This Week in LANG 5/5/2025

May 5, 2025
Categories: General News

In this Edition: **Chair Office Hours: M 10-12 (virtual), T10-12 (f2f and virtual), W 1-3 virtual, F 10-2 (virtual), Commencement **

Dear colleagues, 

Welcome to the last week of the Spring 2025 semester. This is the last This Week in LANG until August 12. Thank you for reading throughout the year. I hope that you find the information useful and share in some of the celebrations.

Thank you to all of you for celebrating the end of the semester and the many exciting and positive developments in our department.

Please remember that Kai will serve as acting chair May 12-June 30, and I will be back in the office July 1. Since this week is my last week in the office I have added extra office hours: M 10-12 (virtual), T 10-12 (f2f and virtual), W 1-3 virtual, F 10-2 (virtual).

Dates and Events this Week

Friday, May 9 

  • Dean’s Commencement Celebration, 4 to 6 p.m.; Fretwell Building, Thoughtful Cup cafe

Saturday, May 10

  • Commencement, 10 am, CHESS

Looking Ahead

August 12

  • 9:30am-4:00pm, Department Retreat, Student Union 200

Thank you 

Thank you to Chris Mellinger and Jeff Killman for representing our department at the Atrium Health Language Access Summit on Interpreting. After Chris welcomed the attendees, the event provided us the opportunity to network and recruit among the 465 interpreters who participated in the event. It was wonderful to see many of our own students and alumni, some of whom now work as interpreters and were attending either as exhibitors or as participants. 

Information for Faculty and Staff

Dean’s Celebration of Commencement

The Dean’s Celebration of Commencement is scheduled for the evening before the big day and we are encouraging students to invite faculty and staff who have played a meaningful role in their College experience. Likewise, we hope you will come to celebrate with your students who are graduating–especially if you have worked with them over multiple courses or as PIs and mentors. We’ll serve dessert in the Thoughtful Cup cafe and on the adjacent patio.┃chess.charlotte.edu

Friday, May 9; 4 to 6 p.m.; Fretwell Building, Thoughtful Cup cafe; Register

New this Summer: CHILL at IPH

CHESS is launching a new opportunity for community members to interact with our faculty and to build community with each other: the CHESS Initiative in Lifelong Learning (CHILL) at the Independent Picture House. We’ll share the full details very soon,  but want to share some basics with you before we drift into our own orbits for the summer. Thanks to Twig Branch, Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau, Kirk Melnikoff, and Amanda Pipkin for all of their planning, along with Chris Boyer, Jurgen Buchenau, Willie Griffin, Jules Geaney-Moore, and Mark West, who are all playing pivotal roles in our latest launch. Please share this information within your networks! One of the classes will be taught in Spanish.

  •  Six 4-day workshops between June 2 and August 14
  •  $150 per two-week class. Scholarships are available.
  • All classes are from 10 to 11:15 a.m. and will be followed by CHILL Time* between 11:15 a.m. and 12 p.m. 
  • *CHILL Time: when classmates can talk informally with each other and their professor about class content
  • Join the Mailing List 

Scheduling Now for Fall: Lectures for Lifelong Learning at Senior Communities and General Community Requests

After meeting with our two senior lifelong learning community partners, they are each eager for another 7-lecture series for 2025-2026. As our reputation as a University and College is elevated, it is also important to be ready for other requests from community organizations. Let’s get prepared! Submissions are accepted throughout the year, but the AY26 scheduling process has begun. Residents at our senior community partners really want to learn on a regular basis and your department will receive $500 for participating in this program. There are no restrictions on which of our faculty or lecturers may submit a topic and submissions of graduate student/faculty collaboration will be considered. The Dean’s Office will offer suggestions, using our known lectures and recently published books from the Faculty and Staff Achievement Reception. Communities will also be asking for their own topics of interest. Help us to make a match by submitting your public lectures here today. 

Thank you for all you do. It is such a pleasure to work with all of you and I hope that you will have a wonderful summer. I look forward to seeing you in August. 

All the best,

Anabel