About Dr. Long

Bonjour! ¡Hola! Shalom! Guten Tag!
I am a professor of International Studies at Auburn University Montgomery, where I have taught for 8 years. I've also taught at Auburn University main campus, Spring Hill College, Tulane University, The University of Mobile, and The University of South Alabama.
I'm a native of Montgomery, but my dad was in the Air Force, so I had plenty of opportunities as a child to live and travel outside of Alabama. My first "in-country" experience was in England, where I started first grade. I thought I had moved to a country where they didn't speak English! In a way I was right--they certainly didn't speak it as I had heard it all my life. This was also my first experience in culture shock--my brother and I had some American coins in our pockets one day, and we tried to buy candy from a street vendor with it. To our shock and dismay, the man wouldn't take our money!!
I was fortunate, however, that my parents always had a sense of adventure about them, and we learned how to use English money and how to make ourselves understood to the "natives."
Later on in childhood and early adult life, I made a habit of seeking out people from other cultures and attempting to learn their languages and their customs. I got a Masters degree in Hispanic Studies from Auburn University, then a doctorate in Colonial Latin American literature from The Tulane University in New Orleans.