Today our faculty spotlight is on Linda Porto!

Q: How long have you been teaching at Greenlawn?
A: I started here when it began in 1981 and since then I’ve also taught at the other two campuses.

Q: Do you have a favorite Trinity story?
A: When we were renting space for the first year in South Bend it was so crowded the students had to fold up their chairs to shut the door to the room. Then they could unfold them and sit for class!

This happens every year in algebra class. I do a lesson on the slope intercept form of an equation. When the girls notice that an equation contains all of the information you need to draw a graph, there’s often an audible gasp in the room as they see this relationship between algebra and geometry.

Another thing I really love is when I put the ninth grade boys together in Latin to translate in pairs. I overhear them disagreeing with each other on how best to translate something. They take it seriously; they are teaching each other and they do a good job!

Q: What are you reading right now?

A: During Lent often I go on a fiction fast. I’m reading a collection of essays by Roger Angell called This Old Man: All In Pieces. I’ve enjoyed reading his reflections on all the writers he's known. His stepfather was E.B. White of Charlotte’s Web fame and his mother was also an editor. I recently finished When Breath Becomes Air about a brain surgeon who gets lung cancer. I finished Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling about travelling across Britain. He’s very funny, and I tend to like anything that’s British. I like to read British mysteries too. I used to feel guilty about that, but then I met a Notre Dame professor who said that he read about 200 a year! Now I don’t feel so guilty. Other faculty members read them–Marge Connolly, Wendy Baxter, Barbara Koller (now retired)–so when we find a good one we pass the recommendation around.

Q: What's your favorite food?
A: I like everything too much! I like to bake bread, though I don’t do it at much as I used to. I also like to cook for large groups of people if given the recipe. I’m a part of a big family, so I’m used to feeding a lot of people.

Q: What are you listening to?
A: I’m a news junkie; I mostly listen to the news. I think part of my interest comes from living overseas in Grenada. I’m much more interested in what’s going on around the world. On weekends I listen to the opera on WNDU.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: I love to read, of course, and recently I have taken some classes in pastel drawing. I hope to pursue that a little more when I’m more retired than I am now (I’m working part-time).

Q: What do you do to continue learning?
A: I read the New York Times Book Review a lot to find out what's being published. I tend to read history, philosophy and science. Being part of the faculty, even part-time, gives me a chance to take part in the faculty seminars. And I know I’m still learning how to teach.