From the newsstand:

This semester, students in two Spanish classes offered by Dr. Graciela Tissera had the opportunity to present their research on literary topics connected to Spanish literature and film. Madison Barbor, Kathleen Fallon, Mauricio Gallegos Leal, Chandler Gilliard, Nariah Haeffner, Alexandra Hitchens, Laura Issel, Rachel Jones, Akim Koutsioukis, Jillian Marlowe, Elle McDermott, Wyatt Meadors, Valerie Peters, Abigail Tiller, Madison Williamson, and Hannah Winnie presented their research in the course ‘Introduction to Hispanic Literary Forms’ (SPAN 3040) offered by Dr. Tissera in the Fall 2019 semester. Students analyzed works by Emilia Pardo Bazán, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Ana María Matute, Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Luis de Góngora, Francisco de Quevedo, José de Espronceda, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Rubén Darío, José Martí, Osvaldo Dragún, and Federico García Lorca to research themes, messages, symbols, and techniques related to narrative, poetry, and drama.

Students in the course ‘New Spanish Fiction’ (SPAN 4010) also presented their research on works by Spanish authors. Students analyzed works by Spanish writers and film directors of international renown: Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Carmen Laforet, Pío Baroja, Carmen Martín Gaite, David Roas, Jesús Fernández Santos, Antonio Hernández, Enrique Urbizu, Isidro Ortiz, David Carreras, and Fernando Trueba. The research presentations focused on male and female psyche, urban legends, perception of justice, conscious and unconscious mind, spiritual worlds, historical memory, and international relations among other topics.

Students taking part in presentations included Victoria Badura, Elena Barraza, Andrew Butterfield, Caroline Calder, Carol Capps, Michael Cox, Anastasia Galasso, Emily Jordan, Steve Kurtz, Michelle Logan, Brenna O’Kelley, Adriana Peralta Bernardino, Hunter Rivers, Layna Shutack, Kelly Waters, Brie Weiss, and Angel Werth.

The Department of Languages hosted the 47^th Annual Declamation Contest on October 19, 2019. This annual poetry recitation contest is an opportunity for middle-school and high-school students from across the region to visit the Clemson campus and show off their foreign-language skills by competing in ASL, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. This year the contest brought together 486 students from 34 middle and high schools from GA, NC, and SC to compete in nine languages, with 13 students competing in multiple languages. All languages taught at Clemson were represented this year.

Students compete with recitations of two poems in their respective languages, both a mandatory selection and a second selection, and are evaluated by a panel of judges comprised of members of the community and Clemson faculty and staff. The contests are followed by an awards ceremony in Tillman Hall.

The Declamation Contest also offers the students and their families the opportunity to take a campus tour. This year, approximately 40 students braved the rain and participated in the campus tours.

The Department of Languages is grateful for the hard work of the faculty, staff, and student and community volunteers that make this event a continued success, especially the Declamation Committee of Su-I Chen, Amy Sawyer, Melva Persico, Anne Salces y Nedeo, Julia Schmidt, and Debra Williamson. This year, 21 faculty and 44 members of the community served as judges. The Department of Languages is grateful for the continued support of donors Dr. Rob Roy McGregor, Jr. and Dr. Ralph Rynes and the Dean’s Office of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

On Thursday, October 17, representatives from the Department of Languages and College of Arts and Humanities participated in Language Day at Pelion High School in Lexington, SC.  Language Day, which is in its second year, is an informational event held at Pelion High School in Lexington, SC in which high school students can learn about the benefits of studying languages as well as learn about the programs and classes offered at Clemson University.

This year, 240 high school students from Lexington and Richland Counties had the opportunity to interact with students, faculty, and alumni from the Department of Languages and CAAH as well as visit activity and information tables about each language represented. The event also featured an information panel comprised of three current Clemson students, Chloe Finley, Chloe Satzger, and Claire Campbell, and a graduate of the LAIB German program, Zeb Parsons.

Representing the Department of Languages were Lee Ferrell, Julia Harvey, Kenneth Widgren, José Ortiz, Ling Rao, and Kumiko Saito, along with current and former students Chloe Satzger, Chloe Finley, Sarah McErlean, Lauren Guthre, Rachael Risinger, Claire Campbell, John Ruzzi, Montae Dean, and Zeb Parsons. Representatives from CAAH included Cari Brooks, Carolyn Crist, and Paul Hyde.

The Fall of the Iron Curtain film and event series will continue on Tuesday, October 22nd with “Dancing in the Death Strip: How Techno Reunited Germany”, a presentation by the Department of Languages’ own Harris King.

Organized by Gabriela Stoicea together with three faculty members from the Department of English (Aga Skrodzka, Kati Beck, and Lucian Ghita), the Fall of the Iron Curtain film and event series commemorates 30 years since the Fall of the Iron Curtain. The series includes screenings of five films from countries that used to be part of the Eastern Bloc (Hungary, Poland, Romania, East Germany), as well as presentations, lectures, and a workshop.

The series kicked off on October 1st with a screening of the Hungarian film “The Exam” (Dir. Péter Bergendy, Hungary, 2011), followed by screenings of the films “Goodbye, Lenin!” (Dir. Wolfgang Becker, Germany, 2004) and “Cold War” (Dir. Paweł Pawlikowski, Poland, 2018). Also included earlier this month were a lecture and a workshop by film scholar Katarzyna Marciniak from Ohio University. The series runs through Wednesday, November 6th, so be sure to mark your calendars for the upcoming events in late October and early November. All films are shown with English subtitles and are introduced by Clemson faculty.

Upcoming Events in the Fall of the Iron Curtain Series:

Tuesday, October 22^nd

“Dancing in the Death Strip: How Techno Reunited Germany”

6:00-9:00 PM (ASC 118)

Harris King (Dept. of Languages, Clemson University)

Tuesday, October 29^th

The Paper Will Be Blue

(Dir. Radu Muntean, Romania, 2006)

6:00–9:00 PM (ASC 118)

Introduced by Lucian Ghita (Dept. of English, Clemson University)

Wednesday, November 6^th

The Lives of Others

(Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany, 2006)

6:00-9:00 PM (ASC 118)

Introduced by Gabriela Stoicea (Dept. of Languages, Clemson University)

Following these events, a thematic display will go up in Cooper Library highlighting some of the materials on this topic that are in the Library’s collection. Various genres will be represented: history, autobiography, fiction, children’s/young adult, and films. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the topic can stop by the display in November and check out some of these materials.

The series is generously sponsored by the Department of Languages, the World Cinema Program, the Department of History, RCID, and the Humanities Hub. All events are free and open to the public.

Raquel Anido, assistant professor of Spanish, was promoted to associate professor with tenure.

Su-I Chen, senior lecturer of Chinese, presented at the Chinese Language Teachers’ Association (CLTA) Annual Conference in Seattle, April 5-7, 2019. She and her collaborators presented a roundtable session entitled “Understand Cultural Pluralism Through Differential Instructions on Movies.” They used three movies (Wolf Totem 狼图腾, On Happiness Road 幸福路上, and Our Shining Days 闪光少女) to share the teaching results/proposals for different levels and different classroom settings to introduce a diversity of cultures presented in the films. Chen shared her teaching of the cultures in Wolf Totem in her CHIN3060 class in the Spring 2019 semester at Clemson.

On January 14, together with Salvador Oropesa, Lee Ferrell, senior lecturer of German, presented the characteristics and nuances of the Clemson Language and International Trade program to students of the MA Seminar of Culture and Identity led by Professor Wilfried Dreyer at the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule in Regensburg, state of Bavaria in Germany.

Harris King, lecturer of German, was promoted to senior lecturer.

Kumiko Saito, assistant professor of Japanese, presented her paper “Mapping the History of the Future: Politics of Enlightenment in Translated Works of Science Fiction in Meiji Era Japan” on January 20 at the Southeast Regional Conference of the Association for Asian Studies in Memphis, Tennessee.

Eric Touya, professor of French, published Simone de Beauvoir: le combat au féminin. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2019.

Faculty Bookshelf: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/departments/languages/academics/faculty-research.html

From Clemson World Magazine:

August 30, 2019 by Paul Hyde

When two Clemson faculty members decided to host a coffee get-together for the local Deaf community in Greenville, little did they know that 300 people would show up.

Starbucks wasn’t prepared either. “They only scheduled one signing barista, and he was swamped,” said Jason Hurdich, a lecturer in the Clemson Department of Languages.

Signing Starbucks-Greenville has become a lively monthly gathering since the first event in January. “People have come from all over South Carolina, plus North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida,” said William “Bo” Clements, also a lecturer in the Department of Languages. “I’m sure there are more than just these states.”

Hurdich and Clements are two of four Deaf faculty members in the American Sign Language program at Clemson.

Clemson is the only four-year public institution in South Carolina that recognizes and offers ASL as world language credit. Students can earn a bachelor’s degree in ASL or minor in the program, which is part of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

Public coffee chats for the Deaf community are held throughout the nation, but Hurdich and Clements believe the monthly Greenville gathering has immediately catapulted to the largest in the country. “Most Deaf coffee chats across the nation attract between 20-70 people, and we were surprised but glad to see so many members of the community,” Hurdich said by email.

Hurdich and Clements knew the Upstate had a sizable Deaf community, but social opportunities, particularly for those in small towns, are limited. “There are very few opportunities for us to meet,” Hurdich said. “The Deaf community tends to be isolated from mainstreamed settings.”

The two looked around for an appropriate location and found a relatively new Starbucks on Laurens Road. “It was a perfect place with bright light and plenty of tables and chairs,” Clements said.

Starbucks has a particularly strong commitment to the Deaf community, having opened a “Signing Store” last fall in Washington, D.C., where every employee is proficient in ASL, Hurdich said. The Laurens Road Starbucks, meanwhile, regularly schedules up to four signing baristas on Signing Starbucks nights.

Attendance at the monthly meeting has declined somewhat due to the summer holidays, but Hurdich said he expected the numbers to climb back up to 300 in the fall.

At Signing Starbucks get-togethers, ASL chats are not so different from conversations by the hearing community, with topics touching on “work, family, sports, churches and universities,” Clements said.

But members of the Deaf community also share information to help each other navigate the challenges they face, said Hurdich, who earned the nickname “Rockstar” as a prominent ASL interpreter for Gov. Nikki Haley during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

“We thrive on sharing information since we miss out on incidental information,” he said. “Think of all the talking that happens throughout the day, and imagine how that information is missing for a Deaf person.

“With the isolation of the Deaf community, having the opportunity together to share topics is important,” Hurdich added. “Most commonly we discuss community happenings, quality of interpreting services, even technology that impacts the Deaf community.”

Often in attendance also are the hearing children of Deaf parents. “It is their opportunity to connect with other children in similar circumstances,” Hurdich said. “[It’s] a great way to share, so it’s wonderful to see that!” 

Kumiko Saito, assistant professor of Japanese, visited Kansai University’s International Plaza and Institute for Innovative Global Education (IIGE) on June 11, 2019 to discuss plans for Kansai and Clemson’s new collaborative endeavor in international virtual and physical exchange. Her trip was made possible thanks to a Global Learning Seed Grant awarded by Clemson’s Office of Global Engagement. Kansai University is a private university located in Osaka, Japan.

Saito will teach a new course on business and Japan starting in the Fall 2019 semester in which 6-8 weeks of virtual exchange, known as COIL (collaborative online international learning), will be embedded. During the COIL period, students will collaborate online with students at Kansai University to learn about Japanese business and management through hands-on experiences.

Students who wish to expand this virtual exchange to on-site experiential learning in Japan will be able to participate in “Clemson in Japan,” a new short-term summer program at Kansai University which Saito will start in Summer 2020. This summer program, open to all Clemson students, will include an intensive Japanese course and optional internship in Japan. Students who enroll in the COIL course in Fall 19 and participate in the summer program in 2020 will be awarded a JASSO scholarship, which pays approximately $800/month toward expenses in Japan thanks to IIGE’s support.

IIGE also reported the news on their website.

Jason Hurdich, lecturer of ASL, was an honorary guest at May River High School’s Class of 2019 graduation in Bluffton, South Carolina. He served as the interpreter of the ceremony and met Deaf student Rodney Nunez, one of May River’s graduating seniors.

Hurdich was featured in a local news article. Beaufort County School District’s YouTube channel also uploaded the following video about Hurdich’s visit:

$500,000 gift to spark new global learning opportunities at Clemson

CLEMSON – The efforts of Clemson University to increase opportunities for students and faculty to engage globally continue to move forward with the creation of a $250,000 endowment and a $250,000 fund thanks to a donation from the Michael W. Schwehr family of The Woodlands, Texas.

The gift will create the Schwehr Family Global Service Learning Annual and Schwehr Family Global Service Learning Endowment, both of which will support service-learning, research and engagement in under-resourced communities.

“The generous gift will not only make a lasting impact on the Clemson community but will allow faculty to expand the use of service learning models and open opportunities outside of the traditional study abroad locations,” said Sharon Nagy, associate provost of Global Engagement at Clemson. “Faculty and students will positively impact communities while addressing many of the challenges faced by societies today. Students will be able to do their part to change the world while being changed themselves by the experience.”

The Schwehr Family Global Service Learning Annual will be used immediately to support student and faculty opportunities in developing countries. It will provide annual competitive seed-funding grants to faculty for the development of new Global Service Learning programs. The first call for proposals will be announced in August 2019 and will be reviewed and awarded by the Council for Global Engagement for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Once fully funded, The Schwehr Family Global Service Learning Endowment will provide financial support to programs designed for students from any of the colleges.

Submitted proposals will be reviewed by the Office of Global Engagement and funding will be awarded to selected proposals for service-learning projects and international program development for students in under-resourced communities worldwide.

“We’re blessed to be able to help others in the Clemson family participate in missions at locations of need around the world,” said Schwehr. “Hopefully, with this early contribution, others will join me and my family in this great opportunity to help others”

Global service learning is not new at Clemson. Whether through courses, Creative Inquiryand student organizations, Clemson students, faculty and staff are solving problems and serving communities in Tanzania, India, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru, Guatemala and Dominica. These initiatives include bioengineering students working with low-resourced communities to find affordable solutions to health care challenges; agriculture faculty engaging around the world to develop drought-resistant crops and technologies to improve food security; engineers addressing water quality; and the School of Nursing’s Global Health Certificate, for which students address health-delivery systems in Peru.

“It is an honor to receive this gift from the Schwehr family. Having spent time in his career working and raising his family abroad, Mike recognizes the importance of preparing students for meaningful lives and careers in our globalized world,” said Nagy. “The Schwehr family’s commitment and altruism are evident in the careful thought they put into the ideas of global service learning. Their gift will give in ways we can hardly imagine today.

The $500,000 gift was made by Schwehr family members Michael William ’81, Linda Pogue, Laurel Michelle and Victoria Leigh ’16.

Michael W. Schwehr graduated from Clemson with a degree in mechanical engineering. After Clemson, he went to ExxonMobil, where his career spanned more than 35 years. During his time there he served in various assignments, including refining, products supply, retail marketing, environmental remediation and real estate. He traveled and lived abroad on numerous occasions and his work led him to Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

Schwehr’s daughter, Victoria Leigh, graduated from Clemson with a degree in language and international trade. As an undergraduate she studied and worked abroad in Paris, France. After graduation she joined Amazon in Louisville, Kentucky, and later progressed to AeroTek, a prominent national staffing and placement firm.