Dear Friends of French and Italian,
Hello! As Autumn semester comes to a close and the holidays are upon us, it is clear that The Department of French and Italian has been very busy and productive over the last several months. I am truly inspired by all the incredible accomplishments of the members of our department, including our amazing team of staff who make possible all that we do, our smart graduate students who are engaged in exciting research, our undergraduate students who make our classes so special, and our dedicated lecturers and faculty who are wonderful pedagogues and researchers.
Autumn semester saw the arrival of many new faces in the Department, and this issue of FRONTIERE places a focus on these wonderful people, including Senior Lecturer in Italian April Weintritt, Visiting Assistant Professor in Contemporary Italian Culture Luca Peretti, and Danielle Schoon and Harry Kashdan who are sharing the position of Postdoctoral Researcher in The Global Mediterranean. Danielle and Harry have been very busy in encouraging all things Global Mediterranean at OSU, and have pursued many initiatives and successful grant opportunities, for example, they put together a successful proposal to bring the Mediterranean Seminar to OSU in Spring of 2020; created two new cross-listed courses: A 3000-level GE on Mediterranean Migrations to be offered next semester; A 5000-level course called ‘The Global Mediterranean’ (in process); launched the Global Mediterranean Student Organization, which held several events this semester and plans to bring a guest scholar (Dr. Leila Hudson) this spring; received a Migration, Mobility, and Immobility Grants for several exciting initiatives, among other things!
This issue also highlights several international initiatives undertaken by FRIT members, such as a Global May program in Paris organized by Audrey Hoffman that initiated in 2018, and will continue in 2019 (led by Professor Benjamin Hoffman) and an Italian City program in Bologna that will inaugurate in 2019 and will be led by Professor Jonathan Combs-Schilling. Engaged travel is a feature of our department, and our undergraduate and graduate students have benefitted from several amazing opportunities as featured in FRONTIERE, including taking part in internships with the Canadian Parliament, giving papers at prestigious international conferences, and engaging in exciting collaborations at The University of Bologna.
I feel very fortunate to work with so many inspiring people, who all aim to manifest the utility and indispensable nature of foreign languages to a vibrant university ecosystem, fostering plurilingualism and multiculturalism in Ohio and beyond. In this period of reflection and giving thanks, I would like to highlight some of the many accomplishments of our FRIT family (I wish I could list them all!):
- We are incredibly excited about a new Global Citizens Summer Camp organized by Dr. Janice Aski that will launch in 2019 and will bring about 50 Middle School students to OSU for a week where they will have exposure to four languages: French, Italian, German, and Portuguese, and will experience several activities aimed at instilling in them the values of global citizenship. There is also a service learning course for undergraduate students, where in the Spring OSU students will learn the theories, skills and techniques involved in teaching foreign languages and cultures to middle school children, and will then work at the camp for the week. A graduate student will facilitate afternoon activities.
- Dr. Marx-Scouras was cited article in a The New Yorker article on the topic of: ‘Was the Philosopher Julia Kristeva a Cold War Collaborator?’
- Senior Lecturer Gloria Torrini-Roblin received the Affordable Learning Exchange grant that will amount to an overall reduction of costs of course materials in the amount of $33,150 per academic year.
- This summer the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum partnered with Dr. Maggie Flinn to offer a two-day, French-language workshop to teachers. Teachers came from all over Ohio (and even out of state) to learn more about French-language comics or bande dessinée and how to incorporate them into their teaching.
- Graduate Student Erik Scaltriti was awarded a fellowship for Spring semester 2019 from The Center for Humanities in Practice, during which time he will work with the Office of the Chief Information Officer at Ohio State on the Digital Flagship initiative.
- Dr. Lucille Toth won a Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Grant to fund a dance project with Ohio-based female immigrants questions gender and mobility called On Board(hers), which explores how global mobility is gendered. Representing different ages (18 to 72 years old), ethnicities (Estonia, France, Ghana, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Philippines, Syria, Sweden, Uganda), sexual orientations, socio-economic statuses and levels of education, the women meet every month to produce a unique testimony of the ways in which stories of immigrants are part of contemporary national and global history.
- Finally, our Academic Program Coordinator Sonya Afanasyeva was recently awarded the ASC Staff Excellence Award! And, a special thanks to Sonya for putting together FRONTIERE.
I would like to take this occasion to wish you all a lovely holiday season. I also invite you to follow us on Twitter and Facebook where you can hear about our wonderful lineup of events, and learn of news regarding all of the exciting things that we are up to!
Sincerely,
Dana Renga, Department Chair
