SUMMER 2016 • VOL. XXX INDIANA UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN frit LAVENDER FIELD, PROVENCE interdisciplinary courses and to enhance the poetic masterpiece Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, Chair’s Letter critical and intercultural skills that our courses which started in 2013 with an IU New Frontiers provide; we are also broadening our graduate Start-Up Grant, and was awarded a 3-year NEH MASSIMO SCALABRINI curriculum to ensure a rigorous training of our grant in 2014. erving the students and faculty of graduate students through bold methodologi- The news about our graduate and under- the department and helping them to cal innovations and a deeply interdisciplinary graduate students is no less exciting. We had S approach. enhance its academic mission is a true several successful dissertation defenses this French & Italian is a vibrant department year (Kelly Farmer and Jennifer Betters in French privilege, which comes with many rewards but whose long-standing national and international Linguistics, David Wagner and Kathryn Bastin is not without challenges. The first challenge is reputation is strengthened each year by the in French/Francophone Studies and David to live up to the inspiring leadership of my pre- achievements of our faculty and students. I am Winkler in Italian Studies); Lisa Dolasinski (Italian decessors, most recently Andrea Ciccarelli, who pleased to mention just a few of these achieve- Studies) and Rodica Frimu (French Linguistics) concluded his final term as chair last year, after ments. Professor Eileen Julien and a team of received highly competitive College Dissertation many years of effective and generous service, to faculty collaborators from three universities and PhD Completion Fellowships; and several focus on his new position as Dean of the Hutton including Associate Professor Oana Panaïté have of our students secured good academic jobs Honors College. received a National Endowment for the Humani- at institutions such as Ball State, Dallas, Duke, The main challenge however, as Professor ties grant of nearly $200,000 for a summer insti- Notre Dame, and Villanova. Our majors and mi- Ciccarelli pointed out in his last letter, is posed tute in 2016 entitled “Arts of Survival: Recasting by the continuing decline in interest, at the Lives in African Cities.” Another NEH grant of nors continue to participate in record numbers national level and at IU, in liberal arts educa- $240,000 was awarded to Rudy Professor Emeri- in study abroad programs, and their wonderful tion and the humanities in particular, includ- tus Albert Valdman, Associate Professor Kevin work has been recognized with prestigious IU ing world languages and cultures. With the Rottet, Research Associate Marvin Moody (PhD prizes such as the Provost’s Award for Under- unwavering support of our staff, we are working IU, 1972) and Professor Thomas Klingler (PhD IU, graduate Research and Creative Activity (Max tirelessly to respond to this challenge, by imple- 1992) from Tulane University for the develop- Andrew Nelson, BA’15) and the Kate Hevner menting creative innovations while reaffirming ment of a specialized dictionary of Louisiana Mueller Scholarship awarded to “students who our commitment to the core intellectual and French. Professor H. Wayne Storey and Associate have left the campus better than they found it” educational values of our work as teachers and Professor John Walsh (Informatics) have been se- (Erik Troske, BA’16) as well as by national organi- scholars. Our department is a leader in hybrid lected to receive the 2016 Outstanding Faculty zations such as the Italian honor society Gamma and online language teaching; we are revising Collaborative Research Award in recognition of Kappa Alpha and the French honor society Pi our undergraduate curriculum to include more The Petrarchive project to digitalize Petrarch’s Delta Phi. 50 YEARS OF IU IN BOLOGNA A BRIEF HISTORY OF FRIT BEST BOOKS & FILMS OF 2015-16 Graduation 2016: BA graduates’ plans range from railroads to fashion ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH hat do you do when your want to they kept up on class notes with help from Again this year, we have a few graduates take French, but all the classes are their new French friends. who combined their French studies with a W Emily Ellis (BA, Italian and Political scientific field. Maeve Bartiss, who received full? Take Italian of course! That’s how one of Science), who reminisced about her time in degrees in both French and Human Biol- our 2016 graduates was turned on to the Ital- Bologna with her punk rocker Italian room- ogy, has been accepted to attend medical ian language early in her IU career. Rebecca mates, plans to go into the family business, school and hopes to work with Médecins Nash (BA, Italian and Linguistics) studied railroad management. Jad Labban paired sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) French in high school, so it was natural to his studies with LAMP, the Liberal Arts and one day. She completed an honors thesis this continue French in college, which she did, but Management Program, to prepare for a career spring combining her interests and entitled not before discovering a passion for Italian as in business. He will first spend 7 months in “Immigration, politics, and access to health well. Like many of our undergraduate majors, Lyon as an English teaching assistant as part care in France and in the US.” Professor Brett she studied abroad, spending 2014-15 in Bo- of the TAPIF program, like several other Bowles was her thesis advisor. Alisa Klepach logna. This spring, she completed an honors French BA graduates. When asked why he (BA, French and Biochemistry), whose IU thesis on “Origins and comparison of days didn’t enter the Kelley School of Business, study of French started with the High School of the week in Italian, French, and English” Labban said he valued the “soft skills” that a Graduation, continued on pg. 4 under the supervision of Dr. Karolina Serafin. liberal arts education provides. Nash was one of several graduates who gathered in the University Club in early May for a reception hosted by the Department in honor of commencement. “We are proud of our graduates,” said Chair Massimo Scalabrini during the brief program mid-way through the gathering, “and wish them well as they go out into the world.” Our 2016 BA graduates are a diverse and enthusiastic group, eager to delve into a variety of projects after leaving IU. Macaira O’Connell, a double-major in French and Apparel Merchandising, plans to work with small, fair trade vendors as a clothing buyer, and she thinks her French will certainly come in handy working with West African arti- sans. Christina Ortuzar (BA, French and Communication & Culture) has a long-term goal of working in human resources, but her immediate plan is to become a flight atten- dant, a career in which foreign language skills are certainly key. O’Connell and Ortuzar both studied in Aix-en-Provence, along with Syd- French and English major Sarah Pierre-Paul (second from right) celebrates commencement with family members from Haiti at the ney Liu (BA, French and Journalism), where Department of French and Italian’s reception May 6 in the University Club.. Photo: Lisa Huffman. frit is published by the Department of French reetings from Aix-en-Provence, France! In 2015-16, sixteen IU students studied literature, and Italian of Indiana University-Bloomington Glinguistics, history, political science, psychology, anthropology, art history, musicology, and more to encourage alumni interest in and support for – in French, of course – as part of the IU overseas study program. The students, and myself as resident Indiana University. The newsletter is paid for by the director, were fully immersed in French university life and French and Provençal culture. Aix is a mid- Department. For information about our programs, sized, culturally vibrant university town – the traditional “capitale de la Provence” -- located between or to donate, please call (812) 855-1952 or visit frit. indiana.edu. the picturesque Luberon mountain range and the Mediterranean coast. Our students connected with the community in diverse ways: patronizing local pastry shops and crêperies, bien sûr!, but also vol- Department of French and Italian unteering with disadvantaged children, tutoring in English, serving as bilingual consultants, running Chair ................................................Massimo Scalabrini marathons, studying the endangered provençal language, learning about local history from natives, Editor........................................Isabel Piedmont-Smith Designer..................................Isabel Piedmont-Smith and leaving a light carbon footprint by walking every- where. During vacations, their quest for international College of Arts and Sciences understanding beyond France took some of them as Executive Dean ............................. Larry D. Singell Jr. far away as Russia (with much advance planning) and Executive Director of Advancement ..........................................Travis Paulin as surprisingly close as Morocco. In a year marked by terrorist attacks in both France and the US, and by the Director of Alumni Relations ............. Vanessa Cloe largest refugee crisis in recent history, students dem- IU Alumni Association onstrated great maturity, courage, and commitment to Class Notes Editor ..............................................Bill Elliott multicultural cooperation. We all return to Blooming- ton with new friendships and new perspectives! -- Barbara Vance Goofing