Spanish Faculty

Full-Time Faculty of the Spanish Program

Associate Professor Alex Idavoy
Email: aidavoy@brookdalecc.edu
Office Phone: 732-224-2008
Larrison Hall (LAH), Room 232
Languages and ESL Department
Humanities Institute
Brookdale Community College

Biographical Statement: Idavoy has been a full-time faculty member in the Language Department since 2000. During his tenure at Brookdale, he has developed the department’s online Spanish courses. A self-proclaimed geek, Idavoy incorporates technology, especially film, into his teaching. He curated a foreign film series on and off campus for over ten years. “My goal is to expose the greater Brookdale community to alternative forms of storytelling. Learning about the foreign helps us better understand the familiar.”

Of his experience as a first-generation college student, he shares, “My parents never learned English. So, I have a real understanding of the challenges first-generation students face navigating college both academically and – for those with similar immigrant backgrounds – culturally. My parents fortunately instilled in me an unshakeable pride in my Cuban heritage and the Spanish language. Sharing that experience and enthusiasm with my Brookdale students of all backgrounds is the most rewarding part of my nearly 25 years here!”

Idavoy first worked at Brookdale from 1987 to 1990 as both a Learning Assistant and Adjunct Instructor of Spanish, English as a Second Language (ESL), and Developmental Writing. He tutored writing at Brookdale’s site in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In the 1990’s, he taught bilingual elementary school in Cartagena, Colombia, studied for his master’s in Madrid, and taught Spanish, ESL, and Latin American Literature for several local colleges, including: Brooklyn College (CUNY); College of Staten Island (CUNY); Fordham University; Hudson Community College; Language Immersion Institute; New York University

He was recently invited to adjunct teach Violence and Resistance in Latin America at New Jersey City University in Jersey City.

Idavoy earned a B.A. in 1985 in Comparative Literature from Drew University. An an Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) scholar there, he designed a major to include his areas of interest: Spanish, English, and Classics.

He received his master’s degree in Spanish from Middlebury College in 1996, focusing on contemporary Latin American literature.

Idavoy is developing his creative thesis for a Doctorate in Letters (D.Litt.) in Writing from Drew University. His creative work in both languages focuses on his layered experience as the only American-born son of Cuban political refugees. He was raised in Northern New Jersey’s Hudson County, a place he believes is accurately called, “Havana on the Hudson”!

Courses taught at Brookdale:

• SPAN 101: Elementary Spanish I
• SPAN 102: Elementary Spanish II
• SPAN 203: Intermediate Spanish I
• SPAN 204: Intermediate Spanish II
• SPAN 207: Advanced Conversation and Composition
• SPAN 215: Contemporary Latin American Literature
• SPAN 216: Spanish for Native and Near Native Speakers

Selected Publications:

• High School Spanish Review. 1st ed., The Princeton Review, 2000.
• “Keepin’ it Reel: Incorporating Authentic Audio Visual in the Foreign Language Classroom.” McGraw Hill Midcareer Fellowship Review, Princeton University, 2012-2013.
• “My Cuban Cinderella,” The Caribbean Writer, ed. Erika J. Smilowitz, Caribbean Research Institute, University of Virgin Islands, St. Croix, VI, Vol. 4, 1990, pp 23. https://ufdc.ufl.edu/aa00032523/00004
• “¡A Cuba! ¿Tú esta’ loco?” 1st prize, Spanish short story contest sponsored by APUNE (Asociación de programas universitarios norteamericanos en España), 1995.

Interests: Communicative Language Teaching, Heritage Language Education, Instructional Design and Technology, Latin American History, Psychological Effects of Immigration and Exile, Foreign Film, Travel, Creative Writing, Taino culture, Yoga