Spring Break
Dr. Kagan explains interest in Spain, teaching
Issue date: 9/18/08
Professor Richard Kagan has earned a reputation among students as an enthusiastic and self-labeled "theatrical" professor of History and Romance Languages in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Since he came to Hopkins in 1972, Kagan has authored four books, written and edited numerous articles and taught as a visiting professor and faculty member at eight universities around the world.
The News-Letter talked to Kagan about his academic journey toward becoming a renowned Spanish history expert and how his experiences as a student have influenced his approach to teaching.
Kagan's parents originally migrated to the United States from Russia in 1912. Kagan himself was born and raised in northern New Jersey. His father, a wire manufacturer, urged and expected his two sons to grow up and take over the family business.
It was Kagan's father who, after a business trip to Latin America, originally suggested he take Spanish rather than French or German so that he could help his business tap the growing Latin American market.
As a result, when Kagan began his undergraduate studies at Columbia University, he was one of the few students who chose to study Spanish while pursuing his passion for history.
Kagan credits his interest in history, and more specifically art history, to his frequent visits to museums while studying in New York City as well as to the influence of his mother, an art connoisseur. For Kagan, museums were an extracurricular class, a place to experience culture and "a great place to pick up girls and to have great conversations."
The market for the new field of Spanish history was one of the factors that drove Kagan to continue his studies. He viewed it as "a new frontier of knowledge." Kagan was approached by intellectuals across the spectrum encouraging him to explore the new area of Spanish history.
Convincing his father to support his academic pursuits, however, was a more difficult task. It was not until Kagan's father attended a lecture at the National Gallery of Art that he realized there was a market and commercial basis for what he was pursuing.
The News-Letter talked to Kagan about his academic journey toward becoming a renowned Spanish history expert and how his experiences as a student have influenced his approach to teaching.
Kagan's parents originally migrated to the United States from Russia in 1912. Kagan himself was born and raised in northern New Jersey. His father, a wire manufacturer, urged and expected his two sons to grow up and take over the family business.
It was Kagan's father who, after a business trip to Latin America, originally suggested he take Spanish rather than French or German so that he could help his business tap the growing Latin American market.
As a result, when Kagan began his undergraduate studies at Columbia University, he was one of the few students who chose to study Spanish while pursuing his passion for history.
Kagan credits his interest in history, and more specifically art history, to his frequent visits to museums while studying in New York City as well as to the influence of his mother, an art connoisseur. For Kagan, museums were an extracurricular class, a place to experience culture and "a great place to pick up girls and to have great conversations."
The market for the new field of Spanish history was one of the factors that drove Kagan to continue his studies. He viewed it as "a new frontier of knowledge." Kagan was approached by intellectuals across the spectrum encouraging him to explore the new area of Spanish history.
Convincing his father to support his academic pursuits, however, was a more difficult task. It was not until Kagan's father attended a lecture at the National Gallery of Art that he realized there was a market and commercial basis for what he was pursuing.
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