Lingua Franca

¿Qué pasa? Quoi de neuf? Novità? Department News Abounds (14.1)

The World Languages and Cultures department is excited to announce that enrollments in our courses are at the highest they have been since before 2010. It is wonderful to see such growing interest in language learning!

Last May in the Senior Awards Banquet Salem State recognized the success of 31 graduating or recently graduated seniors. Among those students, two of ours were recognized for outstanding community service: Genesis Perez (B.A. – Spanish) and Lisa Danca (minor – Spanish). Congratulations!

In the summer, our students Ken Powers and Daniel Hyde participated teaching English as a Second Language for a program for teens in Boston. One of our alumni, Kathryn O’Connell was the supervisor of the program.

We have a new German Minor Studies starting fall 2017! It comprises 18 credits, including completion of the intermediate level German language sequence GER 201-202, and four additional elective courses for 12 more credits. Also, the History, Music, and Political Sciences Departments are collaborating with us.

The World Languages Department is working with the International Business program to create a dual degree program with Business and World Languages. We are all very excited about it!

The Italian Club, led by President Thea Miller and her invaluable officers, Treasurer Javier Rodriguez Diaz, new elected Vice President Danielle Fiandaca and Secretary Cody Mulliner, on Wednesday November 16th will host the Pizza and Paint Night. Come at the World Language Lounge in SB 117 from 6pm to 9pm and be ready to be creative and cozy! Plenty of food will be available!

Faculty News

Our faculty was well represented at the 2016 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo on November 17 – 20, held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Michele C. Dávila did a three-hour pre-convention workshop titled “Immerse Yourself in Spanish: Latin American Intercultural Competence in the Global Classroom.” Elizabeth Blood and Louissa Taha Abdelghany presented “Beyond the 3 Ps: Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Competence.” Dr. Abdelghany also presented on teaching Arabic cultures through film. And Nicole Sherf participated in “Promoting the Seal of Biliteracy: The Massachusetts Model of Collaboration.”

Michele C. Dávila presented “Lego: el mundo neo-fantástico maravilloso de Tere Dávila (Lego: The Marvelous Neo-fantastic World of Tere Davila) at the Literatures (A)cross-Cultures Conference in Fresno Pacific University, California, on October 7, 2016.

Kristine Doll continues to publish her original poetry and her translations of Catalan poetry into English, both domestically and internationally. Her most recent publications include “Green” in The Seventh Quarry Poetry Magazine (Swansea, Wales UK, Summer/Autumn 2016:19) and “My Father’s Birds” in Birds: A flight of poems. (Joan Digby, ed. New York: The Feral Press, 2016: 39).

In September 2016, Anna Rocca’s chapter entitled “Nelly Arcan: Women’s Body and What is Left” appeared in the collection The Body in Francophone Literature. Historical, Thematic and Aesthetic Perspectives, edited by El Hadji Malick Ndiaye and Moussa Sow. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. In June 2016, Dr. Rocca attended an international conference at the University of Exeter, in Exeter, UK, dedicated to the politics and creativity of Francophone women in the arts and media. Dr. Rocca proposed, organized and chaired a panel entitled “Women Authors and Tunisia: Social, Artistic and Political Dialogues” and presented new research on Tunisian Héla Ammar’s artwork centered on the prison environment after the 2011 revolution.

Fátima Serra participated in the XXVI Annual Conference of the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica: Crossing Borders/Cruzando Fronteras in Houston, Texas on November 10-12 2016. She chaired a session and presented a paper titled Feminismos/masculinidades en tiempos de crisis: “Cruzando Fronteras: Amaia Salazar, detective eficaz y madre feliz en la trilogía del Baztán de Dolores Redondo”.

Mary-Kay Miller and Anna Rocca in Pennsylvania

In June 2016, Mary-Kay Miller and Anna Rocca participated and presented new research at the 8th international Women in French conference, held at the Gettysburg College, PA. Dr. Rocca proposed, organized and chaired a panel entitled “Africa: Fluid Poetics in Politically Engaged Literature.” While Dr. Miller’s paper was entitled “The Poetry of Development: Senegalese Women’s Voices,” Dr. Rocca analyzed Algerian female writer Sarah Haidar’s noir political novel.

Jon Aske is still spending most of his time working on his Spanish linguistics textbook called Spanish-English Cognates: An Introduction to Spanish Linguistics. After using the textbook in his SPN 750 class in the Spring, he is using it for a second time in SPN 412 this semester. With the help of his students, he is completing revisions to most of the chapters of this 1,600 page, two-volume work. He hopes to have it completed soon. It is already available it free of charge as an open-source e-textbook (http://lrc.salemstate.edu/aske/cognates).

Kenneth Reeds was granted both tenure and promotion at the start of this academic year. He is looking forward to a sabbatical during spring 2017 when he will be working on a project on the Spanish-American War.