Room to dream: Collaborative research culminates in trip to Cuba

By Catherine Nelson

Last January, an eclectic group of travelers set off to Havana, Cuba through a humanitarian non-profit organization. Among them were the co-founder of the non-profit, a nurse, an administrator, a Cuban-American trying to get back to see his family, and a young man going back to visit a girl he met while studying in Cuba.

And then there were two Nebraskans. Me, a professor of Spanish, and my student, Gwen Plouzek (’18), a biochemistry and Spanish major.

Gwen and I were traveling to Cuba on an NWU Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant to study the successes and complexities of the Cuban healthcare system. But, ultimately, I was there because of Gwen. This research project was her vision, cultivated through a number of transformative liberal arts experiences.

Gwen’s interest in Cuban culture was born out of a scholarship essay she wrote, in which she compared the conditions in Cuba to the Langston Hughes’ poem, “A Dream Deferred.” She argued that Cuba’s ultimately failed promise of social equality had given the population “little room to dream.”

Her curiosity grew in my Spanish Composition class. My classes are designed to encourage interdisciplinary learning. I want my students to write about what is meaningful to them, and to use language to pursue their calling. This personalized focus and student-faculty interaction wouldn’t be possible without the small class sizes here at Wesleyan.

For her composition paper, Gwen combined her interest in Cuban society with her stellar Spanish language abilities and the research skills she had acquired as a biochemistry major. We then developed it into a full collaborative research project, applied for an NWU research grant, and traveled to Cuba four months later.

The title of the project was The Delivery of High-Quality Healthcare in a Low-Tech, High-Touch Society. Research showed that Cuba not only holds the highest life expectancy in its geographic region, but also places in the top third in the world. Gwen set out to observe and analyze the Cuban system’s low-tech, high-touch medical approach, characterized by limited access to modern technology and greater focus on personal interaction with patients. An essential element of the project was considering our role in the philanthropic endeavor. How do we go into underserved areas and truly collaborate—not just gain something for ourselves (in this case, research)—in a culturally-sensitive way?

What we learned went far beyond the Cuban healthcare system. We experienced Cuban culture firsthand (at a time before the U.S. trade embargo was lifted). We interacted with a fascinating group of individuals, all traveling to Cuba together with different motivating factors, yet to achieve a common goal. And we had to adjust some aspects of our project based on unexpected cultural conditions and political realities, giving Gwen the opportunity to problem-solve and adapt her research methods.

Gwen has taken these lessons and is running with them in a variety of contexts. She’s doing innovative scientific research and fine-tuning her language skills, she spent the summer doing philanthropic work in Thailand, and she just won the Network Globally, Act Locally entrepreneurship competition for co-developing a date-rape drug detector. Her NWU experience truly epitomizes a liberal arts education.

Maybe I’m starting to sound like a proud parent. I feel like one. But here’s the amazing part—as extraordinary as Gwen is, she’s not alone. My students regularly explore different cultures and perspectives. They study everything from the sciences to the arts and the humanities, and use what they’re learning across disciplines to answer universal questions and solve universal problems. With my students I have gone to Bolivia to study quinoa and food insecurity, Chile for transitional justice, Costa Rica for literary translation, and Spain for conflict resolution. Each of these students was prepared for unique research due to their liberal arts education.

Each NWU journey may take a different path, but the hallmarks of a liberal arts education touch all students. Today, more than ever, the world needs the liberal arts. It needs people like Gwen and it needs the people who generously support them.

That is why I have been giving back to the university every year for the last ten years. I understand that tuition only covers a fraction of the full NWU experience. We need to work together to keep our class sizes small, to strengthen our scholarship support, and to continue to offer every student outstanding learning opportunities.

Gwen recently told me that, before coming to Wesleyan, she couldn’t have possibly dreamed that she’d have accomplished all she has in only two years. Now, she feels like there are no limits to what she can accomplish. That is what an NWU education does. It gives our students “room to dream.”

Dr. Catherine Nelson is the Chair of Modern Languages and Associate Professor of Spanish, as well as the Co-Director of National and International Prestige Scholarships.