Dr. Berta Carrasco
Associate Professor of Spanish
Dr. Berta Carrasco teaches all levels of Spanish, including Spanish for Heritage Speakers and Latinos in Holland, a seminar in which students learn from the community by going into the community and participating in various projects. One of Dr. Carrasco’s passions as a professor is to connect students with the community that surrounds Hope, either through service learning opportunities, bringing guests to the classroom or visits to businesses and organizations. Dr. Carrasco feels extremely lucky to be able to teach Hope students about her culture and her native language.
She joined the Hope faculty in 2012.
AREAS OF expertise
Dr. Carrasco’s doctoral studies focused on Spanish women’s writings, particularly the testimony of women who were in prison during the Spanish Civil War. Related to this topic, she likes to research how the change of generations affects the way women define themselves.
She also conducts research on experiential learning, and more specifically on the benefits and limitations of service learning not only for students but also for the community.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., Spanish peninsular literature, Western Michigan University, 2011
- M.A., Spanish literature and cultures, Western Michigan University, 2007
- B.A., English philology, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, 2005
When Dr. Carrasco was in college in Spain, her home country, during her junior year she studied abroad at Kalamazoo College (about an hour south of Hope’s campus), where she also worked as a Spanish conversation lab instructor.
Selected HONORS, GRANTS & AWARDS
- Alumni Award, Western Michigan University, 2025
- “Food Disparities and Food Justice in Greater Holland,” Mellon Foundation Community-Based Project grant, 2020–2023
- Faculty Award, 鶹ý Latino Student Organization, 2020
- “Immigration Stories: The Latino Community at Holland Past and Present,” Mellon Grand Challenges faculty–student research grant, 2019
Published work
- “‘Desde la noche y la niebla’ y ‘Alias Lola; historia de las últimas presas políticas de la cárcel de Ventas’: dos historias de resistencia colectiva femenina en la cárcel franquista de Ventas,” chapter in La identidad en el mundo hispano Igualdades y desigualdades en los siglos XIX, XX y XXI a través de diversos textos, 2019
- “País Íntimo: Identity Formation of a Generation that Inherited the Trauma of the Spanish Civil War,” Michigan Academician, Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, 2018
- “El proceso de literaturización de los primeros yextos de las cárceles femeninas franquistas (1970–1980),” Sincronía. Revista electrónica de Filosofía, Letras y Humanidades, 2018
- , Springer, 2015
Dr. Carrasco has also presented at multiple national and international conferences.
Outside Hope
Things that Dr. Carrasco absolutely loves doing in her free time include reading, traveling, spending time with her family and friends, and watching her kids playing soccer any season of the year.

616.395.7957
carrasco@hope.edu