"Thank you so much for a great semester! I really enjoyed your class, both in person and virtually, and feel that I learned a lot about the Southern Cone and the Dirty War. It was clear throughout the semester that you are very passionate about the subject, which helped stimulate my interest and investment in learning the material. I appreciated your availability to meet one-on-one in office hours, and I think my final paper greatly benefited from your guidance. This is likely the last formal Spanish class I will ever take, and I am so glad I ended on this one. I really enjoyed it, and my positive experience is absolutely a testament to your hard work and dedication. I also wanted to thank you for your approach to the class after the transition to online instruction. As a senior, this transition was sudden and heartbreaking. You were one of my only professors who regularly checked in with the class and worked to adjust assignments and deadlines to make the work more manageable. I really appreciated your understanding and compassion. It helped me feel like I could still maintain a high level of performance in the class despite the circumstances, and eased my concerns about dealing with sickness if it may arise. " - Jane Warshaw, Spring 2020
"Thank you so much for always supporting me and being an inspiration for me in the field of Latin American affairs. I have been so fortunate to be able to learn from you for a full year of my Notre Dame experience now! " - Sarah Galbenski, Spring 2020
"Thank you for a great final semester at Notre Dame. You always brought amazing energy to the Zoom classes, which was sorely needed as the reality of the situation for the Class of 2020 set in." - Ben Testani, Spring 2020
"I really enjoyed the semester despite the challenges we all faced together. I feel much more comfortable with the language and feel prepared to experience more of the Spanish-speaking world, and might even study abroad. Thank you!" - Max Forbes, Spring 2020
"This was by far my favorite Spanish class that I have had. I did not really believe it when you said I would get excited about coming to class, but it actually happened! I enjoyed our discussions and appreciation of different literature." - Abby Korn, Spring 2018
"Professor Brix has been a shining light during my year and a half at Notre Dame. Her enthusiasm and commitment to the material taught in the course, Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Culture, imbued a genuine passion in her students. Her teaching style is dynamic and engaging, facilitating discussions that delve deep into the complex works of Hispanic literature. In addition, her range of knowledge spanning from works by Gabriela Mistral to Julio Cortázar left me impressed after every class. After spending a year in Chile through a Fulbright Scholarship, she brings a worldly, thoughtful point of view allowing for a more wholesome analysis of the material. Professor Brix is supremely intelligent and driven with her work inside the classroom setting as well as outside. Her commitment to her thesis research in addition to teaching upper-level Spanish courses is both inspiring and admirable. Professor Brix is always willing to meet outside of class to give personalized extra help and encourage individual learning. I cannot speak highly enough of Professor Brix who unfailingly cultivated my exploration and curiosity in Spanish as well as instilled a passion for learning that will remain with me far beyond the walls of the classroom." - Emily Meara, Spring 2018
"I also wanted to mention briefly that you are by-far the most wonderful Spanish teacher I've had not only at Notre Dame, but since I started taking Spanish in high school. You helped me to see the beauty in the language and the cultures from which it stems and with which it grows. I always felt that you taught from a love of what you do and a love of the students that you teach. This is not something that I always or even often experience, so it struck me as supremely evident in your class. I am so blessed to have had you as an instructor because it was not just the material that you were teaching, but you as a professor and mentor who was always so willing and eager to teach us. [...] I am so grateful for strong and passionate educators like you because I think education is of the utmost importance and we would be lost without our great teachers of the world!" - Emily Normand, Spring 2018
"This past semester, I have had the great delight of being a student in Professor Brix’s Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Cultures course. Professor Brix has been an excellent guide for me and my classmates as we have navigated some of the greatest works of prose, poetry, theatre, and film in Spanish. She is deeply knowledgeable about the historical contexts in which the works were created and sets the scene for each of our class discussions masterfully. I have been exposed to a wider array of time periods, authors, and cultures in this course than in any other Spanish course I’ve taken at Notre Dame. Professor Brix is well organized in all aspects of the course and communicates her expectations to her students clearly. While her expectations are high, she makes herself readily available to work with students individually in order to help them succeed. I feel that both my oral and written skills have greatly improved as a result of our recitations, presentations, literary analyses, and final research driven essay. Professor Brix is approachable, humorous, and has an amiable manner that invites all students into the dialogue. She has fueled my love of the Spanish language, and I applied to study abroad in Chile during my junior year in part due to her immense passion for the country. Simply put, she is a thoughtful and compassionate human being, and I have grown immensely as both a student of Spanish and of the world through her teaching." - Sarah Galbenski, Fall 2018
"I would be remiss if I didn't note how wonderful Professor Brix was throughout the entire situation. It was a great relief to work with someone so understanding, flexible and passionate during such a stressful time personally. Professor Brix sacrificed countless hours outside of class time to get me ahead of schedule prior to my surgery and caught up after it. She was patient, kind and extremely helpful when it came to both learning the material and managing the stresses associated with the surgery. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to pick up material with her help and teaching. Independent of my whole situation, which only serves a further proof, she is a great teacher with a passion for helping students learn and grow both as students and people. She helped me turn a difficult challenge into a great learning experience." - Luke Barrett, Summer 2018
"As my professor in Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Culture, Professor Brix has been attentive to each student and legitimately passionate about the content of the class. She has inspired a curiosity in me that I did not anticipate having, as this is a required class and I was only taking it so that I could have the option of taking less reading-focused classes within the Spanish major. Her creative adjustments of everyday classes serve to maintain my interest as well as my classmates', and her knowledge of and willingness to explore all angles of a text have encouraged a positive attitude toward textual interpretation. After this class with Professor Brix, I would definitely consider more textual analysis classes as electives. Professors like Catherine Brix, ones that are completely honest in their interactions with students both in class and outside of class, are hard to come by." - Liz Reyda, Fall 2018