International Professor Stories: Meet Dr. Fierros

It is a pleasure for the Global Ambassadors to share the story of Professor Gustavo Fierros Torres. Professor Fierros teaches here at DU in the College of Art, Humanities and Social Science (CAHSS). He was born in Mexico City in Mexico and, like us, he came to the US initially as an international student.
He is a proud father of two bright kids and he enjoys nature and biking. Besides that, he dedicates himself to his passion for arts, music, cinema, books, philosophy, and creativity during his free time.

Professor Fierros moved to the United States in 2001 to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. After his studies were over, he traveled for a year through South America and Europe. He moved to Denver to start teaching at the University of Denver in 2007.

In Denver, he says you must visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. According to Professor Fierros, it is remarkable because it is the perfect mix of art, music and social place. He also considers Denver to be friendly and open compared to all the places he has lived.

Professor Fierros shared some important knowledge that he teaches his students: “I try to encourage students to talk about other countries, as sometimes there is a trend to obliterate or ignore that we all have our point of view. We, as Americans, tend to naturalize and map the world as our point of view as if that is the only point of view.”
A great reminder is that countries might have different cultures within themselves, so we should not generalize our pre-concepts. For example, he mentioned Mexico: “Mexico is big and there are different types of culture within the country. South and North are different from each other.”

Professor Fierros recommended movies from Mexican directors Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu (specially the movie Babel) and Alfonso Cuarón (director from the movie Roma, which won multiple awards). In regards to music, he recommends listening to singer Natalia Lafourcade.

We conclude with Professor Fierros advice to incoming students (but we should all add this to our lives): “try to be patient, do not rush your way into the social mapping. Be flexible, try to learn, be tolerant. Take your time to adjust to the culture.”

It was an absolute pleasure to talk with Professor Fierros and we hope you all enjoy his wisdom as much as we did! Let us your thoughts in the comments!