil rights and created a cookbook to demonstrate how one’s life history and racial heritage can combine. The cookbook was based on family recipes, stories and photographs. The class then used recipes from the cookbook to make a meal, which everyone shared and blended their academic knowledge and life experiences.

That class is just one example of how Pardo was a positive influence for countless students and how she developed the confidence to shine even on the darkest days.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2022
Contact: Adam Minichino
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(662) 329-1976