With the school year drawing to a close, it’s time to discuss the good news from Modern Languages and Classics!

Faculty

Dr. Liu Li

  • She has been selected as the Teacher of the Year by the Chinese Language Teacher Association in Indiana (CLTA-IN) because of her excellent performance and dedication to Chinese language teaching. Dr. Liu Li will represent CLTA-IN to participate in the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association (IFLTA) TOY selection. IFLTA will held the award ceremony in November 2021.
  • As the Associate Professor of Chinese on the Department of the Modern Languages and Classics, Dr. Li was notified by the U.S. Department of Defense that her proposal for a new STARTALK program was approved (from Summer 2022 to Spring 2024). The grant is over $123, 000. The purpose of the federal STARTALK grant is to increase the number of the students and teachers of critical need languages like Chinese. The grant will significantly help the teaching and learning of the Chinese language and culture in Indiana.

Dorothy Stegman

  • She has been awarded as the Indiana Foreign Language French Teacher of the Year.
  • She has been selected by the AATF-IN (American Association of Teachers of French of Indiana) as Collegiate Indiana Teacher of the Year 2021 because of my accomplishments, leadership, and dedication to teaching the French language. The award will be presented at the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association (IFLTA) Conference in November.

Jennifer Rathbun

  • She was invited to participate in The Americas Poetry Festival of New York 2021, Oct. 13-15. She read at the City University of New York (watch her reading here, starting at timestamp 1:15!), the Argentine Consulate of New York (watch at timestamp 1:59:15), Walt Whitman’s birthplace, and the Instituto Cervantes (watch at timestamp 2:33:35).
  • She was given the Academy for American Poets Ambroggio Award in 2021.

  • She collaborated with Carlos Aguasaco on his book of poetry, Cardenal en mi ventana con una máscara en el pico / Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on its Beak.

 

Dr. Rathbun has also worked on several novels:

  • Poetry
    • El libro de traiciones / The Book of Betrayals. New York: Artepoética Press, 2021. Print.
  • Translations
    • Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on its Beak. By Carlos Aguasaco. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2022. Print.
    • Subterranean Bells. By Luis Arturo Guichard. Spain: Editorial Ultramarina, 2022. Print.
    • Belly of an Iguana. By Maripaz Moreno. Clayton, Georgia: Valparaiso Editions, U.S., 2021. Print.  
    • Blue Window/Ventana azul. By Indran Amirthanayagam. New Orleans: Díalogos, 2021. Print.
    • F“Beginning of Writing,” “Father,” “Nothing,” “My Dear Moby” by Fernando Carrera. Latin American Literature Today (Issue 22, May 2022): Print.
    • “The Desert [Fragments]” by Raúl Zurita. For an Endless World. Guadalajara: Mantis Editores & Casa Cultural de las Americas, 2021; 104-113. Print.
    • “Much Less Than an Idea” and “Billy Hare [19 Verses]” by Mario Montalbetti. For an Endless World. Guadalajara: Mantis Editores & Casa Cultural de las Americas, 2021; 64-71. Print.
    • “Friends with the Monster” and “Water’s Obstinacy” by Maripaz Moreno. International Poetry Review (Fall 2021): Print.

Charlie Geyer published “Abject Failure and Utopian Longing in the Lower East Side: The Poetry and Performance of Miguel Piñero.” CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2021, pp. 4-35. 

Kazumi Matsumoto published with Hirotani, M. H., Cantrell, K. M., Fukada, A. (2021). “Comparative study of poses and repair phenomena during oral delivery: Learners with different proficiency levels from native Japanese speakers.” The Journal CAJLE (Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education), 92-113. 

Lisa Kuriscak published with Sánchez, C. R. “Spanish in Times of Covid: Lexical and Pragmatic Innovation in Spain.” I-LanD Journal (Identity, Language and Diversity Journal). 

Christine Shea published “Some Observations on the Evolution and Politics of Roman Imperial Canons”. Forum/Westar Institute. 

Ellen Thorington published “Giving birth to the Word in Harley 4431: Motherhood and Textual Genesis in Christine de Pizan’s Proverbes moraux and Enseignemens.” Genèse(s) et filiation(s) chez Christine de Pizan, eds. C. le Ninan and D. Demartini (pp. 153-169). Paris, France: Garnier. 

Adam Ballart

  • As part of Ball State University’s Strategic Plan and new Lifetime Learning platform, and with assistance from two other Spanish faculty (Iván Martinez Cepeda and Nidia Flis), he developed content for six online modules to be designed and launched as a non-credit micro-credential program for Spanish in Health Care. This content consists of instructional material, tutorial and interactive activities, assessments, and resources adding up to more than 39,000 words of publishable content. In addition, the program anticipates the offering of several non-credit courses for working professionals which would include some in-person classes at the centers in Muncie, Fishers, and downtown Indy.
  • He also received funding from the Inter Faith Youth Core “2022 Faith and Health Campus Grant” to address key issues at the intersection of faith and health and to increase the collaboration of religious diversity and health on the Ball State campus.  Curriculum development to improve SP 338 (Spanish for the Professions – Medical Spanish) was proposed. Specifically, he is seeking to review and update course articles that touch on factors — including religion — that influence health trends, and to update or create course components relating to topics of religion and spirituality (cultural health beliefs and practices and how they influence patient health decisions and disparities).  All findings and course enhancements will be summarized in a final comprehensive report.

Students

Monet Lindstrand, a French minor, won the Anne Pieroni Szopa Scholarship in Women’s Studies.

Jessica Walls is an English teaching major and a Chinese minor. She recently received two awards: Outstanding senior in Chinese and a Fulbright Award to teach English in Taiwan. 

Alumni

Elyse Engelhart, minor in French, is continuing graduate studies at Illinois State. 

 

For more information about the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, visit our website, contact our office, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.