2010 Volume 10 Department of Hispanic Studies School of Languages, Cultures and World A! Airs, College of Charleston
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HispaNews 2010 Volume 10 Department of Hispanic Studies School of Languages, Cultures and World A! airs, College of Charleston INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 1 Special Feature 1 Interview with Dr. Joe Weyers for his services as Department Chair 3 Interview with newly appointed Chair Dr. Mark Del Mastro 4 From the Provost O! ce 4 New Provost 4 From the Dean’s O! ce 4 Strategic Plan 4 Academic Program Update 4 Interpreting Programs External Review 5 Focus on the Faculty 5 New Chair 5 New Faculty Member 5 Faculty Evaluations 5 Faculty Activities 7 Faculty Mentoring Students 8 Focus on Our Students 8 Spanish Students Serving the Global Community and Other Achievements 10 Study Abroad 11 Sigma Delta Pi 11 Student Awards 13 Spanish Club 13 Portuguese Club 13 Linguistics Club 14 La Casa Hispana 15 Events 15 " e World Cultures Fair 15 Conference “Women in the Ibero-American Atlantic 1500-1800.” 15 Brazilian International Press Award 16 Alumni News 18 FYI 18 Global Scholars Program Editorial Committee 19 Stay Connected Dr. Nadia Avendaño 19 Gi" to the Department of Hispanic Studies Dr. Lola Colomina-Garrigós Dr. Gladys Matthews Prof. Claudia Moran Art Designer Laura Plotts Warm thanks to all our contributors! Special Feature Interview with Dr. Joe Weyers for his services as Department Chair INTERVIEW WITH JOE WEYERS Dr. Joe Weyers retired as Chair of the Department of Hispanic Stud- ies a& er serving for ' ve years. We asked him a few questions to ' nd out about his experience and future plans. Hispanews: What was your greatest challenge as Chair? Dr. Weyers: When I became chair I didn’t recognize how much the Chair is called on to do so many di! erent things. I think the great- est challenge was balancing all of the many responsibilities between student needs and faculty needs. " e curriculum, working with the administration and the requirements that the administration has as far as reports, data and information. Trying to balance all of that plus being a professor and a researcher, that was the greatest challenge, ' nding the perfect balance of being able to wear many di! erent hats at the same time, which can be really quite di) cult. Hispanews: What were the major changes that happened in the Department of Hispanic Studies during your term as chair? Dr. Weyers: I think the greatest change was in the Fall 2007, when we did a change to the curriculum which a! ected the minor and the major placement in the courses. " e ' rst thing we did was create a High Beginner’s track, Spanish 190 and Spanish 200 that feed into 202. We added Spanish 275 as a pre-requisite to the courses that come a& er it that a! ected the minor and the major as well, and it increased the major by three hours. We changed the placement policy by getting rid of the placement exam that we had and placing students according to their years of high-school experience. It took some time for all of the dust to settle a& er all of that, but I think that the changes have been positive. Even more so, I think it was a very good idea, and certainly an e! ort of many people and not just mine. " ere has been very little fallout and it worked well. I think the placement policy works well. HISPANEWS ‘10 Page 1 Hispanews: What projects do you have in mind once your term is over? Dr. Weyers: I’ve been working on a project on language change in Montevideo, Uruguay and I just published a paper documenting how language is changing amongst speakers who are under 40 years old. Speci' cally that the academic ‘ tú’ that is taught in schools is simply not used by speakers. So my ' rst article was based on interviews that I conducted, and it documents that that change is in process. Once I ' nish, that is this summer, my next article is going to be based on language change that is manifested in public advertising. I have about 200 pictures of billboards from around Montevideo. And of course, advertising has to talk to you, it has to address itself to you as a ‘tú’ or ‘usted’ or ‘vos’. I want to look at how public advertising may or may not a! ect language change, may or may not re+ ect language change. Going chronologically, I have a sabbatical in the year 2011, for the entire year. My sabbatical project is to do linguistic attitude surveys in Montevideo. " e type of surveys of getting people’s opinions of what they think about language change. It would be, for example if you hear: ‘¿De dónde sos tú?’ Does that sound bad, good, correct, incorrect, terrible? What is your opinion on doing that? I think that as language is changing, it is important to know what speakers think about those changes. " ere tends to be some resistance to change, so it will be interesting to see. So that is my long term goal, to do those linguistic attitude changes and surveys. Hispanews: What have you learned about yourself through this position? Dr. Weyers: I have tried to learn to be patient. Because of the balancing and the wearing of many di! erent hats, I have learned how to try to respond appropriately to the many di! erent challenges that present themselves. I think I don’t get quite so upset so quickly as I did years ago. I’ve learned to prioritize issues, whether they are positive or negative or emergencies. I have also learned how to be part of a bigger picture, because there is really a lot to be learned as Chair of the Department, about how the Department works and how the University works, and being one of those elements in that bigger working components requires a learning curve. I think I have learned how things operate. Bring me a problem and I will try to solve it for you, I know who to call, where to go, where to ' nd the answers. " at takes a long time. Hispanews: What are you going to do on the ' rst day as a “free man”? Dr. Weyers : I’ll be at Beach Walker Park, on Kiawah Island. I’ll have a book in my hand, with my head turned and probably snoring. " ank you, and best of luck! HISPANEWS ‘10 Page 2 INTERVIEW WITH NEWLY APPOINTED CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISPANIC STUDIES, MARK DEL MASTRO In order to further introduce our new Chair, Dr. Mark Del Mastro, Hispanews thought of asking him a few questions that might help him as well as our faculty and students get familiar with each other... Hispanews: What attracted you most to this position? Dr. Del Mastro: Spending the past 18 years at an institution (" e Citadel, were he was the Head of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures from July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2010) that is literally a jog from the College of Charleston, I have become very familiar with the Hispanic Studies Department on various levels: the scope and quality of its undergraduate and graduate programs, the caliber and commitment of the faculty and students, and the various projects within the department. " ese aspects along with the prestigious academic reputation of the College of Charleston made the position of department chair an irresistible and exciting opportunity. Hispanews: What is your ' rst order of business? Dr. Del Mastro: Learn, learn, learn! Many of my ' rst steps will be dictated by the additional information I will be actively gathering in the weeks and months ahead about the college, the department, my new colleagues and our students. My initial e! orts will focus on enhancing the current programs while exploring with faculty and students exciting new avenues for further innovation, development and growth. Hispanews: What do you think the new Chair’s greatest challenge will be? Dr. Del Mastro: Coming to an institution as an outside/external chair presents its own special challenges, particularly learning the ropes, as I mentioned previously. Nevertheless, I welcome with enthusiasm all of these related challenges. Hispanews: Tell us something about yourself that your new colleagues would ' nd interesting/never guess about you. Dr. Del Mastro: I am a Southern Barbeque (pulled pork) fanatic. Whenever I travel within the southeastern U.S., I search hard to ' nd that special “mom and pop” barbeque joint tucked away in some sleepy town or along some unspectacular stretch of road in the country. And to complement my passion for “Q,” I began smoking my own pork shoulder earlier this year... and I dare say that it can compete with some of the ' nest pulled pork I have eaten in the region! And of course tying this in with Hispanic Studies, the culinary historians will tell us the important impact that the early Spanish presence in this region had on the evolution of what is now considered a distinctively southern dish.... Very succulent... thank you Mark! HISPANEWS ‘10 Page 3 From the Provost O! ce New Provost In Spring 2010, the College of Charleston welcomed Dr. George Hynd as the new Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic A! airs. Dr. Hynd arrived from Arizona State University, where he was the senior vice provost for education and innovation and the dean and director of the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. From the Dean’s O! ce Strategic Plan for the School of Languages, Culture and World A! airs During the fall and the spring semesters, faculty members of the School of Languages, Culture, and World A! airs met twice to discuss the Strategic Plan for the School.