Professor Malena Charur

Professor Malena Charur is a communication professor at Texas A&M International University. Professor Charur started teaching at TAMIU on 2013 and teaches the following courses; Ethics of Communication, Methods of Inquiry, Communication Theory and Practice, Public Speaking, and Intro to Journalism. She is the mother of four children and one granddaughter aside from being a Professor at TAMIU a mother and a grandmother she is a reporter for Laredo Morning Times and is currently obtaining her PhD in Hispanic Studies.

Professor Charur obtain her bachelors in Tourism from La Universidad Regiomontana in 1984 after twenty-four years, she returned and obtained a Master’s Degree in Communication in 2013. After living in Monterrey for so many years her family decided to move to Laredo, due to the insecurity and it also coincided with her obtaining her Residency in the United States.

The Bridge asked her how she became a part of the TAMIU staff, Charur responded “It’s a funny story, I had been accepted to the Ph. D program in Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M on a scholarship but, I could not accept the offer because I would have to move to College Station and I had just moved to Laredo. Because I rejected the scholarship, they placed me in contact with TAMIU with the Spanish Department but I did not have enough credits in Spanish field but I did have enough credits to teach in the communication department so they recommended me to speak to Dr. Lozano and he gave me the opportunity to teach in the communication field.”

Most of Professor Charur classes are in the morning, after her classes are done she goes and works for Laredo Morning Times in the Spanish-language Edition then she goes back to TAMIU to take her Ph. D courses and then goes home to take care of her family. Professor Charur is truly a remarkable person.

As a Bridge reporter we are asked to cover many events on and off campus and to my surprise I have seen Professor Charur participate in many events even though her schedule might seem harsh to many. She truly is an inspiration to many of her students I remember her telling me after one of her classes “ I encourage you to study a master’s degree you don’t know yet how beautiful it is to conduct a study on so many things. How fulfilling it is to understand why things are and why things change.”

Professor Charur has participated in many studies and collaborated in the book Foreigners in Monterrey, construction of communities and citizen identities published in 2011. The Bridge asked her a final question how has your transition to Laredo been? Charur responded, “I have truly been very happy here and I am closer to my family so I feel truly bless to be in Laredo doing what I love.”  

Special thanks to Diana Arellano for contributing in the interview process.