Director’s Message
Welcome to the School of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Northern Colorado! I would like to tell you about more about our faculty and their recent accomplishments.
The School of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies has 29 faculty and lecturers, 23 of whom are full-time. All of the faculty in Modern Languages and Cultural Studies are bilingual and among them they speak 14 different languages, including Chinese, Dutch, Ebo, Efik, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nahuatl, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and Turkish.
During 2006, the faculty in Modern Languages and Cultural Studies published two books, nine articles or chapters, eight book reviews, one work of fiction, and one translation, and they made 39 regional, national, or international presentations. During this same period of time, MLCS faculty were principal investigators on three federal grant proposals and three SPARC grant proposals.
Every year, the School of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies sponsors a well-attended faculty lecture series. Last year, faculty made the following presentations:
- Dr. Joy Landeira: “The Research Process: Ernestina de Champourcin: Vida y Literatura” (April 17, 2006).
- Dr. Christie Moritz: “Increasing Student Motivation and Responsibility with Personal Language Learning Journals and Portfolios” (October 9, 2006).
- Dr. Enrique Maestas: “Stories and What They Tell Us about Ourselves and the World: A Native American Perspective on Discourse” (November 29, 2006)
- Dr. Anthonia Kalu: “Literature and Slavery in West Africa” (December 6, 2006).
- Dr. Priscilla Falcon: “The Chicano Movement in Colorado” (February 19, 2007).
- Dr. Lorie Sauble-Otto: “Lessons Learned: The Life and Legacy of Monique Wittig” (April 16, 2007).
Under the leadership of Dr. Hermon George, the Summit on Social Justice took place in April. Drs. Falcon and Franklin collaborated with the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center and the School of Social Science to organize a panel titled “Beyond ICE: The Past, Present, and Future of Immigration in Weld County.” Dr. Ester Gonzalez organized the 22nd Confluencia Conference on June 29, 2007. This year’s conference focused on realism in Spanish peninsular literature.
MLCS students were very active last year. Our students majoring in German published two issues of der Tribun, a German language newspaper for Colorado high schools. These same students translated into English documents from German immigrants displayed in the Greeley Museum. Many of our language majors also hosted 800 high school students who came to UNC in April to compete in events for Foreign Language Day. Over 100 of our Spanish language majors and minors competed in the annual Hispanic Studies Poetry Contest.
The Colorado Poets Center, a Web site that provides information on Colorado poets to the state’s writing community, to the coordinators of K-12 reading/language arts programs, to the general public, and to the state’s teachers and students, is housed in the School of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies. During the previous year, the Colorado Poets Center doubled the number of poets on the Center to 92. The CPC sponsored a poetry reading with Sigma Delta Pi, the Spanish Honor Society, on November 14, 2006 attended by over 100 UNC students. Drs. King, Trevino, Rodriguez and Garza read poems. The CPC also sponsored readings by Katie Kingston, Jane Hilberry, and Tim Hernandez, all poets on the Web site.
Elizabeth Franklin, Director
