BIOGRAPHY

Nasario García, a native New Mexican, was born in Bernalillo, but grew up in Ojo del Padre (Guadalupe), New Mexico in the Río Puerco valley southeast of Chaco Canyon. Married to Janice Marie Smith, whom he met at the University of Wisconsin, they have two daughters. Raquel Lynne García-Morris is married to Christopher, and Michele Celeste Garcia, who lives in Torino, Italy with her husband Michal Lasak. Nasario currently resides in Santa Fe with his wife, Jan.

EDUCATION

Nasario started school in a one-room schoolhouse in Rincón del Cochino in Ojo del Padre before his family moved to Albuquerque where he attended public schools. Following a two-year stint in the U. S. Army, he enrolled at the University of New Mexico. After earning a BA in Spanish and an MA in Portuguese, he did a year of doctoral work at the University of Granada, Spain. In 1972 he was awarded his Ph. D. in XIX century Spanish literature from the University of Pittsburgh.

ACADEMIC CAREER

Nasario García taught at several universities, including Chatham College in Pittsburgh where he began his teaching career. Throughout his academic career he lectured in this country and abroad: Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Spain. His lectures at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the University of Alcalá de Henares, and the Casa de América in Madrid, dealt with a variety of cultural and linguistic topics linking New Mexico with Spain.

During his career García held several administrative posts, among them assistant vice president of academic and student affairs and dean of arts and sciences, University of Southern Colorado. In 1991 he was elected president of the prestigious American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. A professor emeritus of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Nasario retired from academia in 2001.