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Department Highlights
American Studies
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In 2020–21, graduating American Studies students benefitted from taking senior seminars from Kristin Matthews (“America as Baseball—Baseball as America”) and Matthew Mason (“Slavery in History and Memory”) . Also during 2020–21, American Studies affiliated faculty published a handful of books: Carol Edison, Eric A . Eliason, and Lynne S . McNeill, eds ., This Is the Plate: Utah Food Traditions (University of Utah Press), and Brian Russell Roberts, Borderwaters: Amid the Archipelagic States of America (Duke UP) .
Asian & Near Eastern Languages
The department was busily engaged during the previous academic year with the departmental Self-Study Report, which was completed in January 2021, and the virtual hosting of the external reviewers . In addition, Dana Bourgerie completed his tenure of service as department chair and was replaced by Richard McBride in July 2021 . Several faculty members have earned special distinctions or have been entrusted with significant responsibilities: Julie Damron received the Global Engagement Initiative Award from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) . This national award reflected her outstanding work with the BYU/ Kyung Hee University Direct Enrollment Program . Clay Parker has been selected as the chair of the Korean to English Certification Committee for the American Translators Association (ATA) . His service in the position began in January of this year . Additionally, Clay serves as the Utah liason to the Language Council of the National Language Museum . Daniel Peterson became an executive producer as he launched and supported the creation of the film Witnesses . The film tells the story of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon .
Jack Stoneman was co-curator, with Aaron Skabelund (BYU History), of the “Discovery & Wonder: The Harry F . Bruning Collection of Japanese Rare Books and Manuscripts” exhibit . The exhibit was on display throughout the 2020–21 academic year in the Harold B . Lee Library, L . Tom Perry Special Collections Gallery .
Comparative Arts & Letters
Kerry Soper is the new chair of the Department of Comparative Arts & Letters beginning January 2022 . His
appointment was delayed due to a study abroad he will attend Fall 2021, and Carl Sederholm will continue in this position until January . Stan Benfell is the new director of the Kennedy Center .
English
English Major Redesign Approved:
The new English major begins with core classes, the literary history survey and ways of reading and writing, then introduces tracks to allow students more focus and clearer pathways . Literary Studies guides students to think and write critically, and ethically, about literary texts .
Literary Media and Cultures
studies how popular literature and traditional stories are transmitted and transformed . Professional Writing prepares students to borrow the rhetorical wisdom of the ancients for today’s versatile communication needs . Creative Writing teaches students how to read texts like a writer, revise like a pro, and trade feedback with peers .
English Education MA Emphasis
Approved: No other university in the state of Utah offers an MA in English with an English teaching emphasis . Licensed secondary English educators now have a degree path to increase their earning power, leadership opportunities, and qualifications to teach concurrent enrollment courses . They will develop deeper disciplinary knowledge as well as methods and theories of effective instruction .
COVID Events and Adaptations:
The English Reading Series went completely virtual, and thus could showcase more prestigious prize- winning authors, including National Book Award finalist Gerald Walker and Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart .
The English Symposium also became a one-day virtual conference featuring pre-recorded papers by over fifty students . Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye gave the keynote lecture . The Research and Writing Center continued to serve hundreds of students through online tutorials . We also initiated a new administrative structure by hiring manager Tyler
Gardner.
University Writing met the challenge of in-person instruction for first-year writing students by offering teaching assistants to graduate instructors and by mentoring graduate instructors through large sections taught by Jon Ostenson and Amy Williams.
Awards and Honors:
The renamed Brandie R. Siegfried Women in Academia Panel honors the memory of Professor Siegfried . The virtual event featured Juliana
Chapman, Tessa Hauglid, Leslee
Thorne-Murphy, and Jarica Watts. Related posthumous honors include the Brandie R . Siegfried Global Women’s Studies Scholarship and the Faculty Women’s Association Scholarship award .
Matt Wickman gave a university devotional, “Thriving Spiritually . ” Chris Crowe, Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, gave the forum, “A Novel Idea: How Genre Evolution Sparks Creativity . ” Heather Hammond, President’s Appreciation Award . Spencer Hyde, John A . Widstoe Grant for creative work that enhances quality of life .
John Bennion, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Mormon Letters .
Kylie Turley, English Department Adjunct Faculty Research Award . Darlene Young, English Department Adjunct Faculty Creative Works Award .
Jarica Watts, English Department Citizenship Award . Jason Kerr, English Department Teaching Award . Peter Leman, English Department Scholarship Award .
French & Italian
Broadway’s musical The Book of Mormon has nothing on Paris vaudeville . The Mormon History Association (MHA) awarded Chris Flood and Corry Cropper the 2021 prize for Best Book on International Mormon History for their recent critical translation of four French musical comedies produced in the 19th century, Mormons in Paris: Polygamy on the French Stage, 1874-1892 (Bucknell, 2020) . We look forward to future performances of these unearthed bijoux . In collaboration with colleagues from Dartmouth College, Stony Brook University, and the University of British Columbia, Marie Orton coorganized a two-week series dedicated to “Diversity, Decolonization and Italian Studies .” The six days of presentations and discussion via zoom were attended by more than 385 scholars from across the world . The presentations are viewable on YouTube, and extended versions of the scholarly papers will be published in a special edition of the journal Italian Studies in Southern Africa.
German & Russian
Rob McFarland edited ca . 900page The Red Vienna Sourcebook with two colleagues from Vienna . The sourcebook is a collection of 280 original archival texts from the period
from 1919–34, when Vienna's social democratic government undertook a massive societal experiment relying upon scientific studies and innovative tax policies to provide the city's residents with housing, medical care, education, and cultural institutions . Each archival text is annotated and introduced with an academic essay that explores its historical and political context . The Red Vienna Sourcebook was published simultaneously in an English version (Camden House) and in a German version (De Gruyter) . Professor McFarland wrote the chapters on Americanism, Freudomarxism, religion and secularism, and Jewish life and culture . He also edited all of the English translations . The Austrian newspaper Tagebuch named The Red Vienna Sourcebook “The History Book of the Year . ”
Laura Catharine Smith’s coedited volume with Patrizia Noel (Bamberg) entitled Preferences, is set to be published this fall by Mouton de Gruyter . The volume is in honour of Theo Vennemann’s contributions to linguistics .
Linguistics
The Department of Linguistics thrived through the COVID academic year of 2020–21 . Our students, faculty, and staff showed their flexibility and resilience throughout the changing landscape that was life at BYU last year . A big change came when after two terms as chair, Norm Evans turned the reins over to Dan Dewey in July . Dan has been serving as associate chair and brings an in-depth knowledge of and great future vision for the department . Don Chapman will continue his service as associate chair and is joined by Grant Eckstein as the second associate chair . Both Don and Grant bring tremendous organizational skill and work ethic to their positions . August’s department retreat was centered on preparation for our unit review, conducted every seven years . That review was done in March and initial feedback from internal and external reviewers has been very positive . The unit review document will be instrumental in focusing future efforts in the department and was truly a collaborative effort .
Lynn Henrichsen retired in July and a search was held to hire two new faculty members to fill previously vacated faculty spots . The department will welcome Lisa Johnson and Jeff Green this August . In December, Tiina Watts, department part-time secretary moved on to another position at BYU and we were very fortunate to hire
Sherri Hadfield.
Also new to the department is the Linguistics Experiential Learning
Scholarship . This award is directed to undergraduate majors in our department to help with any experiential learning opportunity, including study abroad, research, or internships .
Faculty and Students in the News:
§ Suzanne Rice, TESOL MA student, placed third in the University 3MT competition . Rice placed first in the college competition, which qualified her to compete in the university competition . Suzanne’s chair was James Hartshorn .
§ Earl Brown wrote an article for the Humanities Center entitled, “Humans Speak, Dolphins Don’t,” describing how language is uniquely human . § Michael Peck, linguistics MA student, was featured in an article on the College of Humanities website for the new learning opportunities he is bringing to the Kekchi class he teaches . § Retired faculty member, Bill Eggington, was featured in an article for BYU News headlined as, “BYU Professor Helps Courts Solve 60 Cases as Language Detective .” The article described his work as a forensic linguist expert in numerous court cases .
Philosophy
The past academic year was a bittersweet one for the Department of Philosophy, marked as it was by the passing of a dear colleague, David Paulsen, and the challenges posed by COVID while several of our department members achieved notable milestones and received prestigious awards . Gordy Mower was promoted to associate professor and Nate Rockwood passed his initial review; Ryan Christensen was appointed an Alcuin Fellow and Katie Paxman was given the Mentoring Award from the Faculty Women’s Association . We also completed our periodic Academic Unit Review in Fall 2020, with faculty members from Harvard and Texas joining members of BYU’s internal AUR team to conduct a thorough review of our curriculum and programs . We were very much encouraged by their favorable findings and look forward to implementing their suggestions . The department has rescheduled the ancient philosophy conference that was originally postponed due to COVID-19; it will be held in October 2021 and will feature presenters of international repute, as well as young, local scholars working in the field . Also several department members are actively participating in the creation of an LDS Philosophical Theology Project, with preliminary workshops scheduled to take place in fall 2021 .
Spanish & Portuguese
Blair Bateman completed his three- year term as director of the National Portuguese Exam (an exam for high school students) for the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese . Mara García received a Diploma de Reconocimiento [Diploma of Recognition] from the Associazione Italiana Calabresi Uniti Di San Isidro . She was also named “Cultural Ambassador” and “Mujer Girasol” [Sunflower Woman] by the Asorbaex organization in Spain . Cherice Montgomery received the Best of Utah Award from the Utah Foreign Language Association (UFLA) Conference for the presentation “Are Your Wildflowers Wilting?: Strategies for Supporting Students with Special Needs .” She will represent Utah at the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching in Reno, Nevada in March 2022 .
