Professor Tatsuya Fukushima ttraveled with University of Arkansas students to Japan during the Summer Session, 2008. Students met with President Kazunori Matsui of Kanto Gakuin University.
Students also attended a special joint study session with Japanese students at Kanto Gakuin, and Dr. Fukushima gaev a lecture to about 50 people including students, faculty, and local high school English teachers.
A LOOK BACK ON THE DEPARTMENT 2006-2007
One of the most significant changes that the Department has been preparing for is the opening of the Center for World Languages, Literatures and Cultures located in the new J.B. Hunt Building. This new facility will serve as a focal point for the integration of world languages and cultures throughout the University. The Center will help build second language proficiency in addition to increasing the awareness and understanding of world cultures through the use of state-of-the-art multimedia technologies.
Drs. Kathy Comfort and Joan Turner traveled to four benchmark institutions to view the latest technology and its use in preparation for the opening of the Center for World Languages. On the first trip, they visited Michigan State University where they learned about the CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research) and CLEAR (Center for Language Education and Research). Plans are now underway in a collaboration of the School of Business and the Foreign Language Department to have members of the CLEAR team visit the University of Arkansas to provide two workshops for the faculty. The first would provide information on creating and teaching language for special purposes courses. These courses combine content knowledge and foreign languages and have such titles as Business French, German for Engineers and Spanish for Agriculture. The second workshop would be a presentation on how technology can be used to enhance the teaching of literature.
Drs. Comfort and Turner also traveled to Houston where they were able to speak with faculty at both Rice University and the University of Houston. At Rice they learned how a well-staffed language learning center can provide support for faculty so that they are able to utilize the technological resources available for foreign language learning today. Next, at the University of Texas at Austin, Drs. Comfort and Turner visited the CIBER, whose mission is to increase study abroad opportunities for students, and also met with Dr. Orlando Kelm, who has established several language for special purposes courses in Spanish.
During the Spring 2007 semester, Dr. Linda Jones was on OCDA conducting research for a project entitled “The Diary of a French Soldier during the French and Chickasaw War of 1739-1740. Dr. Steve Bell applied for and was granted an OCDA for the Fall semester of 2007. He worked on the project, “Fiction of the Trans/American Imaginary: Latino American Literary Markets and Geographies in the Age of Globalization.” Dr. Daniel Levine will be on leave in Spring ’08. His project is entitled “Bare Feet in Ancient Greek Literature, Culture, and Art: Meanings of the Barefoot-Shod Dichotomy.”
During the Spring OCDA of Dr. Jones, the Department hired Ms. Amalie Holland to serve as her replacement. Ms. Holland has subsequently been hired to serve as Assistant Lab Director. She will spend 40 hours/week in the lab, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Center for World Languages and to be available to assist faculty and students with technical difficulties with the many forms of equipment used in the department as well as to assist the faculty with instructional technology development.
The Department also spent the past year engaged in a project that united all the separate language groups: the production of a video highlighting the importance of foreign languages in careers. Interviews took place in a gym, antique store, church and a doctor’s office, to name just a few locales. Members of the faculty participating in this project were: Nancy Arenberg, Lori Bernard (committee chair), Kathleen Condray, Jim Davis, Paula Haydar, Daniel Levine, Heather Mendoza, Alex Pappas, Sergio Villalobos, and Amalie Holland (Assistant Language Lab Director). The video is located on the Department’s home page.
On July 1, Joan F. Turner, Associate Professor of Spanish, became Chair of the Department after the completion of Dr. Kay Pritchett’s three-year term. Dr. Turner had served as Vice-Chair of the Department during Dr. Pritchett’s term. Dr. Turner’s goals as chair are to promote the University’s goals of diversity and globalization; to continue the growth of the major languages and to increase the offerings in the lesser taught languages; and to do her utmost to support the faculty in their teaching, research and service.
Three faculty members received tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor: Drs. Kathy Comfort (French) , Tatsuya Fukushima (Japanese) and Reina Ruiz (Spanish).
Dr. Steve Bell received the 2007 Fulbright College Master Advisor Award. Dr. Bell advises students in Spanish and Latin American Studies. Dr. Kathleen Condray was selected as one of the Fulbright College Master Teachers for 2007. She joins 10 other Departmental colleagues, past and present, who have been elected to the ranks of recognized Master Teachers. Dr. Judith Ricker was inducted into the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy. Dr. David Fredrick received the 2006 Teacher of the Year award from the Student Alumni Board/Associated Student Government at the University of Arkansas. Ms. Jenny Xu, instructor of Chinese, was recognized as a finalist for the Imhoff Award of Outstanding Teaching and Student Mentorship at the annual University of Arkansas Teaching Academy banquet on November 2, 2006.
Baum Teaching grants were awarded to two members of the faculty. Dr. Adnan Haydar, the principal investigator (with Arabic instructor, Paula Haydar) received $4,000 and a supplement from the MEST program for the project entitled, “Creation of an Eastern Dialect Companion to an Arabic Textbook.” Dr. Reina Ruiz received $4,000 to be used to develop a 3-credit class on Spanish Theater Profuction. As a result of the grant, she was able to stage the play, “Los empenos de una casa/The house of Trials by Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz.
The Department was proud to note that so many of its majors were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. These 17 students are: Sarah Brutesco (Classical Studies); Andrew Westbrook, Chris McNamara, Sara Yell, Elizabeth Wilson, Michael Ward (French); Jennifer Roller, Kevin Byram, Rebecca Tate (German); and Cari Bogulski, Elisabeth Cantwell, Jessica Fay, Megan Harris, Matthew Jewell, Jamie Kern, Leslie Crain,Theresa Warner (Spanish).
This year faculty helped draw up the requirements for a new doctoral program in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. The degree is suitable for those who have attained a Master of Arts Degree in Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Communication, Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish or other languages, or a Master of Fine Arts in Translation. In the new Cultural Studies concentration students will choose an area such as gender studies, popular and mass culture, ethnic studies, international film or visual cultures, a geographical region, a historical or cultural period, or a particular discipline, i.e. Philosophy. The addition of the Cultural Studies component to the former Comparative Literature Ph.D. will allow for an interdisciplinary Hispanic Studies Concentration.
Four SURF grant proposals from our Department were awarded: “The Unsettling Landscape: An Analysis of Landscape and Anxiety in Classical Myth and in the Garden of the House of Octavious Quartio” (Sarah Brutesco; mentor David Fredrick); “Roman Isis and the Pendulum of Religious Tolerance in the Empire” (Doralyn Jasmine Merced-Ownby; mentor David Fredrick); “Public and Private: Differentiation in Subject Matter of Wall Painting in the Pompeian Domus” (Teryl Hampton; mentor David Fredrick); and “A Translation from the Oeuvre of Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, German Classicist and Philologist” (James R. Covington; mentor Kathleen Condray). Two additional proposals were funded by the Honors College: “’Literary Genius or ‘Nasty Girl’? The Controversy surrounding 2004 Nobel Prize Winner Elfriede Jelinek” (Rebecca Tate; mentor Judith Ricker) and “Building Bridges Between the Latino and Anglo Communities in Northwest Arkansas: Basic Spanish from a Local Perspective in an Audiovisual Medium” (Jamie Kern; mentor Joan Turner).
The Foreign Language Department began offering Swahili classes in Fall 2007. The hiring of Dr. Sabrina Billings (PhD Chicago) represents the first step in achieving our goal of creating a vibrant Swahili language program. This fall, Dr. Billings will teach Elementary Swahili in addition to a class in the Department of Anthropology on Women in Africa. The Department will eventually offer a full slate of beginning- and intermediate-Swahili, providing yet another language by which students can fulfill their foreign language requirement.
Another new course with a diversity focus has been proposed by Drs. Kathy Comfort, Kathleen Condray and Louise Rozier. The three professors received a grant to develop the course entitled “Migrant Experiences in Multicultural Europe.” Through three, 3-week units, each faculty member will lead students in discussions focused on the identity of the inhabitants of France, Germany and Italy. The professors will employ a wide array of teaching materials including realia (items from the target culture), in addition to literary texts, films, music, advertisements and cartoons. Students will learn to analyze primary sources and draw conclusions from the knowledge gained. The course will have an impact on the campus at large since faculty members will host a public showing of one of the films and provide a brief introduction to the subject material to the audience. Undergraduate students will also be encouraged to conduct research with the professors, which will avail them of the possibility of SURF or Honors College funding.
Dr. Kathy Comfort was a member of the organizing committee for the Symposium Planning Committee on Promoting Diversity in General Education that took place on August 9-11, 2006. The participants included faculty and administrators from each of the colleges at the University of Arkansas. The keynote speaker was Debra Humphreys of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.
An established multicultural event in our Department has been a week-long series of cultural activities including a research symposium, film presentations and a foreign language speech contest. Since the languages participating in the events are generally called “less commonly taught” languages, this year’s theme was “Less Commonly Taught, Uncommonly Achieved.” The languages participating were Arabic, Chinese, English as a Second Language, Italian, Japanese and Russian. This is the first year that students from Spring International participated in the events. The week’s series is under the direction of Professor Tatsuya Fukushima and the foreign language faculty of the languages participating.
On April 9 the Undergraduate Research Symposium featured the following student/presenters: Sarah Bares (Italian): “Up Close and Personal Versus on the Tube in a Cube: Cultural Differences Affecting News Consumption in Italy and the United States”; Allison Ivey (Japanese): “The Cultural Significance of Japan’s Capital Cities-Nara, Kyoto, and Tokyo”; and Devon Tucker (Russian): “Spitting Distance: The Kuril Islands in the Broader Context of Northeast Asian Politics.” From April 10-12, the series “Films from Abroad” took place. The films included: “L’Ultimo Bacio” (Italian), “Eat, Drink, Men and Women” (Chinese), “Night Watch” (Russian), and “Shall We Dance?” (Japanese).
On Friday, April 13, the individual speech contests took place in the Leflar Law Center. Following a reception, students and their guests were welcomed by Dr. Joan Turner, Chair of the Foreign Language Department and Dr. Don Bobbitt, Dean of Fulbright College. Music was provided by students from the Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian programs. A total of 82 students gave recitations in elementary, intermediate and advanced divisions
In October the Foreign Language Department co-sponsored the following talk: “Indigenous People of the American Film Screening ‘Mined to Death,’” by Dr. Regina Harrison, Professor of Spanish and Quechua culture at the University of Maryland. Throughout the year, the Department also sponsored many films and talks presented by expert commentators: the Chilean film, “El Chacotero Sentimental” was followed by the lecture, “Transition to Democrary and Moral Openness” by Dr. Sergio Villalobos; the American film, “Spanglish” was followed by a lecture given by Dr. Lori Bernard; the Chilean film, “Historias de Fútbol” was followed by a lecture, “Everyday Popular Narratives” given by Dr. Sergio Villalobos; the American film, “Stand and Deliver” was followed by a lecture given by Dr. Luis Fernando Restrepo; “Memory and Violence: Visual Arts in Chile” with a lecture by Dr. Sergio Villalobos; the Argentine movie, “Nine Queens with a lecturre, “Crime as Justice” given by Dr. Sergio Villalobos and the Chilean movie, “El Niki: caluga o menta” with a lecture, “The Usual Forgotten” by Dr. Sergio Villalobos. At the Hispanic Heritage Month Brown-Bag Lecture Series, Mr. Greg Buchanan, a graduate student in Spanish, gave a talk entitled “Trends in Latino Music.”
Dr. Joan Turner has instituted the teaching portfolio as the final project for her section of FLAN 5063. Students will receive instruction on creating a portfolio and then will be guided in adding to the dossier such documents as a teaching philosophy, sample lesson plans, exams, culture projects, and evaluations.
STUDY ABROAD
Many students in the Arabic program are studying abroad in such far-reaching places as the American University in Cairo, the Universityof Jordan and Yarmouk University in Jordan.
Classics students traveled to Greece with Drs. Daniel Levine and George Paulson. Students attended several pre-trip meetings in order to become familiar with the culture of Greece and to prepare for giving reports on site. The four-week trip focused on works and sites relevant to the history and culture of Greece. Seventeen students attended this program.
In addition to its program in Chicoutimi, Quebec, the French section has created a new program in Besançon, France. Besançon is an ideal location for our program because it is a city of 150,000, located near Switzerland with a relatively small number of English speakers. Students take classes at the Centre de Linguistique Appliquée, which is an internationally renowned institution for the teaching of French language and culture. Students live with host families to further immerse themselves in French culture. The group is led by French faculty members Kathy Comfort and Jim Davis. An impressive 16 students participated in the program in its very first year.
In order to make the transition from American to French culture as smooth as possible, Dr. Davis conducted an intensive pre-departure workshop for participants. He received his training for this workshop at a seminar on cross-cultural training, which he attended at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota. During the University of Arkansas workshop, students obtained and discussed information on such topics as strategies for efficient language learning in an immersion context, current social and political issues in France, and sensitivity to new cultures.
The French section continues to support its program in Chicoutimi, Quebec. This year, three students attended the program. Students in the German program, who studied abroad in AY 2006-07, traveled to Regensburg, Graz, Luneburg, Salzburg, and Heidelberg. During the summer of 2006, students studied in Munich, Holzkirchen, Salzburg and Luneburg. For more information, please see Part III.
Four German students applied for internships in the Daad-RISE Program. The recipients were: Jeffrey Rieske (Engineering) and Andrew Kincannon (Chemical Engineering).
The Spanish study abroad program continues to thrive in Cuernavaca. The summer program includes an optional community service/volunteer opportunity in which several of our students enrolled. 21 Spanish students traveled to Mexico, 49 to Spain, 13 to Costa Rica and 9 to other Hispanic countries. In addition, two students traveled to Brazil.
Finally, 10 of our students studied abroad in Italy and 4 in Austria.
ARABIC
Arabic professors, Adnan Haydar and Paula Haydar, completed the first phase of the project funded by the grant mentioned above. Texts for the thirty scenes have been written and edited, contacts have been established and actors have been hired to perform the scenes on site in Lebanon, and plans involving help from the Foreign Language Lab Director, Linda Jones have been put in place. When complete, the project will provide Arabic students with important and useful materials to facilitate learning the spoken Arabic of the Levant region. The materials produced by the project are also under consideration by Georgetown University Press for possible incorporation into future editions of al-Kitab, the standard Arabic language curriculum series used throughout the United States and in study abroad programs around the world.
Under the supervision of the Arabic professors, Manal al-Natour developed and taught a new course, Arabic Conversation FLAN 398. The course focuses on a variety of situational vocabulary and expressions with scenes taking place in such everyday locations as the street, the barber shop, the café, the doctor’s office and many more. The students will begin by using rehearsed dialogues that they will expand into real conversation.
Ms. Paula Haydar received an “Apple Award for Teaching Excellence” sponsored by the Student Alumni Board after being nominated by her students.
Dr. Adnan Haydar gave the keynote address at the Beirut International Conference on Khalil Hawi and the Development of Modern Arabic Poetry. His talk was entitled: “Hawi’s Place in the Modern Poetic Movement.”
Ms. Paula Haydar developed and taught an elementary Arabic courses for the National Guard attended by Arkansas military personnel assigned to serve in Iraq and schedule to leave in February 2007. The course was held for 15 weeks between October and March.
CLASSICS
Dr. Alexandra Pappas (Ph.D. Wisconsin) joined the department in Fall 2006, bringing the number of full-time Classical Studies faculty to three. Dr. Pappas was named the state vice president of the National Classics Organization. She is now the Arkansas representative of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Dr. Pappas also published a book chapter and delivered two papers, one at an international conference and the other at a national conference. Dr. Pappas was also awarded a Robert C. and Sandra Connor Endowed Faculty Fellowship for summer 2007. Dr. Pappas organized a museum-quality exhibition and opening in Old Main’s 5th-floor gallery: “Parties, Poetry, and Pots: The Ancient Greek Symposium,” which runs from April 2007 through January 2008. The exhibition displays ancient Greek pottery from the University of Arkansas Museum Collections and was created out of student research and work in the Honors Colloquium, CLST 4003H, which she taught in Spring 2007.
Dr. Pappas received a certificate for her participation in the OUR CAMPUS training sessions sponsored by Just Communities of Northwest Arkansas. The purpose of the workshop is to increase individual awareness of issues relating to differences among members of the campus community and to encourage participants to become agents of change in creating a more welcoming University of Arkansas and community. Topics included race, gender, sexual orientation, class and age.
Dr. David Fredrick was named the 2006 “Teacher of the Year” by the Student Alumni Board/Associated Student Government of the University. In summer 2006, Dr. Fredrick served as the director of the University’s Study Abroad Program in Italy. During the 2006-2007 academic year, he was the mentor for 3 funded SURF awards (See Part I) and 2 Ph.D. dissertations in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies.
Dr. Daniel Levine received a “Certificate of Faculty Appreciation” from the Student Alumni Board/Associated Student Government in recognition for his dedication to the University and its students. He was the director of the University’s Summer Study Abroad Program in Greece.
Dr. David Fredrick received an Honors College Colloquium Development Award in the amount of $25,000 for a 2-semester sequence entitled “Visualizing the Roman City.” He will collaborate with Tim de Noble (ARCH), Jackson Cothren (Geosciences) and Fred Limp (CAST). The project involves transforming 3D and photogrammetric data from the Roman port city of Ostia into virtual reconstructions of the buildings. His chapter, “Titus Androgynous: Foul Mouths and Troubled Masculinity” was accepted for publication and will appear in Celluloid Classics, a special issue of the journal, (Johns Hopkins). The editor of the project is L. K. Day and the 28 ms. pages will appear in the spring of 2008.
Dr. David Fredrick served as the Arkansas state vice-president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South until mid-year.
Classical Studies Professor Daniel Levine was elected to the Committee on the Summer Sessions of the American School of Classical studies ast Athens for a four-year term (2007-2011). He will review applications for the competitive program. He was also appointed “Senior Associate member” of the American School of Classical Studies for the Spring 2008 semester where he will spend his ODCA. In addition Dr. Levine was appointed to the Committee on Development for the classical Association of the Middle West and South as it sets forth on planning a major fund raising project. In 2006-2007 Dr. Levine created and evaluated the Greek Examinations for the Maureen Dallas Watkins Translation Competition (Eta Sigma Phi national competition).
FRENCH
Dr. Hope Christiansen was appointed for the fifth year to the post of review editor for the largest rubric (Literary History and Criticism) of the primary journal for French studies, French Review. Her work involves a number of responsibilities, not the least of which is the editing of 120 reviews per year. Her name and that of her institution are featured on the front cover of each of the six issues of the journal published every year, thus drawing the attention of a wide readership to the University of Arkansas.
The French section, with the support of Le Service du livre de l’Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis and la Délégation génerale de l’Alliance francaise de Paris aux Etats-Unis, the Department of Foreign Languages, and Les Tutoyeurs (French Club) hosted the Algerian novelist Yasmina Khadra on May 3-5, 2007. This visit was part of the Synérgie Program, sponsored by the French Embassy, that brings French and Francophone writers to tour universities in the U.S. Many of Khadra’s novels focus on the issue of Islamist influence in Algeria, a topic that is obviously timely and of keen interest to many in our University community. Other stops on Khadra’s tour included the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU. Khadra discussed his work and answered questions from the audience on May 3, then continued the discussion the next day at lunch with graduate students in French. Dr. Kathy Comfort organized the events of his stay here.
Dr. Comfort gave two presentations: “Recovered Memory in Patrick Modiano’s Accident Nocturne” at the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900 and “Lazare des Tziganes: Rebirth in Mato Masimoff’s La Septième fille” at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. Dr. Comfort also received a grant from the University’s Office of Institutional Diversity. For more information, please see Part I.
Dr. Jim Davis was a co-presenter with Dr. Linda Jones of “How Do Learners of French Comprehend Written, Aural and Aural/Visual Texts?” at the CALICO conference in San Marcos, Texas.
Dr. Raymond Eichmann gave a luncheon address entitled “The Spectacular Machine in Old French Drama” at the Medieval and Renaissance Forum held at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He also spoke there on “Performance Dimensions to the Jeu d’Adam: Contexts, Character Interpretations.”
Dr. Kathy Comfort was a member of the organizing committee for a Symposium on Diversity, which focused on integrating a diversity component to the University Core Requirements.She read background materials on diversity and curriculum change, helped to select the keynote speaker, put together a schedule for a 3-day event, researched locations for the symposium and helped to choose participants and members of a faculty panel.
Dr. Linda Jones served as the secretary of the Faculty Senate, the Campus Faculty and the Campus Council. She was also the Cohort Leader of the 2006 New Graduate Student Orientation and prepared a lecture on mentors and advisors and advised incoming graduate students.
GERMAN
The German program has appointed Dr. Jennifer Hoyer (Ph.D. Minnesota) as Assistant Professor of German to replace Dr. Todd Hanlin upon his retirement at the close of the Spring 2007 semester. Dr. Hoyer is coming to the University of Arkansas from the University of California-Riverside with extensive teaching experience and an established research record.
Dr. Kathleen Condray received the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award. In addition to her teaching duties and responsibilities as coordinator/supervisor of the intermediate language program, she received a University Outstanding Mentor Award for her work with Fulbright teaching applications to Germany and RISE applicants. One of her students received SURF funding for his honors thesis.
Dr. Judith Ricker was inducted into the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy. She advised more than 80 undergraduate German students as well as students interested in study abroad and honors, directed a Ph.D. dissertation and mentored 3 Fulbright recipients. She redesigned the Business German course and the course on Lyric poetry. Three of her students received significant research awards from the Honors College and SILO/SURF.
Dr. Kathleen Condray gave a presentation at the ACTFL conference.
Dr.Todd Hanlin gave an invited lecture on the translation of exiled Austrian authors during the 1930s at an international conference in Vienna in December of 2007.
The German Program once again hosted a statewide workshop for the Arkansas chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German. Sponsored by Drs. Condray and Ricker, the three-day pedagogical workshop (13-15 April 2007) featured a guest presenter, Ms. Angelika Becker of West Lafayette, Indiana, Jr./Sr. High School. Drs. Condray and Ricker were entirely responsible for arranging all funding, accommodations, receptions, and events.
Dr. Kathleen Condray attended the National Presidents’ Assembly of the AATG at the national conference, represented the state’s German teachers on the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association board, again served our outreach efforts to German teachers throughout the state with her work as President and as Testing Chair for the Arkansas-AATG and with her development and administration of the first chapter website; in addition she served as a judge for the regional AFLTA foreign language competition in Rogers in February 2006. Dr. Condray’s lecture on “The Secret Germans: Examples of Afro-German History and Culture,” was presented at the Multicultural Center at the University of Arkansas (February 2006).
Dr. Todd Hanlin evaluated a colleague at Syracuse University for promotion to full professor, while completing his service on significant University committees. He chaired the German program review in addition to his duties as section head.
Dr. Judith Ricker was also a reader for AP testing under the aegis of the ETS/College Board. In addition, she was an invited participant at the German Cultural Center’s 3-day pedagogical workshops in Atlanta, at Ohio State University and Georgia Tech. She administered the Goethe Institute’s international proficiency testing for the region.
ITALIAN
Dr. Louise Rozier presented two papers: “From the Family to the Cloister: Women’s Images in Paola Masino’s Fiction” at the AAIS/AATI Convention in Genoa, Italy; and “Una Parola che vola’ and ‘Il nobile gallo’: Paola Masino’s Voice in the Collective Experience of World War II” at ACTFL in Nashville.
JAPANESE
The Government of Japan has selected 3 students in the Japanese Program for the Japan English Teaching Program (JET Program). It is worthy of note that 3 out of the 8 JET Program participants from Arkansas were selected from the University of Arkansas program. Jessica (BA 2005) and Dylan Presley (BA 2005) are a rare case of a coucple jointly admitted to the JET Program. The Presleys began their service as JET participants in Yamagata Prefecture in Fall 2006. The program, which is conducted jointly by Japanese government ministries, local authorities and contracting organizations, will place its participants in host institutions in Japan and to work for one year as Assistant Language Teachers. The Yamagata Prefecture has been so pleased with their outstanding service that it appointed Dylan as one of the four prefectural advisors for Yagamata and Jessica as treasurer for Yamagata Prefecture AJET for the next academic year.
Dr. Tatsuya Fukushima assisted the Consulate-General of Japan at New Orleans and The Japan Foundation in organizing the cultural event series entitled “The World of Kimono” in November of 2006. The Japanese Program was privileged to welcome Japanese delegates led by Mr. Minoru Matsumoto, Japan’s top kimono specialist who was once in charge of the kabuki costume for the late Danjuro Ichikawa Xi (one of the greatest Kabuki actors in the 20th Century).
Dr. Fukushima published the book, Ga: Japanese Conjunction—Its Functions and Sociolinguistic Implications.
Dr. Fukushima traveled to two Japanese universities to facilitate exchange programs with the United States. In July 2006 Dr. Fukushima traveled to Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japan, to discuss the type of student that would be most appropriate as a participant in the reciprocal student exchange program. Immediately after his visit, Dr. Fukushima visited Shimane University by invitation from Vice President Katsumi Takayasu. There he helped officials understand the U.S. college system to facilitate their selection of future participants in the reciprocal study abroad program. Dr. Fukushima also met with Ms. Hiromi Nakasono, an instructor of Japanese at the Faculty of Law and Literature, to discuss ways to revitalize the reciprocal student exchange.
Dr. Fukushima also traveled with Dean Don Bobbitt and Professor Ka Zeng from Political Science in March 2007 to Chengdu, China, and visited Szechuan University. Fulbright College is currently seeking to form a partnership with a Chinese university and the University of Arkansas delegation met with officials at Szechuan University to discuss this possibility.
SPANISH
The Spanish section hired Dr. Oscar Perea Rodriguez as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He will replace Dr. Lori Bernard, who resigned at the end of the Spring semester to take a job at SUNY-Geneseo. Dr. Perea received his doctorate from the University Complutense of Madrid.
Dr. Sergio Villalobos of the Spanish section prepared a Latin American Studies Colloquium, “Visual Arts in Latin America. Dr. Reina Ruiz, also of the Spanish section, offered a special course on Spanish Play Production in the Spring semester. Further information on these and other projects can be found in Part II.
On April 20, 2007, Drs. Reina Ruiz and Luis Fernando Restrepo traveled to Springdale High School to speak with teachers and students in order to better articulate the Spanish offerings for Native and Heritage speakers at the University. The professors gave presentations to approximately 60 students.
The Spanish honor society, Sigma Delta Pi sponsored a guest speaker, Steve Sanford, President of the Evangelical Alliance for Immigration Services, who presented a lecture on “My Story: Life in Ecuador.”
Dr. Steve Bell presented a paper, “Trans-American Cartographies for a Future Imperfect: Strategies of Discourse in the Fiction of Sandra Cisneros and Junot Diez” at the 14th Annual Conference on Ibero-American Culture and Society.
Dr. Lori Bernard presented a paper, “Serranas, pastoras and urbanas: Assertive Women in Medieval and Golden Age Texts” at The 41st International Congress of Medieval Studies.
Dr. Kay Pritchett presented a paper at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference entitled “Revision and the Purification of Vision in Pureza Canelo’s Espacio de emoción.”
Dr. Luis Fernando Restrepo received a summer research stipend to work on the project, “The Muisca and Modernity.”
Dr. Reina Ruiz has presented two papers in the past year: “Raptos que dan risa. Las violencias de Feliciana Enríque de Guzmán en la Tragicomedia de los jardines y compos sabeos” at the conference of the Asociación de escritoras de España y las Américas; and “Early Modern Women Subverting Masculine Codes of Violence: The Cases of Isabella Andreini, Elizabeth Cary, and María de Zayas” at the Workshop on Violence for the 2006 Attending to Early Modern Women and Men Conference.
Dr. Joan Turner gave a presentation entitled “Latino Community Murals: Persepctives on Identity” at the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Chicago.
Dr. Sergio Villalobos has a contract for the book, Post-dictaduras: Rupturas y Desazones: el estado actual del debate post-dictatorial en América Latina to be published in 2007. In addition, he presented 4 invited lectures and spoke at 2 professional meetings.
Dr. Sergio Villalobos has been named director of an editorial collection on “Critic of the Culture” with Editorial Metales Pesados in Santiago Chile. He will work with translations, seminar, theoretical and critical books that address contemporary issues.
Dr. Joan Turner served on the search committee to hire a new Dean of Continuing Education/Vice Provost.
