Tag: Faculty

As we come to the end of another exciting semester, the Department of Languages is excited to share some of the highlights from the Department in Fall 2024.

Inaugural Semester of “Passport” Living and Learning Community

The new student Living and Learning Community (LLC), Passport, has completed the first semester of its inaugural year. Clemson’s Living and Learning Communities give students a way of navigating college life with a cohort of peers with shared interests and goals. An idea spearheaded by Faculty Sponsor and Principal Lecturer Ellory Schmucker (Languages), the Passport LLC brings together first-year students who share an interest in languages to live, learn, and grow together in a diverse, engaging residential community.

This semester, Passport, which is housed in Gressette residence hall, hosted 16 students from an array of diverse backgrounds and academic concentrations with the aim of creating a multilingual residential space for students to immerse themselves in languages and cultures from around the world. Their common interest in languages coupled with their diverse backgrounds and academic interests enable them to experience a supportive and active community eager to learn from and with one another.

Department of Languages Hosts 51^st Annual Poetry Declamation Contest

The Department of Languages hosted the 51^st Annual Poetry Declamation Contest on October 27, 2024.

Begun in 1971, the annual Declamation Contest brings together high school students from schools across South Carolina and Georgia to compete in a poetry recitation in their languages of study. This year, contests were held in eight languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. Students of all levels may take part in the contest, ranging from absolute beginner to native speaker. This year, over 360 students and 26 schools participated in the event.

During the contest, students recited two poems from memory in the target language: a mandatory selection and their choice of a second selection. They were judged by a panel of judges comprised of Department of Languages faculty and guest judges from the community. After the contest, students, teachers, and parents attended an awards ceremony in Daniel Hall during which Dean Vazsonyi and the members of the Declamation committee presented contests winners with their respective medals.

The Declamation Contest is one of the Department of Languages’ longest standing and most exciting traditions. It continues to be a way to give high school language teachers and students a goal to work toward in their classes, as well as to give students a chance to visit and learn about Clemson University in person by taking a campus tour. The event is made possible by the contributions of current and former faculty, student volunteers, and community judges, as well as the hard work of the Declamation committee: Su-I Chen, Lee Ferrell, Stephanie Morris, Amy Sawyer, Julia Schmidt, and Melva Persico.

7^th Annual Day of the Dead Celebration Held on Clemson Campus

The Department of Languages once more participated in the 7^th Annual Day of the Dead celebration on November 1.

Typically observed on November 1 or 2, the Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is a celebration of life originating in Mexico and now celebrated throughout Latin America and the United States. It is a time for friends, family, and community to come together to celebrate and honor the lives and memories of departed loved ones.

Clemson’s Day of the Dead event aims to share the joyous Día de los Muertos traditions with the Clemson community and growing Latino communities throughout the upstate.

Day of the Dead celebrations typically include colorful symbols such as marigolds (cempasúchitles), skeletons (calacas), and altars (ofrendas) where family members can honor departed loved ones with photos and offerings of food and drink. Traditional foods include the bread of the dead (pan de muerto) and sugar skulls (calaveras de azúcar).

As in previous years, this year’s Day of the Dead event featured traditional food trucks, face painting, a mariachi band, an outdoor screening of the film “Coco,” and an elegant “Catrina”, a skeleton in traditional dress.

The Clemson Day of the Dead celebration is organized and sponsored by several departments, organizations, faculty, students, and individuals from across Clemson and the wider Clemson community. The Department of Languages thanks in particular Nora Logue, Arelis Moore, Rosa Pillcurima, Anne Salces y Nedeo, Debra Williamson (Languages) and Jessica Garcia (CAAH) for their invaluable contributions to the event’s organization and success since its inception in 2018.

The Commission on Latino Affairs and Commission on the Black Experience recently held the inaugural Black & Latinx Faculty Writing Retreat, which took place May 18^th – 20^th at the Horse Shoe Farm in Hendersonville, NC.

The three-day retreat, which brought together eighteen faculty participants, was co-organized by Harrison Pinckney, Assistant Professor of PRTM (Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management) and Arelis Moore de Peralta, Associate Professor of Community Health (Languages) and chair of the faculty empowerment for the Commission on Latino Affairs, with the goal of creating a productive, collaborative writing environment where Black and Latinx faculty could share ideas, support one another in the writing process, and participate in three days of focused writing. In addition to allotted focused writing time, the retreat provided opportunities for attendees to share their writing progress and challenges in Quality Review Circles, receive constructive criticism and culturally and contextually relevant feedback from peers, participate in a discussion with representatives from the Provost Office, and attend a panel on effective grant writing.

Along with providing a supportive space for making tangible progress on writing projects, the retreat allowed faculty participants to build a community with a truly unique and encouraging aim. Through events such as a barbeque, games centered on African American culture, and other social gatherings, participants were able to make valuable connections with colleagues which will continue to enhance and enrich their Clemson faculty experience through a new sense of community.

This distinctive and impressive new event is an exciting example of how Clemson University can support growth and community for Black and Latinx faculty while increasing productivity and fostering an encouraging and supportive community. We are thrilled to share these experiences and look forward to future events.

For more information on the Clemson University Commision on Latino Affairs and the Commission on the Black Experience, please see the commissions’ profiles on Clemson University’s Commissions page.

An interdisciplinary colloquium on the invasion of Ukraine will be held from March 30-April 5. The colloquium will consist of conversations, discussions, and film screenings led and presented by faculty from departments across the University. The series includes 7 events and will feature a mix of in-person sessions and Zoom talks.

Schedule of Events:

Wednesday, March 30

100 Hardin Hall, 4:00-6:30 PM

Donbass (2018, dir. Sergi Loznitsa)

Film Teach-In with Steven Marks (History) and Luca Barattoni (Languages)

Friday, April 1

100 Hardin Hall, 4:00-6:30 PM

The Rain Will Never Stop (2020, dir. Alina Gorlova)

Film Teach-In with Maziyar Faridi (English/World Cinema) and Aga Skrodzka (English/World Cinema)

Wednesday, April 6

100 Hardin Hall, 4:00-5:30 PM

Becoming Zelensky: Media, Politics, and Resistance

In conversation with Lucian Ghita (English) and Johannes Schmidt (Languages)

Thursday, April 7

100 Hardin Hall, 5:00-7:30 PM

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965, dir. Sergei Parajanov)

Film Teach-In with Olga Volkova (Languages/World Cinema) and Aga Skrodzka(English/World Cinema)

Tuesday, April 12

100 Hardin Hall, 5:00-7:00 PM

The Earth is Blue as an Orange (2020, dir. Iryna Tsilyk)

Film Teach-In with Jamie Rogers (English) and Gabriela Stoicea (Languages/World Cinema)

Wednesday, April 13

Zoom, 4:00-5:00

Geopolitical Mapping and Ukraine: Using Virtual Reality to Shape Reality

In conversation with William Terry (Geography/World Cinema)

Thursday, April 14

Zoom, 4:00-5:00

Stolen History, Stolen Heritage: Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Russian Colonialism

In conversation with Kate Malaia (Architecture, Mississippi State) and Andreea Mihalache (Architecture)

Please see the flyer below for times, dates, and locations.

Sponsored by the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, the School of Architecture, the Department of Languages, the Department of English, the Department of Geography, the Humanities Hub, and the World Cinema Program.

Following up on our January 2021 post on signed music, Department of Languages’ Dr. Jody Cripps, Assistant Professor of ASL, has shared some developments in the topic of signed music. Dr. Cripps’ research was mentioned in two Talk Back discussions with the cast and crew of “The Black Drum”, the first full length signed music musical, which is a topic of research by Dr. Cripps and his colleagues. “The Black Drum” streamed live on YouTube for a virtual performance on March 25-27.

Signed music is an emerging visual and performance art which arises from within the Deaf community. As explained by the Signed Music Project, which is a collaboration by a diverse team of researchers and educators from several organizations and educational instututions, signed music “may incorporate ASL literary poetic features such as lines, meter, rhythm and rhyme and also incorporates basic elements of music such as harmony, rhythm, melody, timbre, and texture, which is expressed as a visual-gestural artistic form.”

Both Talk Back discussions on the weekend’s streaming event are featured on Deaf Culture Centre’s facebook page. In the first component of the discussions, “The Black Drum: Talk Back with the Cast”, moderated by Linda Cundy from Alberta Cultural Society of the Deaf, cast member Yan Liu mentions her participation in research by Dr. Cripps and his colleagues in 2015 on the topic of “What is signed music?”.

Dr. Cripps’ workshopping is mentioned by the producer Joanne Cripps in the second Talk Back discussion, “The Black Drum: Talk Back with the Crew”.

For more information on The Black Drum, check out the Deaf Culture Centre on Facebook.

For more about signed music, you can see Dr. Cripps in the documentary “Signed Music: Rhythm of the Heart”.

A piece of signed music by Jody Cripps, Assistant Professor of ASL, will be featured on the virtual Blackwood Gallery as part of the presentation series “Translation, Camouflage, Spectatorship”. Dr. Cripps’ signed piece, “Rain”, will be discussed in relation to visual translation and will feature on the gallery from January 22nd – January 27th.

“Rain” can be viewed here and will stream on the Blackwood Gallery (below) along with other projects from 2PM Jan 22 – 5PM Jan 27.

For more information, go to: https://www.blackwoodgallery.ca/program/translation-camouflage-spectatorship

Department of Languages Professor Emerita Clementina Adams was inducted into the College of Arts and Humanities Hall of Fame in a formal ceremony at the Madren Center on March 6, 2020.

This year, the College of Arts and Humanities welcomed eight new members to the CAAH Hall of Fame. Since its founding in 2017, the CAAH Hall of Fame has recognized exceptional individuals who are leaders in their profession or have made a significant impact on the educational, research and service goals of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

Professor Emerita Adams was nominated by the Department of Languages for her invaluable and continuing impact on the department, the profession, and the community. Dr. Adams was a valued member of the Languages Faculty from 1989 until 2014, during which time she designed, developed and implemented the innovative Language and International Health program along with Clemson University colleagues Sandy King, Hugh D. Spitler and Rachel Mayo. Dr. Adams also pioneered the inclusion of American Sign Language in the Department of Languages. Among her many honors at Clemson, Adams received the Board of Trustees Faculty Excellence Award twice. In retirement, she continues to volunteer as a medical interpreter for Hispanic patients.

Dr. Adams’ husband, Paul Adams, and daughter, Lauren S. Miller, were present at the ceremony.

About Clementina E. Adams

Dr. Clementina E. Adams earned a “Licenciatura” (M.A.) in Spanish Philology and Literature (1969) at Atlántico University, Barranquilla, Colombia.  As an Organization of the American States (OAS) Scholar she earned a master’s degree in Instructional Design and Development (1974) and a doctorate in Instructional Systems (1984), both from Florida State University.  She was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in 1978.

Dr. Adams taught Spanish at Gallaudet University (1980-85), the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (1985-86) and Clemson University from 1989 until her retirement as Professor Emerita in 2014. Her research includes three books, eight book chapters, 43 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 31 funded grants.  She has received numerous awards and served on advisory boards at the regional, state and national levels. At Clemson, she served on the Faculty Senate, Athletic Council, and Tenure and Promotion Committee. Dr. Adams received the Board of Trustees Faculty Excellence Award twice and the Service Alliance Faculty Fellow Award three times.

Dr. Adams designed, developed and implemented the Language and International Health program along with Dr. Sandy King from Languages, and Dr. Hugh D. Spitler and Dr. Rachel Mayo from Health Science. Dr. Adams served as founding director of the program  (2004-09), which produced 213 graduates by fall 2019.  Dr. Adams also pioneered the inclusion of American Sign Language in the Department of Languages offerings. Currently, that section has 21 majors and 75 minors.

In 2004, Dr. Adams completed medical interpreter training in Oakland, California.  She has volunteered as a medical interpreter for Hispanic patients in the Upstate for more than a decade through the Joseph F. Sullivan Center.  In 2015 she was certified as a Medical Interpreter by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCICH) and continued to volunteer through fall 2019.

More about the CAAH Hall of Fame induction ceremony from The Newsstand.

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.

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.