Department of Languages

Spring Highlights: German and Spanish Programs Host Conference for International Business in Mexico

On February 14, the Spanish and German programs hosted the Conference for German and Spanish in International Business and Engineering: Investment in Mexico.  Faculty members Daniel García, Magdalena Matúskova and Lee Ferrell collaborated together in organizing this event with publicity and social media coordinated by Anna Grace Araiza.  Events for the day were moderated and organized by student leaders Gwyneth Terry (LAIB Spanish), Derek Dias (Finance), Emiliano Sanchez (Finance) and Anna Schmidt (Management).

Hosted in collaboration with the Department of Management and the Consulate General of Mexico, the conference brought in numerous German companies from the upstate region to speak with our students about the work they do in both the US Southeast and in Mexico. This unique opportunity allowed students to learn about the presence of German businesses in Mexico and the unique benefits they have on the region.

After opening remarks by Dean Nicholas Vazsonyi and an address by the Deputy Consul General of Mexico, the conference showcased a keynote address by BMW representatives on the benefits of conducting business in Mexico. Also featured was a panel discussion with the North American heads of Röchling Automotive and Dräxlmaier Automotive Groups as well as the Mexican Ambassador to Germany about German business and investment in Mexico. Students and attendees were also afforded the chance to participate in roundtable discussions on German business and investment through a broader regional lens.

Attendees listen to a presentation during the Conference for German and Spanish in International Business and Engineering: Investment in Mexico.

The conference concluded with a mini job fair in which students and attendees could network with representatives from various German companies and learn about internship and introductory-level jobs in their companies.

Students speak with representatives from Röchling following the conference. The mini job fair was an opportunity for students to learn about internships and entry-level jobs in German companies throughout the Upstate region.

German Program Zooming along, connecting with high schools and alumni

Faith DuPre, Political Science and German (2019) Walhalla High School visit, November 4th, 2021.

Although COVID is still making in-person visits to area high school German programs difficult, schools are accepting visits via Zoom. While it is difficult to meet with former students who now live miles away or who may still be avoiding crowded events due to COVID, technology is helping us to stay connected.

This year, the German program has visited 10 different high schools in the state and in Charlotte, NC, bringing along alumni and current students to participate in the conversations.

The result has been well-received by high school teachers and students who like hearing the personal accounts of our German students both at college and in the workforce.  They are especially impressed when they see that their visitors are in Europe.

Among German program alumni, there are many who desire to keep in touch with their alma mater and who also want to continue to practice their German. For these reasons, the German program began the German alumni Stammtisch (conversation table) this past fall and held its first conversation on 10 November. Stammtisch has given students and alumni a chance to connect with friends in the business community and with recent and not so recent grads.

Fall 2020 Reflections: German Professional Society Hosts Online Discussion Panel

With Spring Semester 2021 now underway, it is exciting to reflect on some of the ways the Department of Languages students, faculty and alumni have been navigating these unusual times. Fall Semester 2020 brought with it many unique experiences and ways to stay engaged and make connections. In our “Fall 2020 Reflections” posts, we are excited to take a look at specific events, opportunities and accomplishments that we saw last semester and which set the stage for even more exciting opportunities this Spring and beyond.

OCTOBER 2020

The virtual business panel was hosted via Zoom. Photo courtesy of Johannes Schmidt

The German Professional Society organized an alumni business panel on Thursday, October 22nd. This online panel discussion was held in lieu of the regular annual German Professional Conference.

Moderated by GPS President James Bradham (Mechanical Engineering), the panel welcomed alumni Alexia (Andrews) Herberg (German and Political Science), Adidas Herzogenaurach; Anne (Murken ) Meyer (German and International Business), Hochschule Bremen; Brian Wright (German and Mechanical Engineering),  BMW, Greer, SC; Austin Jordan (German and International Business ) Bosch-Rexroth,  Simpsonville, SC; Matthew Allen (German and Physics), German-American Chamber of Commerce, New York

The event provided current students of German and others an opportunity to learn from our alumni about transitioning into the workplace, opportunities available with language skills and a chance to network with our former students now living and working in the US and abroad.

German Honor Society reactivated with induction of three exceptional students

On December 5, 2019, the Clemson University German Section reactivated the German Honor Society, Delta Phi Alpha, by inducting three exceptional students.

Rachael Risinger is a senior Accounting major and German minor who is currently the president of the German Professional Society. Bennett Meares is a senior Computer Science major and German minor who is a former German Club president and is currently preparing to study abroad in Landshut, Germany. Houston Everett is a junior Computer Science major and German minor who is currently the president of the German Club. All three students have contributed immensely to the German program both inside and outside of the classroom and are great examples for achieving success as German students at Clemson University.

Congratulations to all!

Faculty news, Spring/Summer 2019

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 OropesaLee 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

Students honored at CAAH awards ceremony

(From L-R) CAAH Dean Richard Goodstein, Destanee Douglas, and Languages Department Chair Salvador Oropesa. Photo courtesy of Clemson University.

The following students were honored at the annual College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities (CAAH) awards ceremony on April 12 at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts:

Joey Martinek, Award for Excellence in Spanish

Katrina Killinger, Japan-America Association of South Carolina (JAASC) Award for Excellence in Japanese

Harrison Kerr, Clemson Chinese Laoshi Award for Best Beginner

Matthew Hagan, Joan Bridgwood Award for Excellence in Russian

Destanee Douglas, Language and International Health Award for Excellence

Katie Ann L. Day, Jordan A. Dean, Sr. Annual Award in French Studies

Bennett Andrew Maeres, Draexlmaier Language Award for Excellence in German

Mari Lentini, Patricia Walker Wannamaker Language and International Trade Award for Highest Merit

Congratulations to our outstanding students!

Faculty member receives CU SEED grant

Congratulations to Gabriela Stoicea, assistant professor of German, for earning a 2019 Tier One CU SEED grant. Her book project is titled Fictions of Legibility: The Human Face and Body in Modern German Novels from Sophie von La Roche to Alfred Döblin. Gabi also received a Humanities Fellowship from the Clemson Humanities Hub to fund this project.

Another faculty member in the Department of Languages, Kelly Peebles, associate professor of French, was awarded a 2017 Tier One CU SEED grant for her book Portraits of Renée de France. Her project was highlighted at a recent Board of Trustees meeting by Diana Thrasher, associate director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, Division of Research.

The Clemson Support for Early Exploration and Development (CU SEED) Grant Program provides two tiers of funding support to eligible Clemson faculty in either the initiation of research activities or the completion of a scholarly project or product. Priority consideration is given to faculty who may not have large start-up packages and/or significant financial research support and resources. Initiation activities can include establishing baseline data, completing a phase of a research project that will lead to greater funding opportunities, or developing research partnerships with collaborators at other institutions. Projects or products for completion can include finalizing peer-reviewed publications, scholarly books, chapters in books, or showings, as in the case of the visual and performing arts.

In memoriam: Margit Sinka, professor emerita

Margit SinkaThe Department of Languages mourns the passing of Margit Sinka, professor emerita of German, who passed away on October 28, 2018 at the age of 76.

Margit was born during World War II in Hungary. She and her parents moved to Vienna, Austria, before immigrating to the U.S. and settling in a Hungarian neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Margit was trilingual in Hungarian, German, and English; she also developed some fluency in Spanish. She earned her Ph.D. in German at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Margit was a member of the Clemson faculty for 33 years. She taught intermediate and advanced German language and literature courses and served as the head of the department’s German section. Her research focused on Medieval German Literature, Modernism (German prose and drama), Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Culture with an emphasis on Berlin Studies, Holocaust Memory and Representation, and German Cinema. During her career at Clemson, Margit held several important national and regional positions in the field of German, and in 2008, she received the Merit Award from the national American Association of German Teachers and the New York Goethe Institute. After retiring in 2007, she continued to work part-time and conducted five-week Clemson University summer study abroad programs on Holocaust Remembrance in Brussels and Berlin.

Assistant professor of German Gabi Stoicea recalled Margit as “energetic, jovial, and very enthusiastic about Clemson and about our department in particular.”

Margit’s memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. on December 1, 2018 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson, 226 Pendleton Road, Clemson.

Click here to read the Inside Clemson obituary.

Department hosts 46th Annual Declamation Contest

The Declamation awards ceremony in Tillman Hall. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)
The Declamation awards ceremony in Tillman Hall. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)

On October 27, 2018, the Department of Languages hosted the 46th Annual Declamation Contest. This poetry recitation contest brings together middle- and high-school students from the region, who come to the Clemson campus for the day to show off their language skills. This year, 485 students from 31 middle and high schools in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina registered to compete in ASL, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish. Clemson students also volunteered to set up, help with registration and parking, supervise contest rooms in Daniel Hall, and lead campus tours. The campus tours were a new offering this year, with approximately 80 contestants and their families participating.

Some members of the Declamation Committee. From L-R, Anne Salces y Nedeo, Amy Sawyer, Su-I Chen, Julia Schmidt, and Dolores Martín. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)
Some members of the Declamation Committee. From L-R, Anne Salces y Nedeo, Amy Sawyer, Su-I Chen, Julia Schmidt, and Dolores Martín. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)

Competitors recited two poems, a mandatory selection and a second selection. They were evaluated by 64 judges, who included Clemson faculty and staff and members of the community. After the judging was complete, students and their families attended an awards ceremony in Tillman Hall. The event also gave participants a chance to explore the campus, eat in a dining hall, and learn more about the school by joining a tour. Past Declamation participants have attended or are now attending Clemson to study foreign languages.

The contest’s continued success is due to the hard work of the Department’s faculty and staff, all of whom volunteer at the event, especially the Declamation Committee of Su-I Chen, Melva Persico, Doroles Martín, Anne Salces y Nedeo, Amy Sawyer, and Julia Schmidt. The Department is grateful for the continued support of donors Dr. Rob Roy McGregor, Jr. and Dr. Ralph Rynes; the volunteer judges; and the Dean’s Office of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

Faculty news, Spring and Summer 2018

The following faculty members were promoted to Senior Lecturer:

Kim Misener Dunn, ASL

Allison Hinds, Spanish

Ellory Schmucker, Spanish

Kenneth Widgren, French

The following faculty members were promoted to Full Professor (read more here):

Johannes Schmidt, German

Eric Touya, French

Other faculty news:

Joseph Mai, associate professor of French, had his essay “Site 2: Style and Encounter in Rithy Panh’s Cinéma-Monde” appear in the collection “Cinéma-Monde: Decentered Perspectives on Global Filmmaking in French,” edited by Michael Gott and Thibaut Schilt, (Edinburgh University Press). The essay examines how the great Cambodian documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh addresses representations of a post-Khmer Rouge refugee camp to a world cinema audience. He also published a chapter in the Modern Language Association book “Approaches to Teaching Hugo’s ‘Les Misérables,’” edited by Michal Ginsburg and Bradley Stephens (2018). His piece explores Hugo’s conception of the moral individual. Mai also published an essay in The Mekong Review about Anthony Bourdain’s experiences in Cambodia.

Tiffany Creegan Miller, assistant professor of Spanish, presented at the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) in Los Angeles March 27-29. Her presentation “Orality and Translation in Print and Digital Recordings of Humberto Ak’abal’s Sound Poetry” was part of a seminar on topographies of sound and music in Spanish and Latin American literature and film. While in California, Miller was also invited to discuss her work with Kaqchikel Maya communities in Guatemala on the Maya radio program “Contacto Ancestral,” which airs in Los Angeles on the community radio station KPFK. She also published an article, “Performing Transnational Maya Experiences in Florida and San Juan Chamula in Workers in the Other World by Sna Jtz’ibajom and Robert M. Laughlin,” in Hispanic Studies Review 3 (2018): pp. 46-62. This article draws from Maya storytelling techniques to examine the ways that Maya activists in Chiapas, Mexico, use theatre and performance to raise awareness about the challenges that Maya migrants and their families face, both in sending communities and the United States. Miller also presented at the annual congress hosted by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) May 23-26 in Barcelona, Spain. Her presentation “‘Xib’e pa El Norte’: Ethnographic Encounters With Kaqchikel Maya Transnational Migration From Lake Atitlán, Guatemala” was part of a seminar on the theoretical and methodological challenges in studying migrations. Miller was an NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) Summer Scholar at the University of Georgia. The NEH Summer Institute June 17-29 focused on Digital Technologies in Theatre and Performance Studies. In July, Miller was invited to deliver a talk at Oxlajuj Aj, a Kaqchikel Mayan language field school, offered through Tulane University. This presentation – “Kojb’ixan pa qach’ab’äl!: El papel de las canciones infantiles en las aproximaciones pedagógicas a la revitalización cultural y lingüística en el idioma kaqchikel” – took place July 25 in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala. Her presentation focused on Kaqchikel Maya children’s songs in bilingual classrooms in the context of contemporary Pan-Maya activism in Guatemala. Miller was also elected secretary of the Central America section advisory board of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).

Arelis Moore de Peralta, assistant professor of Spanish and Health, returned from a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic, along with her Creative Inquiry and “Tigers Building Healthier Communities Abroad (TBHCA)” students. Moore and six students conducted research in an effort to develop sustainable, collaborative interventions to improve health and well-being in a low-resource community. This was the third TBHCA trip to the Dominican community of Las Malvinas II. This time, Moore and her group collaborated with a colleague from Boston University’s School of Social Work and their local partner university, Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE). Together they conducted two focus groups and a “photovoice” project with the youth of Las Malvinas II to identify effective ways to engage them in local health improvement efforts.

Salvador A. Oropesa, professor of Spanish and chair, read the paper “Fantasías Neoliberales en la Serie Procedimental de Eva Sáenz de Urturi” at the XIV Congreso de Novela y Cine Negro: Clásicos y Contemporaneos at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. His article “Mitología y terrorismo en la Trilogía del Baztán de Dolores Redondo” appeared in the collection “Clásicos y Contemporáneos en el Género Negro,” edited by Álex Martín Escribà and Javier Sánchez Zapatero (Santiago de Compostela: Andavira, 2018, pp.121-27).

George Palacios, assistant professor of Spanish, was a visiting professor in the school of history at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in Bucaramanga, Colombia, where he taught the literature, culture and history of the African diaspora in Colombia and the Caribbean. Palacios lectured on “Reflexiones en torno a la diaspora Africana en Colombia” and “Literature and History through the Prism of the Haitian Revolution.” He also gave the inaugural lecture for the master in education program of the faculty of social sciences and humanities at the Universidad de Medellín in Colombia: “Una reflexión sobre el currículo: procesos y crítica para el contexto Latinoamericano.” Palacios presented the paper “Resistencias Afrodiaspóricas frente al destierro en la novela Colombiana hacia mediados de siglo XX” at the VI International Conference on Afro-Hispanic, Luso-Brazilian and Latin American Studies, held Aug. 7-10 in Accra, Ghana.

Kelly Peebles, associate professor of French, published “Renée de France’s and Clément Marot’s Voyages: Political Exile to Spiritual Liberation” in a special issue of the journal Women in French, “Les femmes et le voyage (Women and Traveling),” edited by Catherine R. Montfort and Christine McCall Probes. She also published “Embodied Devotion: The Dynastic and Religious Loyalty of Renée de France (1510-1575)” in “Royal Women and Dynastic Loyalty” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), edited by Caroline Dunn and Professor Emerita Elizabeth Carney (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 123-137). She also presented the paper “From Mother to Daughter and Bride to Widow: Transforming the Gender Roles of Renée de France and Anne d’Este” at the Royal Studies Network Kings & Queens 7 conference, held July 9-12 in Winchester, England.

Johannes Schmidt, professor of German, presented (in German) on the differences in Johann Gottfried Herder’s and Nietzsche’s philosophies of history at the meeting of the International Herder Society in Turku, Finland. He also chaired two panels and gave the laudation honoring Karl Menges of University of California, Davis, the recipient of the 2018 Herder Medal. He was one of several scholars interviewed for a German radio feature on Johann Gottfried Herder, titled “Herder: a Grandniece Discovers the Poet.” The feature was recently released as a podcast.

Daniel J. Smith, associate professor of Spanish, presented “Spanish and English Contact and the Order of Morpheme Acquisition” April 5 at the 2018 SouthEast Coastal Conference on Languages and Literatures (SECCLL) in Savannah, Georgia. While referencing a “natural order” of the acquisition of morphemes in first and second language acquisition, the presentation highlighted how two languages can influence each other and make changes in the order of acquisition. Implications were made regarding teaching English and Spanish as second languages and for children learning both languages simultaneously.

Gabriela Stoicea, assistant professor of German, published the chapter “When History Meets Literature: Jonathan Israel, Sophie von La Roche, and the Problem of Gender” in a collection edited by Carl Niekerk, “The Radical Enlightenment in Germany: A Cultural Perspective” (Brill/Rodopi, 2018), pp. 211-37.

Jae Takeuchi, assistant professor of Japanese, was awarded the Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award for excellence in Japanese language teaching. The national award is given out to only one or two instructors of Japanese each year. Takeuchi also presented her research “Our Language”– an autoethnographic analysis of Japanese Dialect Use in L1/L2 Interaction” at the annual American Association of Teachers of Japanese annual conference in Washington. She was also invited to be a panelist for a discussion “On Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions Expected of Future Japanese Language Educators” at the 27th meeting of the Central Association of Teachers of Japanese Conference, held at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She also presented her research at the same conference, in a talk titled “‘His Japanese Makes No Sense’ – Native Speaker Bias and Depictions of L2 Japanese Competence.”

Pauline de Tholozany, assistant professor of French, gave the keynote address at “Equinoxes,” the French Studies Graduate Conference on March 17 at Brown University. Her paper was titled “‘Sophie, avec impatience’: of Impatient Children, Broken Stuff, and Irritated Adults in 19th-Century France.” She also presented a paper at the Southeastern Women’s Studies Association, along with two Clemson Students, Surabhi Poola and Kaitlin Samuels. Their panel was titled “Of Plots, Readers, and Change: Norms and Transgressions in 19th-Century French Literature.” She also published a chapter in the Modern Language Association book “Approaches to Teaching Hugo’s ‘Les Misérables,’” edited by Michal Ginsburg and Bradley Stephens (2018). Her piece describes teaching the novel in the context of an interdisciplinary course on childhood.

On March 14, Graciela Tissera, associate professor of Spanish, presented her research at the Congreso Internacional Interdisciplinario “La ciudad: imágenes e imaginarios,” which was organized by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Her paper entitled “La ciudad a través del cine: visión del individuo y los sistemas” focused on the portrayal of the cities of Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, and Barcelona in the following movies: “Secuestro Express,” by Jonathan Jakubowicz (Venezuela, 2005); “Cidade de Deus,” by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund (Brazil, 2002); and “Biutiful,” by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Spain, 2010). The analysis explored the profile of the cities as structured systems and their influence on the individual from social, cultural, economic and philosophical perspectives. She presented her research April 6 at the SouthEast Coastal Conference on Languages and Literatures, which was organized by Georgia Southern University. Her paper “‘Box 507’ (2002) by Enrique Urbizu: Crossroads of Human Spirit and Economic Systems” focused on the unforeseen outcomes of confrontations between companies investing in real estate. She also organized and chaired a session at the conference, “Individuals vs. Systems in Cinema,” to discuss the complex relationships portrayed inside and outside systems in multicultural environments and in relation to psychoanalysis, metaphysics, ethics, technology, health, business and gender. Tissera’s students, Jesse Bynum (Modern Languages-Spanish major with an English minor) and Hannah Cheeks (Psychology and Modern Languages-Spanish major) participated in the session. Bynum’s research paper “Systematic Defensive Memory and Psychological Trauma in David Carreras’ ‘Hipnos (2004)” discussed dissociative identity disorders as coping mechanisms and experimental treatments for severely emotionally disturbed patients. Cheeks’ research paper “Exploring the Treacherous Systems of the Mind: Sergi Vizcaíno’s ‘Paranormal Xperience’ (2011),” centered on altered perceptions and symbols created by the unconscious mind as representations of systems influencing human behavior. The professional presentations were made possible through the Creative Inquiry program and Department of Languages travel grants.

Eric Touya, professor of French, and Col. Lance Young led a group of Clemson students to Paris and Normandy in France during the summer. The aim of the course was to revisit the journey of the American soldiers during World War II from a French perspective. Through this journey, the students analyzed and reflected on the meaning and purpose of the GIs’ actions and experiences, and the current place and role of France and the United States in the world.