Susan Polansky Retires

Faculty and staff members who recently retired from the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences have made a lasting impact on the university community and their fields. Among them is Susan Polansky, Teaching Professor Emeritus of Hispanic studies and former head of the Department of Modern Languages.

Polansky reflects on what she will remember most about her time at Carnegie Mellon University shares her retirement plans.

Susan Polansky
Teaching Professor Emeritus of Hispanic Studies

“I remember well and continue to be inspired by the remarkable growth of the Department of Modern Languages, cultivated by the enormous efforts of wonderful colleagues and staff, especially Nancy Monda, Vera Lampley, Sue Connelly-Colizza and Marc Siskin, and the leadership of my predecessors Barbara Freed and Dick Tucker and now my successor Anne Lambright.”

Susan Polansky joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon in 1986, when Modern Languages was a small program in the History Department with five full-time faculty. She has played an integral role in the growth of Modern Languages as a department in the college. Polansky served as head of the department from 2007 to 2020, when she resumed her full-time role as teaching professor of Hispanic studies. In retirement, Polansky looks forward to enjoying time with family and friends, good weather in California and continuing with Hispanic Studies, yoga and calligraphy practice.