Melony Martí­nez

• Adjunct Instructor of Spanish
• Masters in Teaching, EKU, Fall 2018
• Masters in Spanish, with Certificate in Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Louisville, 2013

Bio

Contact Information

• Department: Language & Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology
• Office: McCreary Hall, Tower A, Room 115
• Mailing Address: McCreary Hall, Tower A, Room 115
• Email: Melony.Martinez@eku.edu
• Phone: 859-622-2996
• Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 5-6 pm and by appointment
• Web Page: Dept. Languages, Cultures, and Humanities
• Expert Areas: Translation, Interpreting, and Teaching

Bio

Melony Martinez, born in Maine, USAFB, grew up in a small town in Southeastern, Kentucky, then left for Mexico to study as an exchange student on a scholarship her last two years of high school at El Hispano Mexicano and El Potosino in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. She later graduated as a Magna Cum Laude graduate with honors from Midway College with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, International Marketing and a minor in Spanish. In 2013, she received her Master's in Spanish and certification in Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of Louisville. In the fall of 2018, she received her second Master of Arts in Teaching to get her K-12 Teaching Certification.

She has spent thirty-four years working (slaving away) in Kentucky and other parts of the world (Pakistan, Mexico, Canada and anywhere else they send her) in retail management, managing her own businesses, banking and mortgage lending, teaching in middle school, high school, at the university and abroad, and interpreting for the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts and for the Cabinet for Family Services.

After moving to Owensboro, Kentucky and working eight years as an assistant manager at Wal-Mart, she finally decided to try her hand at self-employment for the next seventeen years (Wow, how time flies when you are busy 24/7!) During that time she ran nine different businesses and seven different corporations along with family members. (She had two lovely daughters in the interim as well!) Upon closing her retail store a few years ago, she decided to turn a new leaf in her life and return to school to complete her life-long dream to become a full-time professor. Shortly after she finished her Master’s degree at the University of Louisville, she moved to Richmond, Kentucky where she began teaching Spanish at Eastern Kentucky University as an adjunct professor. She continues working there today as her passion is teaching Spanish.

During the two years of her graduate studies, Melony encountered some tremendous unforeseen obstacles in her life. She has faced severe family illnesses with both her mother and father (both passed away within less than fifteen months of each other), among other personal challenges. Despite all these tribulations, Melony considers herself to be truly blessed with the innate ability to succeed in the areas of her professional career and her educational endeavors with the highest of marks. She is a Dean’s Citation and an Alice Eaves Barnes Award recipient. She is the first ever to receive this distinguished award which she was nominated for by her professors in the Modern Languages Department at the University of Louisville. She is also the first graduate to ever do a final senior project with the approval of the IRB which required surveying human subjects to complete.

She currently resides in Kentucky where she has been for the past six years. Aside from her adjunct teaching position at EKU, she also works at Jackson County High School teaching Spanish. She additionally remains registered as an interpreter for the Cabinet for Family and Health Services.

In her free time (which she rarely ever gets!), she likes to spend every moment possible with her family, especially her two daughters. As she states, “Life is too short not to enjoy the blessings that make memories for a lifetime.”

Favorite Authors

My favorite authors are Isabel Allende, Pablo Coelho, Fecreico Garcia Lorca, and many others.

Courses