Grácia Liliana Fernández, a twenty-four-year-old bilingual high school and elementary school teacher of Spanish and English from Dexter, Maine and an 1898 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from the University of Maine, was hired by the Apache County School Superintendent in 1900 to teach English to the Spanish-speaking children in the St. Johns, Concho, and El Tule elementary schools.
Grácia met the growing demand for Spanish-speaking teachers to help Mexican children advance in their schooling and progress in their education. Over time, school attendance increased, and Mexican children began to do better under her tutelage. At the annual county teachers’ institutes, Fernández delivered presentations on the importance of bilingual education and her work was recognized by educators and school officials.
Tempe Normal School administrators recognized the promise of bilingual education and realized they must meet the challenge of preparing future teachers to educate Spanish-speaking children in Maricopa County and surrounding regions. In 1906, Tempe Normal School President, Arthur John Matthews initiated a new course of Spanish into the teacher-training curriculum. He appointed Grácia Liliana Fernández as the first Professor of Spanish and the first full-time Librarian of the Tempe Normal School Library.
In 1907, Fernández joined the Faculty of the Tempe Normal School. She created beginning and advanced classes in Spanish and ordered Spanish-language books, literature, newspapers, encyclopedias, and dictionaries for the Tempe Normal School Library and for the students’ use. Tempe Normal School established its importance in training bilingual teachers and met the demand for teachers to enable Spanish-speaking pupils to become successful students. Professor Fernández affirmed for her students the value of bilingualism and reminded them of their value as teachers who contributed to the educational development of the Arizona Territory.
Professor Grácia Liliana Fernández remained at Tempe Normal School until 1912, when she took a new bilingual teaching assignments in New York. Her impact as a bilingual Professor of Spanish at Tempe Normal School and Librarian of the Tempe Normal School Library from 1907 to 1912 in the Arizona Territory became evident each time a bilingual teacher enabled Spanish-speaking children to learn English and become successful students. Professor Grácia Liliana Fernández legitimized Spanish as a major course of study in the history of Tempe Normal School, known today as Arizona State University in Tempe.