Greetings from the Department of World Languages and Cultures! Before the start of the new semester we want to share with you some of the highlights of the past academic year.

Congratulations to the language majors who graduated in December 2007, May and August 2008.

The following Masters of Arts for Teachers have successfully defended their M.A. thesis in late 2007 and the first part of 2008:

• Anelly Arana, B.A., Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), 2004
  Thesis: Las actitudes hacia educaión bilingue y aprendizaje del español: un estudio de estudiantes de inmersión y estudiantes tradicionales
• Edwin Arellano, B.A. National University of Engineering (Lima, Peru), 1991
  Thesis: Modelo Integral en la Enseñanza de Redacción Comercial en Español
• Marwilda Betancourt, B.A. University of Indianapolis, 2006
  Thesis: La herencia afrolatina del Caribe: Un proyecto didáctico de cultura
• Jillian Gierke, B.A. Depauw University, 2005
  Transition To Teaching certification option
• Jessica Kramer, B.A. Butler University, 2005
  Thesis: La relación entre la ansiedad y notas finales en clases de lenguas extranjeras.
• Katrina Nobbe, B.A. Butler University, 2005
  Transition to Teaching certification option
• Lori Silbernagel, B.A. Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis, 2004
  Thesis: Motivación de los estudiantes de español del primer año universitario en IUPUI
• Aileen Zeigler, B.A. Denison University, 2005
  Transition To Teaching certification option

• Margaret Cook Foreign Study Awards were awarded to Anastasia Bohonos, Victoria Brown, John Burkhardt, Meghan Cross, Noel Harrison, Amy Hovee, Ronnica Robbins, Megan Ryan, LaTasha Strahan, Stacey Truitt, Mallory Wilson, and Beth Zyglowicz.
• Lunsford Scholarship, 2007-2008, Miranda Martínez-Cruz, Spanish major.
• Crysler Scholarship, 2007-2008, Emilee Helmuth, Spanish major.
• The Max Kade Study Abroad Scholarship for German study was awarded to Jessica McGown and Abigail Mills.
• The International German Engineering Scholarship was awarded to David McGown and Sean Sangl.
• The Beaudry Summer Study Abroad Scholarship to study French language and culture in a French-speaking country was awarded to Anastasia Bohonos and Amy Hovee..
• M.J. Fauré Family Endowed Scholarship was awaded to Stacey Truitt.
• The Liberal Arts Dean's Fellow Study Abroad Scholarship was awarded to Abigail Mills and Laura Czajkowski.
• The Christian J.W. Kloesel Educational Travel Award was awarded to Keleih Kitano.
• Ronnica Robbins and John Young, both majoring in Classical Archaeology with IMP, received support form the Schrader Fund to study material from the Mandra site on Despotiko (near Paros), Greece.

Enrica Ardemagni, Director of the Certificate in Translation program, was awarded a Trustees Teaching Award in 2008.

In the past year WLAC faculty presented many scholarly papers to symposia and conferences in the US and abroad. Here is a summary of recent faculty publications:

Enrica Ardemagni. “Bewitched” by Jose Castro Urioste, translation, “Beacons X,” American Literary Translators Literary Division (2007) 151-155.

Kimmaree Murday, Eiko Ushida and N. Ann Chenoweth, N.A. Learners’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on Language Online. Computer Assisted Language Learning 21.2 (2008) 125-142.

Obioma Nnaemeka.
“Re-imagining the Diaspora: History, Responsibility and Commitment in an Age of
Globalization.” Dialectical Anthropology 31.1-3 (2007) 127-141.

Obioma Nnaemeka.
“Bringing African Women into the Classroom: Rethinking Pedagogy and
Epistemology.” In African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, ed.
Tejumola Olaniyan and Ato Quayson, London: Blackwell, 2007.

Obioma Nnaemeka.
“On Race, Class, and Hurricanes: Black Bodies, Imperial Hubris.” In Words and
Worlds, ed. Susan Arndt and Katrin Berndt, 331-356. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 2007.

Rosa Tezanos-Pinto, Juana A. Arancibia and Malva E. Filer (eds.) María Rosa Lojo. La reunión de las lejanías. Buenos Aires: Instituto Literario y Cultural Hispánico, 2007.

Rosa Tezanos-Pinto. “Los héroes bíblicos de Ester de Izaguirre. Exploración de clase y género en los textos cristianos.” Alba de América 26.49-50 (2007): 233-247.

WLAC faculty continue to play a leading role in local, regional and national professional organizations.

Enrica Ardemagni, Associate Professor of Spanish, is Administrative Chair of the Literary Division of the American Translators Association; Chair of the Indiana Commission of Health Care Interpreters and Translators; President of the Midwest Association of Translators and Interpreters; and Coordinator of the yearly Post-Secondary Hispanic Awareness Seminar META: Mapping Education Toward Achievement.

Bob Sutton is the Vice-President/Treasurer of the Archaeological Institute of America, Central Indiana Society.

In our multi-media age, language students learn best with the help of the newest virtual technology. They are also hungry for real life immersion experiences abroad and at home. Our goal as educators is to offer our students an expanding variety of affordable study abroad options. In the past academic year, a record-breaking number of 80 WLAC students studied the language of their choice on several continents under the auspices of IUPUI and IU Overseas Study. The list of study abroad destinations is truly impressive:

• Salamanca, Spain
• Guanajuato and Cuernavaca, Mexico
• Lima, Peru
• Santo Domingo
• Strasbourg, France
• Hakuoh, Japan
• Heilbronn, Freiburg, Mannheim, Oldenburg, Germany
• Graz, Austria
• Bologna, Italy
• Athens, Greece
• Guangzhou, China
• Cairo, Egypt

Many of our study abroad students were assisted by scholarships and by generous donations from WLAC alumni and friends. We are very grateful for their on-going help.

Here are some of the testimonies we have collected. "Much to my surprise, after finishing my service learning at Healthy Horizons, they created a job position for a student-interpreter and hired me so I could continue working with their employees! This was a really rewarding experience, and I hope that many others can take advantage of such opportunities!" - Ashley Townsend. "For me, being engaged in service learning is the best way to take what I learn in the classroom and use it in the real world. I have a more clear idea of professional opportunities that are available to me as well as what it will take for me to succeed in a professional environment." - Kimberly Jaeger. "Service learning gave me the opportunity to give back to the community while raising my awareness of the cultural diversity right here in Indianapolis." - Gabriel Lee Garber. "Service learning is a great way to get first-hand experience; something that is so detrimentally needed in today's competitive workforce. In fact, service learning gave me the opportunity to directly apply theories and methodologies that I was learning in class to real-life situations while at the same time volunteering in community." - Jennifer Rae Smiley.

These testimonies give you an idea of the deep impact that service learning connected to an area of academic study can have. Selecting community partners and integrating civic engagement into course curriculum is a challenge, but the enthusiastic response by students and community partners is the best reward for the extra work.

Our Department of World Languages and Cultures is happy to collaborate with the Confucius Institute to promote the teaching of Chinese language and culture. The inauguration of Confucius Institute in Indianapolis was held on April 25. A large delegation of Sun Yat-sen university including President Daren Huang and Deputy Director General of Guangdong Province Department of Education attended the inauguration events. Executive Vice Chancellor Sukhatme hosted the ceremony. Chancellor Bantz, President Huang, VP O’Meara of IU, Dean Brater of IUSM, Indianapolis Mayor Ballard gave congratulating remarks. The congratulatory letter of Consul General Ping Huang of General Consulate of China in Chicago was read by Executive Director Xu of Confucius Institute.

The grand opening was followed by a symposium “China: From Confucius to Globalization”. Professor Weiming Tu of Harvad University is a keynote speaker. Drs. Heidi Ross, Mindy Zhang, Scott Kennedy, James Robinson and Palmer Mickie delivered speeches on topics of Chinese education, Chinese business and trade, Chinese arts and Chinese medicine. An audience of more than 300 attended the event.

If you wish to join one of our language clubs, or become a new club leader, please send an e-mail to wlac@iupui.edu indicating your interests and how you wish to be contacted.