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Message from the Chair

Pereira

Dr. Carmen Pereira
Department Chair and Professor of Spanish

Summer and fall of 2021 have been an outstanding landmark for growth and recognition for CMLL. It is quite amazing that even in the midst of a pandemic that keeps thwarting our attempts to go back to 100% normal, the outstanding efforts of our faculty and graduate instructors made CMLL the recipient of the 2021 university-wide award of Excellence in Teaching. The award ceremony was held via Zoom this fall, and CMLL received a substantial check that has helped to improve our teaching technology, with new computers in the Language Lab and Research Center, and a new, far better testing software system. Good news kept coming: Summer 2021 saw an exponential increase in enrollment, and even more Fall 2021, which translates in projections of a very healthy budget come AY 2022-2023.  Thanks to the work of CMLL Strategic Growth Team, and the collaboration of CMLL faculty for sections of the new Spanish textbook, we were able to complete the Kimi Nakatsukasa Graduate Student Scholarship Endowment, thus have been able to add an additional permanent scholarship to benefit our graduate students in the name of our dear Kimi. With this projected budget growth, there are exciting plans for the future that we hope will benefit specifically our graduate students, and the CMLL community at large. Keep tuned for more news on these thrilling developments!

Though we were not 100% back to normal (we needed to move big events such as the departmental retreat back online), our programs managed during the fall to still have quite an impact on the campus and community through their engagement activities. See the sections on Recent Events and Recruitment and Promotion to admire the energy and passion that our Chinese, Arabic, ASL, and German programs have devoted to instill the love for languages and cultures in local schools. CMLL language clubs and Ambassadors have been very active at events such as the Passport Party and Culture Day at CMLL, and the Culture Fest at the International Cultural Center. Our Continuing Education “English in the Evening” program keeps doing a great service to our local community.

This summer three of our study abroad programs, Seville (Spain), Jordan, and Reims (France), courageously managed to navigate the complexities of COVID and offered the students attending the time of their lives. We hope that all of our study abroad programs can be reassumed in the near future. To help students fulfill their dreams of studying abroad, please consider donating to the Lorum Stratton Study Abroad Scholarship.

Our academic offerings are expanding in dynamic and synergic ways, offering appealing options for the contemporary student. This fall we welcomed into our curriculum a new Archeological Studies Minor; a new joint MA/MEd (one of our MAs –Spanish, French, Classics, German, Applied Linguistics) + a MA in Curriculum and Instruction); and two new Undergraduate Certificates: Global Readiness through Languages and Cultures, and Translation and Interpretation.

Our faculty has been actively publishing and attending and organizing conferences and lecture series (see the section on Academic Excellence for more on this) and receiving awards to recognize their teaching and research. Two of our faculty, Dr. Philip Guengerich and Dr. Ashley Voeks, received an Apple Polishing Award from the Mortar Board in recognition of their inspired teaching and mentorship. Three of our faculty, Drs. Linda Gosner, Britta Anderson, and Belinda Kleinhans, were fellows of the 2021 Alumni College, receiving research grants from the Humanities Center and delivering lectures this fall.

Three of our professors have received prestigious Fulbright distinctions this year. Dr. Carole Edwards is currently on a Fulbright teaching scholarship in Morocco; Dr. Susan Larson has enjoyed a Fulbright grant to do research in Madrid during fall 2021 (she has received another grant from the Casa Velazquez to do research in Madrid in the Spring). Dr. Bernd Reiter is a Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Public Policy in Brazil 2021-2022. Dr. Jorge Zamora is co-PI in a large, $750,000 grant that will sponsor the creation of Spanish classes for veterinary purposes.

Drs. Caroline Bishop and Pamela Zinn have both received the prestigious Loeb Classical Library fellowship for this academic year. As you can see, quite a fabulous year so far!

We were happy to welcome new members in our community. This fall we had three Spanish lecturers joining us: Anna Mastrantuono, Dania Martínez, and Noah Verboon, and also Daniel Schindler in Classics. Dr. Paola Guerrero Rodríguez has joined the Spanish program as Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics and Director of the Spanish Heritage program. Dr. Bruno Penteado has started as Assistant Professor of French. I hope they all had a good first semester!

We congratulate our newly-minted PhDs: Carolina Archer, David Foshee, Gilberto García and Manuel Martín. Also, our new MAs, Brittani Chaffin, Julien Leveque, and Anna Mastrantuono. Well done, all of you, and best wishes for your future endeavors. We hope you carry the memory and spirit of CMLL wherever you go!

As we are all quite weary of the pandemic that is rearing its head again, it is quite reassuring to look back at these past months and see the resilience and determination of the human spirit in all the incredible accomplishments in CMLL.

I wish you all much peace and rest and happiness during the coming holidays, 
Carmen

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Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures

  • Address

    CMLL Building, 2906 18th St, Lubbock, TX 79409
  • Phone

    806.742.3145