Interview with Regina (Gina) Barreca
Date18 July 2025
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 57 Minutes, 39 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Audio file of interview with Gina Barreca. She was interviewed by Samantha Hass on 18 July 2025 in Storrs, Connecticut. (b) Photograph of Gina Barreca provided by Regina Barreca.
Gina Barreca was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Over the course of the interview, Gina breaks down change as a concept and how it has evolved in its definition over the course of her life. When she was a kid, “change” was a term that was synonymous with discomfort and terror. It was something that brought unwelcome disruption. As she got older, Gina recognized that change does not have to be feared; in fact, making changes is what has shaped her life for the better.
In the interview, Gina describes her choice to move into the faculty residences at UConn [University of Connecticut] Storrs and teach there as an English professor as being a significant change that altered the course of her life. Gina had primarily lived in cities and places with accessible transportation prior to this move. At UConn, she quickly realized that her life would be tremendously different than anything she had experienced before. The rural landscape, lack of urban noises, and lack of public transportation were all foreign to her, and initially, she struggled to fall asleep every night and to navigate the surrounding area by bicycle.
Over time, she grew accustomed to the location and made a life for herself on campus. She made connections with countless faculty members, visiting authors, and undergraduate students. Gina has had the opportunity to see the university itself transform over time as well; the school was the catalyst for her own change, and it changed along with her over the course of her years teaching. She notes the many differences in the architecture and the student body, and sees it as evidence that change can most certainly be for the better. Yet, uncertainty for the future also remains, namely because of AI [artificial intelligence] and the impact that it can have on writing, the liberal arts, and humanities. At the age of 68, Gina hopes to teach at UConn for several more years before retiring.
Gina Barreca was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Over the course of the interview, Gina breaks down change as a concept and how it has evolved in its definition over the course of her life. When she was a kid, “change” was a term that was synonymous with discomfort and terror. It was something that brought unwelcome disruption. As she got older, Gina recognized that change does not have to be feared; in fact, making changes is what has shaped her life for the better.
In the interview, Gina describes her choice to move into the faculty residences at UConn [University of Connecticut] Storrs and teach there as an English professor as being a significant change that altered the course of her life. Gina had primarily lived in cities and places with accessible transportation prior to this move. At UConn, she quickly realized that her life would be tremendously different than anything she had experienced before. The rural landscape, lack of urban noises, and lack of public transportation were all foreign to her, and initially, she struggled to fall asleep every night and to navigate the surrounding area by bicycle.
Over time, she grew accustomed to the location and made a life for herself on campus. She made connections with countless faculty members, visiting authors, and undergraduate students. Gina has had the opportunity to see the university itself transform over time as well; the school was the catalyst for her own change, and it changed along with her over the course of her years teaching. She notes the many differences in the architecture and the student body, and sees it as evidence that change can most certainly be for the better. Yet, uncertainty for the future also remains, namely because of AI [artificial intelligence] and the impact that it can have on writing, the liberal arts, and humanities. At the age of 68, Gina hopes to teach at UConn for several more years before retiring.
Object number2024.79.49a-b
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the theme "Redefining Moments of Change." Conneticans share stories of people or events who have changed their lives or how they have sparked change in the lives of others.Cataloging Note: Digitization and access to this collection is supported by a Congressionally Directed grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
Subject Terms
- Storrs
- Oral history
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Family
- Professors
- College students
- College teachers
- Relationships
- Education
- University of Connecticut
- University of Connecticut
- Writing
- Moving, Household
- Languages
- Salaries
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project U.S. Department of Education grant
- Redefining Moments of Change Collection
On View
Not on view
2020 December 31
