Issue 26

Message from the Chair

Pereira

Dr. Carmen Pereira
Department Chair and Professor of Spanish

It is wonderful to see that after almost two years of pandemic restrictions, Spring 2022 saw CMLL coming back to full-fledged activity with gusto. Just looking at the colorful pictures in this issue reflecting the many culture festivals, outreach activities, program picnics, induction ceremonies, in-person speaker series and conferences, fills one's heart with joy and relief. It has been so refreshing to have our department meetings in person (and check out our Qualia meeting room great new look in this issue!), or just walk the hallways and run into colleagues and have a chat. I personally will not miss the flat world of zoom!
The many teaching accolades received in spring 2022 are a reminder of what an outstanding teaching powerhouse our department is. The TLPDC recognized eight of our faculty members as Hidden Gems, who had gone above and beyond in their teaching missions (see under Academic Excellence to find out who they are!). Three out of the ten TTU Professing Excellence Awards this year went to inspiring and inspired instructors from CMLL: Rula Al-Hmoud, Irina Drigalenko, and Belinda Kleinhans. Belinda also received the President's Excellence in Teaching Award, and Rula was recognized as Advisor of the Year by TTU Student Organization, in addition to a moving tribute as the most inspiring female professor by this year's recipient of the Amy Love Scholarship. Our teaching efforts at CMLL would not be possible without our fantastic advisors in the staff, so we were proud to see Carla Burrus recognized by this year's A&S Excellence in Advising Award.
CMLL equally shines in research and outreach and community engagement. Five of our faculty became fellows of the Humanities Center Alumni College. Chris Witmore made us proud by becoming part of the top 2% of Global Researchers. This spring, our annual Caliche and Céfiro conferences were yet another success, showcasing the great research done by our Applied Linguistics and Spanish and Portuguese graduate students. The Classics Research Forum was joyfully reassumed, and CMLL was part of the Comparative Literature Symposium, this year with an interesting interdisciplinary approach to the issue of water in our Llano Estacado region. Undergraduate research was encouraged and rewarded by the Global Readiness Project Scholarship Competition, as well us by several program specific scholarships (find out in this issue who the accomplished winners were and see HERE for all CMLL Scholarships). Diversity is a key component of our department's mission and vision, and a big indicator of CMLL's commitment is that one of our faculty members, Britta Anderson, has deservedly received this year's Presidential Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Arabic, Chinese, American Sign Language, German and the Spanish Heritage Language programs were especially active at outreach and community engagement. Their students and faculty did teaching demonstrations and showcased aspects of their cultures for students in K-12 local schools. These were wonderful initiatives that for sure have left an impact and arouse the young students' curiosity for other languages and cultures. In the face of the brutal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian program raised to the occasion and organized panels to combat misinformation on the war, fundraisers to help with relief efforts, and participated in the vigil for peace organized by TTU.
Some changes took place over the spring semester. We said goodbye to our dear Lloyd Allred, CMLL Unit Manager for the last ten years (we wish him the best on his retirement), and said hello to Misty Rangel, CMLL's new Unit Manager. James Lemon, our IT specialist, left for a new position, and we have a new IT specialist, Frank Torres. Marlene Selker, long time German lecturer, has retired (she will be missed!), and we will have a new German lecturer, Jan Hohenstein, starting this fall. We also look forward to welcome Mathilda Shepard, new Spanish faculty with an expertise in contemporary Latin America indigenous environmentalist cultural productions.
Last, but not least, Kate Brooke and Linley Melhem, CMLL Strategic Growth Team, and Director of the Spanish Foundations and the ITA workshop respectively, have been made Assistant Professors of Practice starting this fall, as befits their many new and old responsibilities. Please congratulate them if you have a chance.
And to end, some more good news: CMLL faculty collaboration in the production of inserts for the Spanish textbook has resulted in a good source of income that will be used to create Study Abroad scholarships. Study abroad is indeed the best, most inclusive and immersive way of becoming a true citizen of the world, and we are deeply committed to make it possible for our students. If you are also interested in providing opportunities for students to have the life-changing experience of studying abroad, you can do so by donating to the Lorum Stratton Scholarship. And if you wish to honor the memory of Kimi Nakatsukasa by supporting the graduate students she cared so much about, you can do so by donating here.
I wish everybody has had a happy, restorative summer, and look forward to seeing you again at the end of August!

Carmen