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Professor Jorge Ruffinelli speaks about Michael Predmore:

MIKE PREDMORE, SALUD!

My first day at èצӰ�� thirty years ago I went to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese to meet an administrator. A man was sitting in a corner, waiting for the same person. He introduced himself as Michael Predmore from Seattle. I replied, “I’m Jorge Ruffinelli from Uruguay and Mexico,” and that was the beginning of our long friendship.

Thanks to Mike, I learned what it means to be a good department chair. One of his greatest qualities is the great human decency and care that he shows to all. While serving as the department chair for six years, Mike understood that a department is not only formed by faculty but also by students, causing him to become one of the best department chairs in thirty years. He devotes most of his time to these students by mentoring them, helping them to solve their problems, reading their papers and dissertations, and advising their careers.

To quote an evaluation from a graduate student: “Dr. Predmore is one of the most knowledgeable and engaging professors I have encountered during my years at èצӰ��. He loves Spain and its literature and it comes across in his lectures. He is also an extremely considerate and kind professor with students, because he truly cares if they are learning or not.”

Mike is the world expert on the Nobel Prize poet Juan Ramon Jimenez, and Antonio Machado. Once in Spain, I visited Jimenez's home and noticed a book written by Predmore, very well exposed for visitors to see. I asked the guide if he had had the opportunity to meet the author of the book in person, and he talked about Mike with great admiration.

At that moment, I was proud of being Mike’s colleague. Now I am proud of having being his friend all these years. He is retiring from teaching, but not from scholarship. The current president of my country, Pepe Mujica, defines happiness as having the time to do what you like most. I believe that Michael Predmore will dedicate his time to continue talking with Machado, Jiménez, and lately Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. Mike is a Peninsularist, a Latinamericanist, but most importantly, he is one of us.

Jorge Ruffinelli