Emily Lodmer

Professor

“It’s so gratifying when students come back years later to tell you about their successes in a career or a profession.”

“I was studying Mexican art history in Mexico,” recalls Emily Lodmer. “So I got to discover Frida Kahlo a long time before everyone else did.” But that experience also gave Emily certain insights into international students who come to SMC to study and are often away from home for the first time.

“I’ve been an international student myself,” says Emily. “So I can feel for what they’re going through. But we have some very qualified ESL teachers at SMC who really delight in their students’ special problems. And I think we’re sensitive to the fact that it’s difficult for international students to make friends with Americans on a very deep level.”

Emily has taught full-time at SMC since 1979 and has watched the full spectrum of humanity arrive on campus during those years. “It’s amazing what I learn about the world in my classroom,” she says. “I always know where there’s a revolution and when a country’s economy is strong enough to allow parents to send their kids studying abroad.” But she measures her true success as a teacher by the success of her students. “One student went on to form his own real estate firm,” recalls Emily. “And years later, it was wonderful when he came back and told me that all the English he’d learned at SMC had enabled him to succeed.”

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