It’s time to celebrate the Good News of the Modern Languages and Classics Department at Ball State in 2022-2023!

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Faculty

Stephen Hessel was elected to the Executive Council of the Cervantes Society of America for a 3-year term (2023-2025).

• Handling the Truth: A Debates Companion to What Would Cervantes Do?, co-edited by Stephen Hessel and Brian M. Phillips was published by Hispanic Issues On-Line.
• Prof. Hessel’s bilingual blog post about the Oscar’s “slap” was published by the Cervantes Public Project: “The Slap (La bofetada)”
• Prof. Hessel’s podcast Pod Quixote published 2 new episodes: “Stephen Haff and Rogelio Miñana” and “Steven Ritz-Barr and Esther Fernández”
• Prof. Hessel presented at four conferences during the 2022-2023 academic year, including the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, the V Cervantes Symposium of the North East, the Ball State Provost Faculty Summit, and the Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America.

Lisa Kuriscak 

• Prof. Kuriscak was awarded the Ball State Outstanding Advisor Award.

Marie-Line Brunet

• The teaching unit, Dossier pédagogique: Edmond (Alexis Michalik, 2019), co-authored by Nathalie Degroult (Siena College) and Marie-Line Brunet (Ball State University) is among the most-read Hopkins Press journal articles on Project MUSE in 2022.

            https://www.press.jhu.edu/newsroom/2022s-most-read-journal-articles-hopkins-press

Kazumi Matsumoto Cantrell

• Dr. Cantrell was named 2022 Teacher of the Year by The Association of Indiana Teachers of Japanese.

Jennifer Rathbun

• Dr. Rathbun published her poetry book in translation of Alberto Blanco’s GIROS DE FAROS / CIRCLING BEACONS in Guernica Editions.

Charlie Geyer

• Dr. Geyer accepted a tenure-track position at the University of Arizona.

Chin-Sook Pak

• Dr. Pak coordinated with the College of Health to develop both beginner and intermediate courses in Spanish catered to nursing students. These courses are being taught by her and Adam Ballart and expand on the department’s current material designed for health professionals, including Spanish 338: Spanish for Health Professions and Prof. Ballart’s Lifetime Learning Micro-Credential Program Spanish for Healthcare.

Liu Li

• Dr. Li presented her project “Impact of pinyin-typing on CSL learners’ orthographic and phonological awareness” at the annual conference of Chinese Language Teachers’ Association in Washington DC on April 1, 2023
• Dr. Li held a professional-development workshop with high school teachers Ms. Chunmei Guan and Ms. Ye Sun on “Integration of Language, Culture and Content in Foreign Language Classroom” at the Central States Foreign Language Teachers’ Association in Columbus, Ohio on March 9, 2023

Current Students

Lev Heck, Japanese Teaching Major has gotten accepted into the JET program.

French and Fashion Major Jess Melvin was chosen as the Fulbright English teaching assistant for South Korea. 

Brittany Arendt (French Teaching Major), Caia Brandle, Ellie Chandler (French Minor), Vanessa Cuazitl (French Major), Bridget Johnson (French Major), Noah Mishler, Kennedy Moore and Sarah Olsen (French Minor) have been awarded a Transatlantic Mobility Program Scholarship to study abroad in France.

• The scholarship was made possible by the very generous support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. Indeed, in May 2014 the U.S. Department of State and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated their support towards Franco-American student mobility through a joint declaration which led to the Transatlantic Friendship & Mobility Initiative. This joint declaration aims to strengthen the historic ties between the United States and France by diversifying and doubling the number of students from France and the United States studying abroad in both countries by 2025. Together with APLU and NAFSA, the Cultural Services and the Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the U.S. have launched the Transatlantic Mobility Program with the aim of providing grants to colleges and universities which prioritize student mobility. 

Katelyn Redman (German Teaching Major) and Kami Horn (German Teaching Major) are studying abroad this semester in Germany. Katelyn is at the University of  Regensburg with the Kentucky Institute for International Studies and Kami is on the BSU exchange program at the Technische Universitaet Dortmund. 

Chinese minor Isabella McBride has been accepted to participate the Taiwan Intensive Summer Language Program.

German minor Reaghan Lewis was listed among the 100 best students at Ball State University. She is currently the President of the German Club and was chosen by the German faculty to receive the Lathrop Johnson Scholarship this year.

Classical cultures minor Brooke Stallings was listed among the Top 10 best students at Ball State University.

Alumni

Spanish Alumni Riley Sigler is currently on a Fulbright in Spain.

German Alumna Autumn (Cheyenne) Johnson is currently teaching German at Kokomo High School.

German Alumna Jaclyn Flandermeyer is currently working on a MS degree in Biology at BSU. 

 

For more information, please visit the College of Science and Humanities website and learn more about the good news of years past!