Faculty & Student Awards, Grants & Publications
- Peter Beicken has published “Kafka’s Visual Method: The Gaze, the Cinematic, and the Intermedial” in Kafka for the Twenty-First Century, ed. by Stanley Corngold and Ruth V. Gross. Rochester, New York: Camden House. His “Die Büchse der Pandora. G.W. Pabsts filmische Sicht von Wedekinds Lulu,” is forthcoming in the proceedings of the 2009 Bremen University conference on Pandora.
- Rudolph Matthee (co-edited with Jorge Flores) the recently published Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia (Leuven: Peeters, with the Smithsonian Institution and the Iran Heritage Foundation, 2011). Matthee contributed the Introduction as well as the essay “Distant Allies: Diplomatic
Contacts between Portugal and Iran under Shah Tahmasb,
1525-1576.” - José María Naharro Calderón served as Director of the Diásporas y Fronteras Studies conference held in Llanes (Spain) in August 2011, now in its tenth year. He also presented a talk on the 1946 documentary, “Spain in Exile” (G. Zúñiga). His latest edition of Celso Amieva’s El paraíso incendiado, La almohada de arena/ y /Versos del maquis was presented at the end of the conference by Spanish novelist
Francisco Núñez Roldán. In addition, this past Spring, he delivered keynote lectures at the University of Nevada-Reno, Harvard University, and the University of California-Davis. - Andrea Frisch, José María Naharro Calderón, Robert DeKeyser and Minglang Zhou all received DRIF funding for travel.
- Elizabeth Papazian, along with the colleagues in the Graduate Field Committee in Film Studies (Caroline Eades, Erik Zakim, Jonathan Auer Bach), received $3500.
- José María Naharro Calderón received funding in support of his proposal to create a student-faculty theatre group that will offer Spanish theatre to the campus community.
- Mike Long (serving as PI) and graduate student Gisela Granena have received a National Science Foundation doctoral dissertation award to fund Granena’s dissertation research.
- Sandra Cypess debuted on YouTube to discuss Mexican literature, travel, and the impact of women in Mexian history in a 3-part video on the Mexico Today Channel. Visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/mexicotodaychannel and search Sandra Cypess.
- Eric Zakim hosted a highly successful conference of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew (June 28-30), at which he served as Committee Chair and delivered a paper entitled, “Is there a Text in This (Hebrew Literature) Class?”
- Michele Mason’s paper, “Revisiting Narratives of Meiji ‘Progress’: Seiji Shisetsu as Sexual and Political Opposition,” appeared in the most recent issue of Japan Forum. Visit http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjfo20.
- “Linguistic correlates of second language proficiency: Proof of concept with ILR 2-3 in Russian,” by Mike Long, Kira Gor, and S. Jackson, appears in Studies in Second Language Acquisition 33, 4, 2011.
- Robert DeKeyser’s articles recently published (or soon to be) include: “Aptitude.” In P. Robinson (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Second Language Acquisition. “Cognitive aptitudes for L2 learning.” In E. Hinkel (ed.) Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Volume II/. New York: Routledge, 2011, (as first author, with SLA student Joel Koeth as second author).
- Alene Moyer’s “An Investigation of Experience in L2 Phonology” appears in Canadian Modern Language Review, 67, 2011.
- Mike Long delivered the plenary address, “SLA and LCTL’s,” at the Korean LEARN conference in Honolulu in July. In September, he will deliver the plenary address, “Age differences, cognitive aptitudes, and ultimate L2 attainment,” at the EUROSLA (European Second Language Association) conference in Stockholm.
- Minglang Zhou gave two invited talks at Nanjing University in June: “A Global Chinese?” and “A theoretical model: Sociolinguistic Life.”
- Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak was featured Keynote Speaker at a day-long symposium at UCLA sponsored by the Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies. The one-day symposium examined what happens when Persianate seekers “find” the realms of alterity referred to as Un-Iran and, likewise, when seekers of Un-Iran come into contact and conversation with the peoples of the Greater Iran. Karimi’s presentation, entitled “Seekers Finders . . . Finders Keepers?,” examines a variety of Persian texts, both classical and modern, where antique notions such as “Seekers Finders” are combined with sustained efforts, particularly in modern times, to appropriate the literary heritage of a common past in the name of the modern country of Iran, thereby excluding other claimants to the heritage.
- Saul Sosnowski, along with Mirta Kupferminc, presented the opening of the exhibit “Cartografia do desejo: Borges e la Cabalá” at the Centro da Cultura Judaica, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Congratulations to the following Graduate students who have recently defended their PhD dissertations:
- Dr. Agnieszka Anna Bolikowska (Spanish) successfully defended her dissertation, Performing Borders: Guillermo Gomez-Pena's Artistic Conventions and Pedagogy, on May 23, 2011. The committee members were: Dr. Sandra Cypess (Chair), Dr. Roberta Lavine, Dr. Mehl Penrose, and Dr. Jeffrey Pinder. The Dean’s Representative was Dr. Jacqueline Wallen.
- Dr. Aissatou Diop-Hashim (French) successfully defended her dissertation, SANNI KADDU’: à la redécouverte du discours féminsite au Sénéga (SANNI KADDU: Rediscovering Feminist Discourse in Senegal), on March 29, 2011. The committee members were: Dr. Valerie Orlando (Chair), Dr. Caroline Eades, Dr. Andrea Frisch, and Dr. Hilary Jones. The Dean’s Representative was Dr. Zita Nunes.
- Dr. Maria Renata Eguez (Spanish) successfully defended her dissertation, Puntos Ciegos En La Reciente Narrativa De Ecuador Y Colombia: Nuevo Realismo En El Cambio De Siglo (1990-2006), on April 11, 2011. The committee members were: Dr. Saul Sosnowski (Chair), Dr. Sandra Cypress, Dr. Laura Demaria, and Dr. Eyda Merediz. The Dean’s Representative was Dr. Roberto Korzeniewicz.
AY 2011 Graduate Student Awards
- ARHU Summer Research Fellowship (2011)
Melda Baysal (German), Ina Sammler (German), and Jason Bartles (Spanish)
- Center for Teaching Excellence, Distinguished TA Awards (2011)
Petra Volkhausen (German) and Claudia Biester (German)
- SLLC Outstanding TA Award
Elena Campero (Spanish) and Ina Sammler (German)
- Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship (2011)
Sunyoung Lee
- Mabel S. Spencer Award for Excellence in Graduate Achievement (2011)
Sunyoung Lee
- Camille Kardel has been awarded a Boren Fellowship to Tajkistan. Kardel will study Persian in Dushanbe while working at a local NGO on issues of gender and development.
- Vanessa Leal has been awarded a Boren Fellowship to Syria (or an alternate study abroad site selected by the Boren program). Leal has proposed to complement Arabic study in Damascus with work in immigration and refugee affairs at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
- Gabriel Ramirez has been awarded a Boren Fellowship to Syria (or an alternate study abroad site selected by the Boren program). In addition to pursing Arabic study in Damascus, Ramirez has proposed to examine Shari’ah’s role in society.
- Iman Ng has been awarded a $20,000 Boren Scholarship for intensive language study in Syria (or an alternate study abroad site selected by the Boren program).
- Sarah Straney has been awarded a $20,000 Boren Scholarship for intensive language study in St. Petersburg with the ACTR program.
- Abby Cember has been awarded a $8,000 Boren Scholarship for intensive language study in Russia for the summer of 2011.
*Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are highly competitive Department of Defense awards for language study in regions critical to U.S. national interests. The program targets applicants with a strong interest in using their skills and knowledge in government service. - Zainab Abdul-Rahim (BA French ’10) was very active with the campus’ Japanese Koto Ensemble at UMD, an experience which inspired her interest in South Korea and its traditional instruments, music and culture. Zainab was also a member of the CIVICUS program, receiving its citation in spring 2008, and gained valuable experience for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant position through her involvement in Maryland’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program.
- D. Brent Edwards (BA Spanish ’05) is a PhD candidate in International Higher Education Policy, College of Education. Brent’s project will research education management decentralization (EDUCO) in El Salvador. Using case study methods he will investigate (a) how regional, national, and international actors influenced the adoption and implementation of EDUCO, and (b) the operation, strengths, and weaknesses of community management of education across four rural communities.
- Kristen Noto (BA French and Spanish ’11) has been an active member of Maryland’s Language House immersion program and is also an earlier winner of a Gilman Scholarship for study abroad in Spain. As an accomplished student of three languages, Kristen is well-suited to her assignment in this multi-lingual principality where Spanish, French and Portuguese are spoken alongside Catalan.
- Stephanie Von Numers (BA Spanish ’11) was a member of the Honors College and Language House. Stephanie gained valuable teaching experience as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for an upper-level Psychology course as well as through the Maryland English Institute’s English Speaking Partner Program.
University of Maryland students and alumni have won a record 19 Fulbright awards to study, conduct research, or teach English around the globe during the 2011-12 academic year. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, providing more than 1,500 awards annually for international experiences. Maryland's Fulbright recipients will travel to 14 different countries on five continents to carry out projects in fields ranging from neurobiology and environmental conservation to journalism, history and piano performance. Others will teach English at elementary schools and on university campuses. - Scholarship for International Understanding
Maryam Elbalghiti (Arabic) and A. Paul Massaro III (German)
- SLLC Study Abroad Scholarships
Taylor Douglas (Spanish), A. Paul Massaro III (German), Allison Wolf (Spanish) - German Academic Exchange Service DAAD Young Ambassador (for AY ’12) Lawson Ota (German)
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Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals
Annelise Myers (German)
- Rebecca Williams Award
Melody Poland (Japanese Apartment Leader and Gardening Club President) - Catherine P. Mackin Memorial Scholarship (for AY 2012 study)
Tess Krimchansky (Russian)
- Russian Overseas Flagship Grant (for AY 2012 study)
Harry Moran (BA Russian and French ’10)
- Critical Language Scholarships
Kevin Butts (Tunisia), Rachel Mayer (Jordan), and Iman Ng (Russian)
Boren Fellowships*
Camille Kardel (Persian), Vanessa Leal (Arabic), Gabriel Ramirez (Arabic)
AY 2011 Undergraduate Student Awards
Boren Scholarships*
Iman Ng (Arabic), Sarah Straney (Russian), Abby Cember (Russian)
Notably, Maryland undergraduate applicants for Boren Scholarships achieved a 58% success rate in AY 2011, with 7 of 12 applicants selected for awards, compared with a national selection rate of only 16% (940 applicants and 151 recipients). Maryland’s grad students performed strongly as well, with 6 of 12 applicants receiving Boren Fellowships, compared with a 19% selection rate nationally (625 applicants and 117 recipients). Both results set new records for the UMD campus and place us among the top recipient institutions nationally.
Fulbright Awardees
Zainab Abdul-Rahim (South Korea), D. Brent Edwards (El Salvador), Kristen Noto, Stephanie Von Numers (Argentina – Alternate), Lydia Tukarski (Germany)
The award is given in recognition of Rebecca Williams' commitment to issues of world peace, women's rights, nuclear power, preserving the environment and equal opportunity. Rebecca Williams was a psychometrist at the Counseling Center from 1968-87. This award is given to an undergraduate or graduate student who has demonstrated a personal commitment to advocating change in these issues.
