This Week in LANG 2/24/2025

February 24, 2025
Categories: Community Events, Conference, Cultural Events, General Events, General News Tags: 2025, arabic, chinese, french, german, heritage, japanese, SEACS, spanish

Dear colleagues, 

Congratulations to all of us for making it through last week. We had a successful Heritage Language Symposium and SEACS conference in spite of the inclement weather closings. Unfortunately, the Poetry Slam had to be postponed. A new date will be announced soon. Both the Symposium and SEACS were a huge success and I want to thank all of you who contributed either as volunteers, organizers, local arrangement, or presenters.  

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Dates and Events this Week

February is Black History Month 

Friday, February 28

  • Midterm Grades are due at Noon

Looking Ahead Dates and Events Spring 2025

March 13

  • 2025 Faculty and Staff Achievement Recognition Reception at 4 p.m

March 14

  • Department Meeting

April 4

  • Faculty-Led Program Development Workshop on April 4, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. RSVP 

April 8

April 11

  • Save the Date for possible Department Meeting

April 15

  • Witness in Residence: Ali Shaw presentation, 4 pm

May 1

  • Reading Day, Department Meeting and End of Year Potluck

Congratulations

Congratulations to Paloma, Olga, Javier, Ryan, Noha, Chikako and Fang-yi for hosting the 5th Heritage Language Learner Symposium. What a success with a record number of participants, amazing guest speakers and a successful inclusion of Arabic, Chinese, French and Japanese. More details in next week’s This Week in LANG.

Congratulations to our whole department for hosting the 6th SEACS conference. It was the second largest conference of SEACS with 74 panels. I am particularly grateful to all the volunteers who included Enika Banerjee, Fang-yi Chao, Paloma Fernández Sánchez, Jules Geaney-Moore, Susanne Gomoluch, Bobby Hobgood, Phil Kaffen, Hanna Lee, Xiaohong Muller, Olga Padilla-Falto, Shaun Stone, and Yukiko Yokono.

Congratulations to David Boyd for the publication of his translation of Mieko Kawakami’s “Just A Call Away” in McSweeney’s #77.

Congratulations to the Arabic Studies, Chinese and French programs. Three students enrolled in these programs were nominated for the very prestigious Truman Scholarship and the Gaither Fellowship program.

Annabelle Hill of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a third-year Levine Scholar and is part of the Honors College. She is triple majoring in political science, French and international studies with a concentration in peace, conflict and identity studies. She is a nominee for the Truman Scholarship, which offers up to $30,000 for graduate study for juniors who demonstrate promising academic potential, outstanding leadership and a commitment to public service. The national winners will be announced in April. Congratulations to Annabelle and the French program. 

Olivia Stockwell from Charlotte, North Carolina, is a fourth-year student in the Honors College majoring in religious studies and global studies and minoring in Arabic Studies. Olivia learned Arabic and travelled to Jordan, which deepened her understanding of the religions and political policies in this region of the Arab world. She is a nominee for the James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program, which offers 15 one-year fellowships through the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to qualified graduating seniors. This program provides substantive work experience for students with a career interest in international affairs. The national winners will be announced in March. Congratulations to Olivia and the Arabic Studies program. 

Ellie McCutchen, adopted from China at age one, calls Clemmons, North Carolina, home. She is a fourth-year Levine Scholar, is part of the Honors College and is majoring in political science, economics and sociology, with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. She is also a nominee for the James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program, which offers 15 one-year fellowships through the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to qualified graduating seniors. This program provides substantive work experience for students with a career interest in international affairs. The national winners will be announced in March. Congratulations to Ellie and the Chinese program. 

Information for Faculty and Staff

OEA seeks Faculty-Led Program Proposals for 2026

OEA is excited to announce that faculty-led education abroad program proposals are now open for 2026! Please note the following deadlines:

  • June 1 – Spring and Spring Break 2026 programs
  • July 15 – Summer 2026 programs
  • December 1 – Fall 2026 programs

Begin a Proposal!

To support you in the proposal process, they invite you to join our Education Abroad Faculty-Led Program Development Workshop on April 4, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. This session will be held in person and will cover key program considerations such as program design, academics, itinerary planning, budgeting, working with third party providers, and the proposal process. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. If you are proposing a program for the first time, please be sure you have completed the Program Development 101 course, which should answer a lot of your initial questions and set you up to submit a great proposal.

Office of Education Abroad
OEA announces that nominations are now open for the 2025 Education Abroad Faculty Awards! These awards recognize outstanding faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in leading, designing, and integrating education abroad programs that enhance global learning.
Faculty can be nominated for the following awards:

  • Education Abroad International Excellence Award – Honoring exceptional leadership in education abroad.
  • Education Abroad Curriculum Design Award – Recognizing innovative program design that aligns with UNC Charlotte’s curriculum.

Nominations can be submitted via this form and are open through March 15, 2025.

Upcoming Events

Poetry Slam 

Yukiko Yokono, Susana Cisneros, Don Cross, Maria Mahaffey and Xiaohong Hu Mueller invite you to the 8th Multi-Language Poetry Slam. Unfortunately, the inclement weather made us postpone the event. The new date and location will be announced soon. Please stay tuned and support this wonderful event.
Date & Time: TBA
Location: TBA

Save the Date for Witness in Residence: Aly Shaw
Faculty: Please remember to invite your theme course students to block time for this spring’s  Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau Witness in Residence Initiative (and let them know we try to do it for them once per semester). This spring, the Initiative is collaborating with the Department of Global Studies, as well as the Dean’s Office. Shaw plans to share her experience of leading campaigns to address community environmental concerns and to help students understand the tools and databases available to them for their research.

Thank you for all you do. 

All the best,

Anabel