NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
FRENCH AND ITALIAN Issue 7, Spring 2015
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Bonjour tout le monde! Buongiorno a tutti!
The past three years have been eventful, as this period began with the longawaited semester conversion in autumn 2012. It is hard to believe, but the last group of undergraduate students who began their studies under the quarter system will graduate this spring. The conversion involved a lot of work but allowed the department Jennifer Willging, chair to update and enhance its curricula, adding new courses and programs such as a general education course on the city of Paris, a graduate seminar on French and Italian cinema, a PhD program in Italian Studies, and a new Romance Studies undergraduate major for students who want to explore not one or two but three romance languages at the same time. The expansion of the Foreign Language Center into the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures, under the leadership of Professor Diane Birckbichler, has fostered greater communication and cooperation among the language and culture departments in Hagerty Hall. This has led to a stronger, unified voice in university matters, and faculty members are engaging in increasingly interdisciplinary and extra-muros work both on campus and beyond. For example, Associate Professor Margaret Flinn has formed a working group on French film, and Assistant Professor Cheikh Thiam, a working group on Francophone African studies with scholars and graduate students across the state;
and Associate Professor of Italian Dana Renga has created two courses that include a series of video guest lectures by scholars from around the world. The department is delighted to have just hired a new assistant professor of Early Modern French studies, Benjamin Hoffmann from Yale University. This is a position that has been vacant for three years, although we have benefited from the willingness of Professor Emeritus Karlis Racevskis to continue to teach courses in this field. Last year we were lucky to have brought on board a new Assistant Professor of Italian Medieval Studies, Jonathan Combs-Schilling, and to have Visiting Assistant Professor Marisa Giorgi help us fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Professor Charles Klopp. The Department of French and Italian believes strongly in the humanities, and in the study of language, literature and culture in particular, for both the intellectual and practical benefits they bring to those who engage in them and to the world at large. As you read about the career paths taken by our graduates, the value of degrees in French and Italian becomes apparent. Whether our alumni teach their language, use it in a career that touches on work outside of this country, or engage in a liberal profession such as law or medicine, they prove that learning to speak a foreign language and to understand the cultures in which it is spoken enhance their career opportunities and enrich their lives in myriad ways.
Jennifer Willging Associate Professor and Chair Department of French and Italian willging.1@osu.edu
CONTENTS 2
Letter from the Chair
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FRIT, Taking Part in Scholarly Discussions
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Mellon Funds Postdoc Positions
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Wynne Wong, Dreaming Her Life Into Reality
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Why Minor in a Foreign Language?
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Study Abroad
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New Faculty
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Collegiality Inspires Academic Success
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Honorees from FRIT
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We Wondered‌
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Faculty Updates
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Alumni Updates
On the Cover: Siena Italian Studies participants: Taylor Landes, OSU; Clinton Weaver, Baldwin Wallace; Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi; Juan Carlos Ruiz-Coll, SIS Program Coordinator (OSU, 2009).
This newsletter of the Department of French and Italian is published for its alumni, staff and friends. The Ohio State University Department of French and Italian 200 Hagerty Hall 1775 College Road Columbus, Ohio 43210-1340 Office: 614-292-4938
Editor: Clare Balombin Department Chair: Jennifer Willging Design/Layout: Arts and Sciences Communications Services
FRIT, TAKING PART IN SCHOLARLY DISCUSSIONS
Whether examining current issues or trying to understand the past, the Department of French and Italian continues to play a role in the intellectual life of the university. FRIT has sponsored several recent lectures by internationally recognized scholars, and participated in a symposium that considered current events. In October 2014 Alec G. Hargreaves came to campus to discuss “A French Intifada? French Muslims and the Middle East.” As France is home to the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, religious conflicts emanating from the eastern end of the Mediterranean can resonate with those living in France. Hargreaves, former Winthrop-King Professor of French at Florida State University, explored the complex underpinnings of this dynamic and focused on unresolved tensions in French policy towards immigrant minorities of Arab and Muslim heritage. In February 2015, Robin Pickering-Iazzi, Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, presented “Geographies of the Mafia and Life Sentences,” a cartographic approach to a series of Italian novels, films, and testimonials. The talk considered the topic of criminality from multiple,
interdisciplinary perspectives such as gender studies, trauma studies, criminal justice studies, and studies in new media. In a mini-symposium sponsored by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in February 2015 Professor Danielle Marx-Scouras joined four other scholars in discussing the recent murderous attacks in Paris at the headquarters of the satirical weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. Participants considered why a cartoon magazine with relatively small circulation was targeted, and whether an increasingly global media landscape challenges some of the historical freedoms and practices of print media. In March 2015 Robert Darnton, Pforzheimer Professor and Director of University Libraries at Harvard, gave FRIT’s annual Havens lecture. Darnton explored the question, “What did the French Read on the Eve of the Revolution?” and discussed his open-access website, “A Literary Tour of France.” The fruit of many years of research in the archives of the Société typographique de Neufchâtel, Switzerland, and of the Parisian police, the site offers fascinating detail on publishing and censorship throughout France from 1769 to 1789.
MELLON FUNDS POSTDOC POSITIONS FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE PHDS In collaboration with The Ohio State University, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities Program awarded $2 million dollars to The Five Colleges of Ohio (OH5), Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster. The three-year grant will fund ten postdoctoral positions (five per year in two-year cycles, at $50,000 per year) for PhD graduates of Ohio State’s language programs. The recipients will be expected to teach, do research and collaborate with a mentor at the college assigned. Collaborative activities between the OH5 colleges and Ohio State also will be funded.
ASC, spearheaded Ohio State’s involvement in the grant, collaborating on the grant writing and planning process with colleagues at the OH5. Susan Palmer, OH5 executive director, and Joseph Klesner, provost of Kenyon College, were instrumental in the successful application process. “Collaboration was the key word in being able to obtain this innovative grant,” Birckbichler said. “We worked with colleagues at these five colleges and the chairs of our foreign language departments. The support of Arts and Sciences Executive Dean David Manderscheid and ASC Arts and Humanities Divisional Dean Mark Shanda also led to our success.” Birckbichler further noted that these postdoctoral fellowships provide unique professional opportunities for Ohio State doctoral graduates and are among the very few such positions in foreign language education.
Diane W. Birckbichler, director of Ohio State University’s Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures and professor of French, along with Garett Heysel, assistant dean of Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences (ASC), and Valarie Williams, associate dean of Arts and Humanities,
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WYNNE WONG, DREAMING HER LIFE INTO REALITY If a student dreamed of writing a movie script, seeing the film come to life, working with her favorite actress and promoting famous singers and artists, what would that person’s best major be? Advertising? Well, perhaps. But that undergraduate degree became a side-line to a deep love for the French language and for French and Quebecois cultures that have come to define Associate Professor Wynne Wong. According to Wong, “French has led me to all these experiences.”
book and film package combined her love of French with science and creativity. Probably one of the most stylish professors on any campus, Wong has added an appreciation for fashion and eyewear to the classes that she teaches. Along with graduate courses, every fall Wong teaches a section of French 1101 to gauge how students react to her book and to decide on revisions. Students respond to her passion for all things French. David Nield (class of 2017) said, “Professor Wynne Wong has the most infectious enthusiasm I’ve seen in a professor.”
Perhaps it was the day while still in high school when Wong found a copy of Nancy Drew in French at an Evanston book store that planted the seed? Pursuing a master’s degree, then a doctorate in French led to opportunities to do promotional work allied with Quebecois culture.
An aspect of the filming of the Liaisons movie speaks to Wong’s devotion to those who have helped her realize her dreams. A day of shooting was lost because the first cat “refused to work.” The understudy, the pet of the star’s friend (Mylène Savoie), became “Émile.” That name honors the late chair (Émile Talbot) of the French department at the University of Illinois, the person who first encouraged Wong to change direction and find a career in French--not her first choice, but her best one.
In the meantime, Wong began doing empirical research on second language acquisition, and as a consequence, wrote a textbook and screenplay. The beginning French textbook, Liaisons (written with Bill Van Patten and Stacey WeberFève, PhD 2006) was Wong’s “dream as a researcher, finally building a bridge between research and the classroom.” The
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STUDY ABROAD FRENCH: A new study abroad option is available for Frenchspeaking undergraduates: Dakar, Senegal.
WHY MINOR IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE? Here’s the answer: For almost three years Scott C. Pochatila (BS mechanical engineering, minor French, 2007) has relied on his French minor — and a TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program in France) experience — to conduct business in Paris, France. Working for Santarelli, an intellectual property and patents firm, has given Scott the opportunity to claim Airbus as one of his clients, filing for patents “on equipment, processes, parts, machines used to make parts, mechanical equipment that parts fit into” in individual countries and with the European Union. Canon is a new client. “It’s not always the easiest thing, learning a new technological field, but I suppose that it’s good for my mind in much the same way as vegetables and exercise are good for one’s body,” His work visa is renewable each year, and Scott expects to stay for at least another three to five years, “to have the full benefit of the experience.” This opportunity came about as a result of a summer internship with a Cleveland-area company while Scott was in law school. This year Scott is sitting for the first part of
the five-part European Patent Office agent qualification exam. He has already passed a U.S. Bar Exam and the U.S. Patent Attorney test. When asked about adjusting to life in Paris, Scott said that it was more than language: the number of people and the pace of life in Paris are very different from what he was used to in Ohio. In his free time Scott works on his apartment, cooks, goes to movies, book clubs, and, having kitted-out a bike for touring, sometimes leaves the city to “ride around in the countryside on the weekend — a half-hour on the train, and you’ll find yourself in beet fields and cow pastures, nice for a change of air.” Of course, travel around Europe is easy; Scott cites Venice as one of his favorite cities. Scott returns to the U.S. two or three times a year visiting family and friends. Of his experience with French studies at Ohio State, Scott cites classes with Associate Professor Jennifer Willging as some of his favorites. But, for now, Scott is enjoying the rhythm of Parisian life, following some trends (“a bit of stubble is fashionable”) and building a career in international patent law.
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Led by Assistant Professor of French and AAAS, Cheikh Thiam, it welcomed 13 student-travelers in its first year, 2014. Its focus is on the study of private and public life in Senegal through literature and the arts, history, philosophy and popular culture, including the vibrant hip-hop scene and grassroots political movements. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between tradition and modernity in Francophone Africa. This threecredit program is designed to give students a better understanding of the continuities and discontinuities of African cultures, their differences and similarities with Western cultures and their future prospects.
ITALIAN: Annually, from six to eight students participate in the Siena Italian Studies (SIS) program. Classes start with an intensive Italian language course. Content courses may be taken in addition to advanced language. Study options include a full academic year, a semester (up to 16 credit hours), and four-, six- and eight-week summer terms that yield six, nine or 12 Ohio State credits, respectively.” SIS offers a homestay program, where students live with Italian families. In the SIS service learning program students work hands-on, earning credit in various areas, such as aiding paramedics on ambulances, growing an organic garden, teaching children in local schools, or working in a soup kitchen. The summer program is set during the Palio, the famous historical horse race, so students get a chance to experience a longstanding tradition.
NEW FACULTY Jonathan Combs-Schilling (PhD, Italian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2012) arrived at Ohio State in August 2013, taking the position of assistant professor of Italian. Although he had brief stints as a football coach and an opera critic, Combs-Schilling was raised in an academic family and found what would turn out to be his true calling when he went to Italy to finish his college language requirements. “By that yardstick, I suppose the trip was a disaster, since it’s been seventeen years, and I haven’t stopped studying Italian yet.” It was taking courses on Boccaccio and Ariosto at the Università di Bologna that transformed a general passion for Italy into an intellectual pursuit, specifically rooted in medieval and renaissance Italian culture. “For whatever reason, those texts and my brain get along very well.” At Ohio State Combs-Schilling enjoys teaching the writers of the early Italian Renaissance, because the “Italian culture of the period is characterized by such exciting flux and movement into, within, and outside the Italian peninsula that students find a lot that they can relate to their experiences in our multicultural, 21st-Century world.
For Assistant Visiting Professor of Italian, Marisa Giorgi, the inducement to make a career of Italian was, just as for Assistant Professor Combs-Schilling, the opportunity to study in Italy and to experience the language, culture and people. After teaching at other, large, diverse universities, including New York University, Giorgi (PhD comparative literature, City University of New York, 2012) has tried to pass on her passion for Italian to her students, offering them a wide exposure to a variety of literary and filmic texts. Styles and Stylistics is currently her “favorite course because it is a nice blend of content and grammar.” Giorgi and her family enjoy the change of pace from New York City, especially Columbus’ many parks, its cultural events, its restaurant scene, “not to mention Jeni’s ice cream!”
COLLEGIALITY INSPIRES ACADEMIC SUCCESS Camilla Zamboni (MA Italian, 2009) has found her ideal job: Italian language program coordinator at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. It’s a long way from Verona, Italy, where Camilla grew up, but it’s a full-time, four-year contract, giving her the opportunity to create and develop course curricula for the first two years of Italian studies. (She is finishing her PhD at UCLA on the work of Italian filmmaker Elio Petri.)
Camilla has fond memories of The Ohio State University; her experience here was, she says, “the perfect introduction to how the American academic system works.” Interested in teaching from the time she was in high school, Camilla was looking for a program in the U.S. that combined practical experience, theory and her own research. Associate Professor Janice Aski “was a shock to me at first, then became a model for teaching. She had so much energy in class, and she was so personable” (In contrast to the conservative style of professors in Italy.) Associate Professor Dana Renga “was a great mentor. She awakened my passion for Italian cinema, and became an inspiration to pursue research further as a PhD student.” One of the things that attracted Camilla to Wesleyan is that collegiality is a core value there. “I value it so much because I was fortunate enough to experience it at Ohio State, both with my fellow graduate students and with the faculty.” As for the change from the sunny West Coast to snowy New England, Camilla says that she loves the seasons and the connectedness of New England. “I miss Los Angeles a lot, but I couldn’t be happier here.”
Camilla capitalizes on what students “can do” with the language. Even in the first year, students are expected to make in-class presentations and collaborate with others on projects. The second year relies on material that she gathers and presents: articles, film, short stories and blogs. Students “use what they know.” Given that there is a rich tradition of Italian immigration in the region, her second-year students
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will create oral histories using new technologies. This fits in with Wesleyan’s emphasis on “getting students to care about what they study.”
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CONGRATULATIONS TO FOUR AWARD WINNERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN!
DIANE W. BIRCKBICHLER WAS HONORED WITH THE 2013 PRESIDENT’S AND PROVOST’S AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED FACULTY SERVICE
DANIELLE MARX-SCOURAS WON AN INAUGURAL 2014 RATNER AWARD FOR TEACHING AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT In October 2014, French Professor Danielle Marx-Scouras was one of five Arts and Humanities faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences awarded the inaugural Ronald and Deborah Ratner Distinguished Teaching Awards. The Ratner Awards recognize faculty for making a difference in students’ education, lives and careers, while developing new courses, original material and/or innovative methods and venues of teaching. Each Ratner Award includes a $10,000 cash prize plus a $10,000 teaching account to fund future projects.
Diane W. Birckbichler, professor of French and director of the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures, has been a driving force behind the quality of undergraduate education in foreign languages at Ohio State. She is also well-known nationally as a specialist in and an advocate for foreign language learning. For this reason Birckbichler is a perfect ambassador for the university’s strategic plan to provide students with the linguistic and cultural competence to thrive in a global world. Her service credentials are impressive, ranging from work with the Supreme Court of Ohio and with inner city schools to the Regents Chinese Academy and the American Sign Language program. She passionately defended language instruction as part of the university’s general education plan a number of times when it was threatened. Birckbichler has been a member of the Ohio State University Senate and its Faculty Compensation and Benefits and Rules committees and served as chair of the Department of French and Italian and of the Foreign Language Chairs’ Advisory Committee.
Professor Marx-Scouras is acknowledged as a master teacher of francophone language and culture and postcolonial studies, as well as a tireless mentor of students of French. Her highly inventive courses place linguistic complexity and cultural change at their very center, creating unique opportunities for students to immerse themselves in contemporary francophone literature, art, music, politics and media. Her courses often lead to engaged learning, as her students and peers both attest.
“Without her, this university would be a considerably poorer place,” a nominator wrote. “It is largely a result of her tireless efforts that Ohio State is poised to be a global leader in international affairs.”
IN 2014 HEIDI BROWN RECEIVED THE GRADUATE ASSOCIATE TEACHING AWARD
Birckbichler received her MA in French Literature and her PhD in Foreign Language Education from Ohio State and has been an Ohio State University faculty member since 1979.
Heidi Brown received her doctorate in French in May 2014. Before graduating, she received a Graduate Associate Teaching Award (GATA), Ohio State’s highest recognition of exceptional teaching provided by graduate students. Only ten awards are conferred each year across the university.
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WE WONDERED … WHAT’S BECOME OF SOME OF THE LECTURERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF RENNES, FRANCE, WHOM THE DEPARTMENT HOSTS EACH YEAR? A nominating faculty member wrote, “On the occasions when I have had the pleasure of observing Heidi teach, I was often so captivated by what she was doing with her students that sometimes I forgot to take notes. Heidi has the coveted ability to energize students and to get them excited about learning any topic she teaches, and I have borrowed some of her ideas myself after watching her teach.” Heidi commented, “Although my students will never know the reasons behind my love of teaching and my enthusiasm for learning, it comes from a place of deep gratitude and joy to be alive. When I teach, I am most authentically, vibrantly living.”
MARGARET FLINN RECEIVED AN AWARD FOR ONGOING BOOK RESEARCH Associate Professor Margaret Flinn won the 2013 Virginia Hull Research Award ($2,500) for her current book project, tentatively titled, New Limits of the Real: Arts of the Moving Image and the Politics of the Contemporary Everyday. The award is intended to advance the careers of women faculty members in arts and sciences through direct support of their research activities.
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Fanny Hervé-Pécot (2011-2013) teaches English at the Supélec Rennes (École supérieur d’électricité, a French graduate school of engineering) and at the Lycée Immaculée Conception. She also volunteers at the Institut Franco-Américain, leading teen discussion groups in English.
Antoine Lagadec (2009-2010) gave us the following update: “After my experience at Ohio State, I came back to France and got a degree in journalism at the Sciences Po school in Rennes. I moved to Paris for an internship and became the editor-in-chief of a website called MinuteBuzz.com. Today, I work as a journalist at WEBEDIA, specifically Terrafemina.com, a website dedicated to women where I work mainly on women’s rights, gender equality and international issues. Since teaching at Ohio State was a great experience, I also became a journalism teacher here in France, at the Institut Européen de Journalisme in Paris.”
Maël Loubard (2007-08) works as a senior consultant in search-engine optimization and as quality manager for training at Keyade, a global on-line advertising services and search engine marketing firm, in Paris.
Romain Paumard (2008-2013) works for a non-profit called Community Integrated Services (formerly a part of Temple University) based in Philadelphia. As an employment training specialist, he is “both a case manager and a job coach for people of all ages. The goal of CIS is to provide services to people with disabilities in order for them to gain more independence. I develop jobs for people and do on-site coaching once they are hired. Then I come up with creative ways for them to be able to work independently, the final objective being to fade out entirely.” Romain and alumna Danielle PaumardGrodek (BA international studies and French, 2011) were married in 2013.
2015 FACULTY UPDATES Janice M. Aski, associate professor and director of the Italian Language Program, created a series of hybrid elementary language courses, which, unlike traditional courses, meet in class two days each week while students complete work on-line for two days. She ran a comparative study between traditional and hybrid formats to ensure that student learning was comparable to the traditional courses. She also coauthored a book manuscript: Iconicity and Analogy in Language Change, with an expected copyright of 2016.
Diane W. Birckbichler, professor of French, continues to serve as director of the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures (formerly the Foreign Language Center) and is active on several college and university committees. She presented a paper on the CLLC’s innovative, digital collaborative learning space at the recent E-Learn Conference in New Orleans and currently is working with colleagues in the CLLC on several technology-related articles. She was part of a team that received a $2 million dollar grant from the Mellon Foundation for post-doctoral fellowships in foreign languages (see pg. 6 in this newsletter).
Patrick M. Bray, associate professor of French, published The Novel Map: Space and Subjectivity in NineteenthCentury French Fiction, in January 2013. That same year Bray participated in an NEH seminar at the American Academy of Rome and saw the co-edited (with Philipp John Usher) volume, “Building the Louvre: the Architecture of Politics and Art,” appear in the journal Esprit Créateur. This compilation includes articles by Bray, Margaret Flinn and Sarah-Grace Heller.
the Comedy” at Columbia University’s Italian Academy in November 2014. A workshop-style symposium on allegory was organized by Combs-Schilling and Professor Karl Whittington (history of art) for the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, March 6 and 7, 2015. Later in the year he will present at Notre Dame University as part of its monthly series, “Dante’s Other Works,” a celebration of the 750th anniversary of Dante’s birth.
Jerry L. Curtis, associate professor of French at Newark, reviewed Gale Cenage’s submission on Lucette Desvignes for the series, Contemporary Literary Criticism (2015, vol. 372). He also helped to edit and produce Unfit to be a Slave: A Guide to Adult Education for Liberation by David Greene (Sense Publications, 2015).
Ted Emery, senior lecturer of Italian, published an article, “Casanova’s Coffeehouse: Sociability, Social Class, and the Well-bred Reader in Histoire de ma vie” in The Thinking Space: The Café as a Cultural Institution in Paris, Italy, and Vienna (Ashgate, 2013). In October 2014, he gave a paper, “Doppelgänger: Da Ponte’s Casanova” at an international symposium on Lorenzo Da Ponte at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum (New York), the Don Juan Archive (Vienna) and Mozarteum University (Salzburg). The acts of the conference are scheduled to be published in spring 2015.
Margaret C. Flinn, associate professor of French, published a book, The Social Architecture of French Cinema, 1929-1939
Jonathan Combs-Schilling, assistant professor of Italian, presented, “Dante’s Shepherds: Textuality and Truth after 10
(Liverpool University Press, 2014). Other published work includes articles on Jean-Luc Godard and Nicolas Philibert and a series on bandes dessinées commissioned by the Louvre. Along with Jean-Louis Jeannelle, she edited a special issue of the on-line journal Fixxion, entitled Écrivainscinéastes? Avenir d’une figure amphibie.
Marisa Giorgi, visiting assistant professor of Italian, spent part of summer 2014 conducting archival research in Rome and Milan for her book project, Growing Up Fascist: Children’s Literature in Italy, 19291939. Concurrently, Giorgi is working on an article on migrant literature in contemporary Italy. She recently gave birth to her second son, Oisin Raktim Nath. Marisa and her husband, Raj, along with big brother, Kieran, are excited to welcome the newest addition to their family.
Sarah-Grace Heller, associate professor of French, spent 201314 on sabbatical with her family in Poitiers, France, at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale (CESCM) studying texts and images of Romanesque and early medieval consumption for An Illustrated History of Medieval Fashion 500-1350. She also edited the Medieval volume of the Berg Cultural History of Fashion series. She is president of the Société Guilhem IX and active in Occitan studies.
Charles Klopp, professor emeritus of Italian, has an article on Celati and Delfini forthcoming in Italica. His coedited volume of essays and interviews, Cronache dal cielo stretto. Scrivere il Nordest, was published by Forum in Udine (2013). He currently is working on a translation with critical introduction of Romano Bilenchi’s 1940 novel, Conservatorio di Santa Teresa (summer, 2015), and on a collection of his own essays dealing with contemporary Italian writers. In March he will present a paper on Antonio Tabucchi at a conference sponsored by the Italyan Dil
ve Edibiyat Fakültesi of the University of Istanbul. In autumn 2014 Klopp was inducted into the new Emeritus Faculty Academy at Ohio State, a program established to foster the continued research and creative work of active emeritus faculty.
Albert N. Mancini, professor emeritus of Italian, currently is at work on the four previously unpublished last cantos (XVII-XX) of the epic poem “Il Costante” by Francesco Bolognetti (1510-1574). He served on several committees in 2013, considering candidates for editor of Italica and evaluating the position of Distinguished Professor at Queens College, CUNY. In 2014 Mancini advised on a promotion to the rank of Senior Lecturer at the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the University of Florida.
Danielle Marx-Scouras, professor of French, was invited to present at the Taft Research Center of the University of Cincinnati in February 2015, where she spoke on “French Remix: Popular Music and Identity Politics in Toulouse.” She gave two conference presentations in autumn 2014: “Circumventing the Nation: Popular Music and Identity Politics in Toulouse” at the 30th international IASPM Benelux conference at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands; and “Zebda: Made in France/Vu des USA” at the conference, “Ethnicités citoyennetés: socialisations musicales/ socialisations scolaires,” held at l’Université de Cergy- Pontoise, France.
Judith Mayne, professor emerita of French, was an invited guest at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September, 2014. The festival featured a retrospective of Dorothy Arzner’s films. Mayne’s 1994 book, Directed by Dorothy Arzner, was translated into Spanish for the event. In autumn 2014, Mayne was inducted into the new Emeritus Faculty Academy at Ohio State.
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Karlis Racevskis, professor emeritus of French, is enjoying a partial retirement. Last fall he gave a paper, “The End of Man: A Foucauldian Take on a Present in Crisis,” at the NEASECS annual conference. He writes an occasional book review and still serves as member of the editorial advisory committee for PMLA. And, most importantly, “I still have the pleasure and privilege to teach an occasional course.” In spring semester 2015, he is teaching FR 5402, “From the Roaring 20s to the 21st Century.” In autumn 2014, Racevskis was inducted into the new Emeritus Faculty Academy at Ohio State.
Dana Renga, associate professor of Italian, published a book, Unfinished Business: Screening the Italian Mafia in the New Millennium (University of Toronto Press, 2013), as well as eleven articles, book chapters and short pieces on topics such as mafia cinema, popular Italian screen studies, Italian teen film and Italian terrorist cinema. Renga also co-edits the journal The Italianist Film Issue.
Cheikh Thiam, assistant professor of French, recently published a book, Return to the Kingdom of Childhood: Re-envisioning the Legacy and Philosophical Relevance of Negritude (2014), and an article: “Negritude, Eurocentrism, And African Agency: An Africentered Renaissance of Leopold Sedar Senghor’s Philosophy” (French Review, 2014). Several other articles are forthcoming in the Journal on African Philosophy issue on New Perspectives on the Philosophy of Negritude: “Introduction: Negritude Reloaded” and “From Métissage to Relation: A Comparative Analysis of Senghor’s and Glissant’s Philosophies.”
Gloria Torrini-Roblin, senior lecturer of French, continues to teach a variety of intermediate and advanced courses. For her, “every student counts and every word counts, in that order. It is a privilege to share the classroom with our students, whether discussing ‘Hiroshima mon amour’ or 11
‘Le Mur,’ reviewing boot-camp French grammar, or doing translations. How do you translate ‘tout est pardonné,’ the headline of Charlie Hebdo’s first issue after the attack? Three words can mean so much, so many ways.”
Jennifer Willging, associate professor of French, is now in her fifth year as chair of the department. “Every day is a learning experience,” she says of this opportunity to work with FRIT students, faculty and staff, as well as colleagues across the university. She has also served for the last three years as a Great Lakes Region delegate to the Modern Language Association Delegate Assembly. She recently published and is currently working on several articles on Marguerite Duras and served as a faculty consultant on an issue on Duras’s The Lover in Short Story Criticism (2015).
Wynne Wong, associate professor, director of French graduate studies and director of French Basic Language Instruction, is completing the second edition of her textbook, Liaisons, and working on Encore, an intermediate level French textbook, with co-authors Stacey Weber-Fève (PhD, 2006), Anne Lair Mawdsley (PhD, 2003) and Bill VanPatten. She has an e-module coming out on input and formfocused instruction for Routledge’s professional series: “The Second Language Instruction E-Book Modules: Foundations of Contemporary Language Teaching.” Besides teaching, Wong is working on a series of eyetracking studies in SLA.
2015 ALUMNI UPDATES Rosa Ailabouni (BA French, international studies, political science, 2001) has received the 2015 Arts and Sciences Young Alumni Achievement Award. BuckeyeThon, the undergraduate philanthropic organization that Rosa started in 2001, raised $1.2 M this year to support children treated in the Hematology/ Oncology/BMT Department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Its main event is a twoshift, 24-hour dance marathon, held in February. Terasia Bradford with Zebda band members at their sound check before a concert near Paris.
Andrew Anderson (PhD French, 2011) works as a lecturer at Ohio State’s Columbus and Mansfield campuses and Columbus State Community College. Andy also serves as a board member of Wild Goose Creative, a non-profit arts organization that seeks to connect audiences and local artists through collaboration, education and creativity. “Although it’s fully a volunteer position, it has been fantastic being able to work with theater (one of my major PhD subject areas) and art.”
Jarrett Anderson (MA French, 2012) teaches French and Mandarin at Germantown Academy near Philadelphia where he helps to coordinate the middle school’s Diversity and Community Program. He served as Ohio State’s exchange lecturer at the Université de Rennes from 2012-2013.
Clare Balombin (PhD French, 2013) wrote her dissertation on the invocation of “Saints in the Roman de Renart.” She presented her research at the International Reynardian Conference in Alicante, Spain, in July, 2013. An article on the topic will appear in the spring 2015 issue of Reinardus.
Nicoleta Bazgan (PhD French, 2008) is assistant professor of French Cinema and Intercultural Communication at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is also associate editor of the journal Contemporary French Civilization (Liverpool University Press). Her published work focuses on women in on-screen Paris, gender and urban space, migration in European cinema and French female stardom.
Jessica Beheydt (BA French, 2014) teaches English in elementary schools in Guéret, France (Teaching Assistant Program in France--TAPIF) in the Massif Central region. “I’m finding ways to integrate fairly easily. I play on the local basketball team and volunteer at community events. The best things about Guéret are the welcoming atmosphere and that no one speaks English! Showing rural French people how to make buckeyes is the most fun I’ve had all year.”
Laura Belland (BA French, BS microbiology, 2008) is finishing her last year of medical school at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine in NYC. She hopes to be chosen for a Family Medicine residency starting in July (location TBD). Her specialty has been pain care for geriatric patients. Her work earned her second 12
listing among the authors of “Is all pain treated equally? A multi-center evaluation of acute pain care by age,” Pain, 155 (12). Aside from winning several scholarships and grants, Laura was selected for membership in Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the national medical honor society. In her free time, Laura did a 100-mile bike ride around the boroughs of NYC and recently completed her 20th scuba dive with advanced certification (in Aruba).
Lisa Bevevino (PhD French, 2012) has taken a tenure-track position in French and Latin at the University of Minnesota, Morris. In December 2013, Lisa and her husband, Aaron Wenzel, welcomed a daughter, Elisabeth Alice, whom they are raising to be bilingual (French and English). Lisa’s first article, “Vashti and the Gold Legend: a Pagan Queen Turns Saint?” was published in Magnicat Cultura i Literature Medievals in December 2014. The couple will lead a study abroad program in Rome in June 2015 (“From the Caesars to the Saints: Walking Ancient Rome”).
Rebecca Bias (PhD French, 2005) has been the assistant director of the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures for the past eight years. Rebecca co-directs the CAAP
Program, an early assessment program for languages that serves all Ohio high schools. She travels around Ohio to recruit schools to the program and provides various technology workshops to their teachers. She also teaches CLLC Radio, where students of French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Modern Greek train to be DJs and broadcast live worldwide in the target language. Rebecca lives in Columbus with her husband, Steve; they have four grandchildren.
Marissa Black (BA French and security & intelligence, 2012) is finishing law studies at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. After graduation, she plans to move to Cleveland, Ohio, to work for a large corporate law firm.
Corey Borders (BA French and Arabic, 2006) has been teaching English and Arabic to expatriate children at a private school in Abu Dhabi. He and his wife live in a small town out in the desert between the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia. “It’s an amazingly beautiful place! I was born and raised in Columbus, so living in the Arabian Desert has been a huge adjustment and a wonderful experience.” Next year they will move back to Columbus and hope to find jobs teaching in Central Ohio.
Douglas Boudreau (PhD French, 2009) will begin serving as chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA, (June 2015) where he is an associate professor. He recently signed a contract for an edited collection of essays in eco-criticism to be published at the end of 2015.
Terasia Bradford (BA French, 2014) was exposed to the diversity of the French speaking community and its music through courses in the French department. “They brought
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an entirely new dimension to my understanding of French society. Having the opportunity to meet the band, Zebda, has really brought my experience full circle. When I came to France to be a teaching assistant I didn’t really know what to expect but having the opportunity to teach young first/second generation immigrants has taught me what tenacity and hard work really mean. These students are creating something powerful and I am grateful to be a part of it. Being in Paris during such an historic moment [the international march for freedom of expression after the Charlie Hebdo murders] where we have seen the best and the worst of humanity, a lot of people ask, where do we go from here, and I think we can only go forward. On y va!”
Marvin Brown (BA French, 2011) spent a year in northern Paris on a French Government Teaching Assistantship (TAPIF) where he taught in a vocational high school. He then decided to return to the U.S. for law school at Yale University. Marvin worked as a legal intern for the Myanmar Development Resource Institute in the summer of 2013, and is currently in Cape Town, South Africa, on a research fellowship for the year. “If anyone is in South Africa this year, please feel free to send me an email at mcbrown.iv@ gmail.com.”
Jennifer Branlat (PhD French, 2012) is an assistant professor of literature at Antioch College. In addition to teaching literature and film in the classroom, Jennifer teaches an experiential course called Literacy and Social Justice, in which Antioch students serve as literacy mentors to ESL students (asylum seekers or refugees from more than 15 different regions around the world) at Kiser Elementary in Dayton, Ohio.
John Burgdorf (MA, French, 1973; ABD, French, 1976) taught French at Ohio State and Ohio Wesleyan, then at Boston and Tufts Universities for 15 years. After another 30 years of managing software documentation projects in Boston and San Francisco, he moved back to Ohio in 2012 to Yellow Springs, “near dear friends, a teenager who calls me ‘Grandpa,’ and a not-quite-retirement gig managing the donor database and producing newsletters for a local nonprofit, communitysolution.org.”
Heidi Brown (PhD French, 2014) wrote her dissertation on “What ‘I’ Cannot Say: Testifying of Trauma through Translation.” In it she explores how certain women authors translated their subject positions across languages, genres, bodies and landscapes to testify about trauma when they were unable to bear witness in the first person. Differences in their translation strategies point to divergent understandings of what the self is, what testimony is, and how trauma is experienced. Heidi is now assistant professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola University, Maryland.
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Brie Byers (MA Italian, 2008) manages communications and operations for Club Monaco, a division of Ralph Lauren, Inc., in New York City. Previously, Brie worked in international licensing operations for Michael Kors and managed the translation and international communication teams at Abercrombie and Fitch for five years.
Rosina Caponi (BA Italian, 2007) has returned to Columbus with a position as an associate attorney at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP in the Health and Life Sciences Practice Group.
Justin Ehrenberg (BA Italian, French minor, 2000; MA Italian, 2003; MEd, 2004) taught Italian and French for eight years in both Ohio and Connecticut at the high school and college levels. He currently resides in Los Angeles where he has served as an assistant principal at the middle and high school levels since 2012 for Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school management organization.
Margaret Garcia Casado (PhD French, 2005) has taught in the Department of Philology of the University of Cantabria since 2001. She continues to do research on the Maghreb and Francophone literature, immigration and Maghrebian movies.
Sara Elaqad (BA French and international studies, 2009) graduated from law school at Case Western Reserve University and now works in immigration law at Margaret W. Wong & Assoc. Co., LPA in Cleveland, Ohio.
Keith Davis (MA Italian, 2007) is now the assistant director for Education Abroad at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego. He continues to oversee study abroad and exchange programs in France, Italy, Turkey and India, but also manages website development, online marketing and increasing study abroad participation among diverse student populations.
Todd Donahue (MA French, 2007) has been teaching English at the Université de Rennes 1 in Brittany since 2008. He also coordinates language certifications for the university. This involves organizing testing sessions, as well as defining certification policy while helping to develop the national CLES certification for English. In his free time he and his partner recently started an online épicerie américaine called My Little America.
Brittany O’Neill Dulmage (BA Italian, BS molecular genetics, 2010) will combine her interests in medicine and Italian with an overseas rotation in critical care in Palermo, Italy, in April 2015. The hospital there is owned by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, which will award Brittany a degree in dermatology in May 2015.
Amber Evans (BA French, 2014) is currently teaching English (TAPIF) at two elementary schools in Clermontde-l’Oise in northern France. The most surprising thing she has encountered is witnessing the children’s enthusiasm for learning English. “I have been absolutely blown away with how fast the children catch on to concepts and the amount of information that they are able to retain in the little time that I have to teach them. Trying to identify and reach the students who seem to find English overwhelming is the greatest challenge. I would like to discover and tap into their preferred mode of learning and alternate my style of teaching to fit their needs. I found that this is what helped me in beginning to learn French with Dr. Torrini-Roblin. She really is an amazing professor. The Ohio State University and FRIT are very fortunate to have her!”
Hallie Foster (BS biology, minor French, 2012) is finishing the final months of pre-clinical coursework at The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. “The first of our board exams in June is the major determinant of how competitive our residency applications are.” Given her interest in rural healthcare and advocacy, she plans to complete a residency in Family Medicine and would like to practice in central Appalachia. 14
Sarah Fries (BA French, 2011) is finishing law studies at the University of Michigan. She has worked as a student attorney at the International Transactions Clinic in Ann Arbor and as managing editor of the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law.
Grace Fry Frost (BA French, 2009) has worked in the financial services industry since 2011. She now lives in Watertown, NY, with her husband Benjamin and works as a compliance examiner at Cadaret, Grant, an independent broker-dealer based in Syracuse, N.Y.
Michele Gerring (PhD French, 2014) wrote on the integration of the beurs into contemporary French culture, “Conflicting Representations of Maghrebi-French Integration: a Spectrum of Hospitality from Derrida to Foucault, as Seen in Contemporary Novels, Films and the Magazine Paris-Match.” In her free time Michele facilitates two French conversation tables in the Jamestown, NY, area.
Michael Gott (BA French and international studies, 2002) is now in his third year as assistant professor of French and Film and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. He recently co-edited a book entitled East, West and Centre: Reframing post-European Cinema (Edinburg University Press, 2014). His next project (co-edited with Thibault Schilt) explores the concept of cinéma-monde, i.e., contemporary francophone films produced around the world.
Nicole Re Hanlon (MA French, 2014; MEd, 2015) has been teaching French at Buckeye Valley High School in Delaware, Ohio.
Jessica Hanzlik (BA French, BS physics, 2008) teaches 8th grade math, science and social studies at UNO Soccer Academy, as well as middle
school math at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Jessica developed an after-school chess program and served as a union bargaining team representative for her charter school. She was selected for the New Science Teacher Academy of the National Science Teacher Association, a year-long competitive professional development opportunity for promising new science teachers.
Jeffrey Harris (MA French, 2011) finished a master’s degree in history in 2013 at the University of North Carolina with a thesis on French colonial Louisiana. His doctoral dissertation is tentatively entitled, “Inventing the People: The Struggle for the General Will in the French Revolution.”
Steve Hedge (MA French, 1992) is in his 13th year teaching French from level 2 through AP at Grandview High School. He remains active in the Grandview Heights Education Association. This year he stepped into a new leadership role as co-facilitator of the district’s Entry-Year Teacher/Resident Educator program, while working on his Master’s Teacher License. In March Steve took his 10th trip abroad with students (Paris, Nîmes, Nice).
Alexandra Salmeron Hesson (MA French, 2007) recently marked her 7-year anniversary with Aerotek in Reno, Nevada, now as a customer support supervisor. On July 4, 2013. Alexandra and husband Aaron celebrated the birth of their son Ethan.
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Leah Rose Hunt (BA French, 2006) is in her second year teaching French at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati. She teaches grades 9-12. “I love so much getting to work with these kids, sharing my passion for French language and culture with them.”
Jarmila Kavecanska (MA French, 2011) is currently a PhD candidate and lecturer at the University of WisconsinMadison working on a dissertation on the jazz novel in late-20th century France. Next year, she will attend the University of Geneva in Switzerland as the recipient of a research and writing fellowship. “I am thrilled and very grateful for this opportunity to write abroad and to experience the contemporary jazz scene first-hand!”
Maria Khrakovsky (BA French and accounting, 2014) is working on a master’s degree in accounting at Ohio State. In 2014, she was a contestant on Jeopardy! This summer, she plans to study for (and pass!) the CPA exam, and then begin full-time work later in the fall. One of her hobbies is singing classical and opera music. “I take private voice lessons once a week and enjoy singing a diverse repertoire of many languages (including French and Italian, two of my favorites along with Russian).”
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Harry Laufman (MA French, 2007) had two short stories published last summer--one included in a Kindle anthology on Amazon--and drew the illustrations for the program and poster of the play, “Twelve Hours,” performed in the Garden Theatre’s Green Room in spring 2014. Besides taking lessons on playing the daf, a large (22”) frame drum played across North Africa and Iran, Harry helps to lead a Columbus Museum of Art docent team that creates special museum experiences for Alzheimer’s/ dementia patients and their caregivers: http://www. columbusmuseum.org/event/sparkingimaginations-tour-3-2/.
Greg Lavins (BA French and sociology, 2013) is currently in his first year at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine (UCCOM) with an expected graduation date of June, 2018. “My medical interests are in the realms of pediatrics and internal medicine. My 2015 summer will be spent doing epidemiological and clinical research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I keep up with French primarily through foreign language films and regular contact with a few other FRIT alumni in the Cincinnati area.”
Colin Lima (BA French, 2012) worked as a bartender in Les Mureaux, France, a suburb of Paris, while teaching English on the TAPIF program. “I improved my French incredibly.” Returning to Columbus, Colin worked for BMW Canada in Hilliard, Ohio, as a Quebecois customer relations specialist. Currently, he manages social media operations for the food truck, Ray Ray’s Hog Pit, as well as doing some freelance French tutoring.
Anne-Marie Logue (BA French and English, 2004) works with Danish and European international exchange programs at the Danish Ministry of Higher Education, including the E.U.’s new seven-year grant program, Erasmus+, and the Danish Lectureship
Program that promotes the teaching of Danish at universities abroad. “I was lucky enough to have a surprise visit by Mike Gott in Copenhagen recently. It was great to see him and to hear tales of academia in Ohio.”
Monique Malone (BA French and political science, 2013) completed a nine-month TAPIF program in Marseille, France, in May 2014. “It was a completely life-changing experience overall.” In June 2014 she began working with Unilever, a U.K.-based consumer products organization, in its New York City marketing and sales group. “I hope to incorporate French language and culture into everyday life as much as possible!”
Susan Jahn Mancini (MA Italian, 1966) retired from Ohio Wesleyan University after 10 years of teaching Italian there. Since 2010, she has participated in volunteer activities (Columbus Symphony Orchestra, church choir, etc.) while enjoying the time to travel, read and do needlepoint. Recent trips included a canal boat trip in France with Ohio State graduate Karen Courtney and a trip to London to visit her daughter and her family.
Liz Marasco (BA English, minor French, 2011) began her working career as an au pair in Geneva, Switzerland. This was followed by two terms in Americorps, including six months in the Sierra Nevadas building hiking trails in Kings Canyon National Park and leading a youth conservation crew in several parts of Alaska for five months. This past September Liz spent a month in France with Worldwide Opportunities in Organic Farming. Back in Columbus, “I am training for a marathon, organizing an event called Columbus Rising which raises awareness for domestic violence and sexual assault, and performing in a production of the Vagina Monologues at the Ohio State Medical Center.”
Joanna Marshall (BA French and international studies, 2006; MA microbiology, 2007) finished her PhD last December and is now completing a postdoctoral research fellowship working on a project for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at the Center for Vaccine Development in Baltimore, Maryland. Her projects focus on developing and field-testing new diagnostics for tropical diseases, as well as international clinical research trials for vaccines designed to be more affordable and easy to use in resourcelimited settings. ”Our work is done largely in French-speaking West Africa. French is truly indispensable, and I am so happy to be able to work and communicate with my Francophone colleagues. I’m eternally grateful for the work of all the professors in the French department (like the wonderful Professor Marx-Scouras!) because I really love my job and know that I never would have found it without the awesome language education and associated opportunities to study and work abroad. Thanks FRIT!!” Anne Lair Mawdsley (PhD French, 2003) teaches French grammar, culture and business, and directs the French language program (lower division) at the University of Utah. Anne also coordinates the elementary French Dual Immersion program for the Utah State Office of Education. (Utah is the leading state nationwide for Dual Language programs.) Starting in 2015, Anne will coordinate the secondary French Dual Immersion program. “The challenge is big, but I continue to grow professionally.”
Kassandra McCleery (BA international studies and French, 2011) is currently working towards a master’s degree in urban planning at McGill University in Montréal, Québec. Before moving to Montréal she lived in Nantes, France, first as a TAPIF English teaching assistant, then as an instructor and translator at private language institutes. She is especially interested in sustainable urban design, participatory planning and issues related to globalization in cities. Her French 16
enables her to explore these topics internationally.
Nicolas Médevielle (PhD French, 2006) joined East Carolina University in Greenville in August 2014 as a teaching assistant professor. He previously taught at Goucher College, Baltimore (2013-14), the College of William & Mary (2009-2013), and Kenyon College (2006-09). He lives in Williamsburg, VA, with his wife, Sara Davis-Médevielle and their son Oen.
Dorothée Mertz-Weigel (PhD French, 2005), now an associate professor of French at Armstrong State University in Savannah, GA, has been working closely with other French professors in the University System of Georgia to develop an eMajor in French to be offered in autumn 2015. Her two children, Clementine (5) and Victor (almost 3) are both trilingual (English, French, and Czech) and speak English with a Southern accent.
Joyce Miller (MA Italian, 2009) is currently coordinator of Italian at the University of Cincinnati where she is responsible for the semester abroad programs in Florence, Rome and Naples. She also is senior editorial assistant at The Cincinnati Review, the literary journal of the English Department. Joyce received a Pushcart nomination this year for a poem published in aaduna: “Excrescence: Haiti Sampled after the Hurricane.”
Meredith Nini (BA Italian, 2014) taught English on the SITE (Study, Intercultural Training and Experience) program for three months in Brescia, Italy, then moved to a school in nearby Sarezzo. Of her experience in Brescia, she says: “I taught lessons on everything from grammar, to situational uses of English (how to talk on the phone, visit the doctor, etc.), to explanations of American culture, holidays, and traditions.” At her new school, where she teaches 12 classes a week, she is
focusing on a broader variety of topics. With time during the week to prepare for classes and work with new students, she can use the weekends to explore her new city and to travel.
Caroline Noble (MA French, 2011) has returned for a doctorate in French at Ohio State after teaching English to French sailors for three years near Toulon, France.
Kelly Noble (MA Italian, 2013) works as an intake coordinator for Preferred Vascular Group in Columbus, Ohio. She spent seven months, from October 2013 to April 2014, at the Lycée SaintExupéry in Bourg St. Maurice, France as an English language assistant (TAPIF).
Danielle Paumard-Grodek (BA French and international studies, 2011) is now a member of the Teach for America Corps with Mastery Charter Schools Thomas Campus in South Philadelphia. She manages half the eighth- and tenth-grade special education population, overseeing and writing students’ Individualized Education Plans and advocating for students’ special academic, emotional and behavioral needs.
John Petrus (BA French and international studies, 2009) plans to defend his dissertation (“Gender Transgression and Hegemony: the Politics of Gender Expression and Sexuality in Contemporary Managua”) in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Ohio State this spring. He is currently on the job market. “Wish me luck!”
Bryan Pickens (MA French, 2011) finished an Education Specialist (EdS) degree this spring at
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Ruiz-Coll with his class in a northern Thai village near Chiang Mai, summer 2014.
Marshall University and plans to begin the dissertation phase of an EdD program this summer. His focus is on school culture and articulation in foreign language programs in West Virginia. His son Lucas is two, and loves saying au revoir to anyone he can.
Jamie Polzin (BA Italian, 2012) teaches English and supervises classroom volunteers and interns at Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS) in Columbus, Ohio. She is working on her master’s degree in TESOL at Marlboro College in Brattleboro, VT. In her free time, she does curriculum development, teaches and tutors with Italia in Ohio, LLC. She currently is learning Somali and hopes to travel to East Africa in the near future to assist with refugee resettlement and women’s literacy.
Douglas Roberts (PhD French, 2015) successfully defended his dissertation, “The Hidden Ally: How the Canadian Supreme Court Has Advanced the Vitality of the Francophone Quebec Community,” in December 2014. When asked why he chose to work on a (second) doctorate, Doug replied, 17
“I enjoy the students, the courses, the professors. The doctorate was merely the price to pay for doing what I love doing.” Juan Carlos Ruiz-Coll (BA Italian, 2009) has been working in Siena since 2010 with Siena Italian Studies, the study abroad program that hosted him in summer 2009 as an undergraduate student. Besides working full time as a program coordinator and pursuing a master’s degree, Juan Carlos writes TheStudyAbroadGuru.com, a blog to help students prepare for their experience overseas. “The reward I get out of my job is to be able to see, in each one of my students, a global and intercultural citizen.”
Zach Rybarczyk (BA French and political science, 2012) currently resides in Rabat, Morocco,studying Moroccan Arabic and water and sanitation policy through the Boren Fellowship, while tutoring at the Qalam wa Lawh Center for Arabic Studies. ”I am more than happy to talk with anyone interested in coming to Morocco or applying for the fellowship that I received” (zr7132@ student.american.edu). Zach returns to American University in Washington, D.C., this spring to finish his master’s degree in public policy with a focus on environmental policy.
I minored in it! While I was in Paris [on an exchange program at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales] I also helped with a large collaborative research project that included interviewing West African immigrants and looking over hospital medical records in Île-de-France. The region in which I’m doing my fieldwork is very close to the Democratic Republic of Congo, so I have been able to practice my French every now and then.”
Michael, Audrey and Vincenzo Turjanica.
Thibault Schilt (PhD French, 2005) received tenure in 2013 from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA), where he has been teaching French and cinema courses since 2007. After publishing a monograph on François Ozon (University of Illinois Press, 2012), he co-edited, with fellow alumnus Michael Gott, an edited volume on the French-language road movie: Open Roads, Closed Borders (Intellect, 2013). His next project (also co-edited with Gott) explores the concept of cinéma-monde, i.e., contemporary francophone films produced around the world.
Jacob Schott (PhD French, 2010) works as a product and editorial assistant at Cengage Learning in San Francisco.
Nicoletta Serenata (MA Italian, 2012) is a lecturer in Italian at Auburn University in Alabama where she also serves as co-advisor of Club Italiano, director of Radio Italiana and co-director of the Study Abroad Program in Taormina, Sicily. In 2014 she published her first collection of essays, The ‘Ndrangheta and Sacra Corona Unita – The History, Organization and Operations of Two Unknown Mafia Groups with Springer Publishing. In August 2014, she married her long- time fiancé, Giacomo.
Amanda Miller Smerdel (BA French, 2004; MEd, 2005) has begun work as a travel consultant planning trips and custom itineraries to Western Europe (amanda@mytravelescapes.com). The flexibility of the job allows Amanda to spend time at home with her two children, CJ (4½) and Cate (2). “It is a great experience to use my knowledge of Europe and create wonderful trips and memories for others!”
Donald Spinelli (PhD French, 1971) retired from Wayne State University in 2009 but returned in 2011 for two and a-half years as department chair. He continues his work on Beaumarchais’s correspondence. The fifth volume is available on-line (www.clas.wayne. edu/d-spinelli).
Jeffrey St. Clair (MA French, 1967; PhD Romance Languages, 1976; MBA, 1982) now runs his own consulting company (www.stclaircomm.com) with an emphasis on e-marketing management and content marketing.
Adrienne Strong (BS microbiology, minor French, 2010) is continuing her PhD research in Rukwa, Tanzania, for Washington University in St. Louis, using two grants, one a Fulbright-Hays and the other from the National Science Foundation. “I’m not directly using French at the moment but I’m 100% glad 18
Audrey Martinko Turjanica (MA Italian, 2008) celebrated the birth of her baby, Vincenzo (Vinny) in September 2014 with husband Michael. She works as a sales and custom project manager at Cengage Learning in Cincinnati.
John Walgamuth (BA French, 2014) is teaching English (TAPIF) at Lycée Pierre-d’Ailly in Compiègne, Oise, addressing 24 different classes of students of all levels. He focuses on creative work so that the students can see English as “less of a chore.” Recently he has been working with students preparing for the oral portion of the baccalaureate exam. Part of the structure of the exam requires discussion of a pre-determined topic. This year the focus has been on American immigration and the portrayal of war heroes in movies and other forms of media. “I really enjoy getting to pick their brains on the subject. I’m constantly surprised at how bright the students are!”
Stephanie Weisfeld (BA French and international studies, 2014) is teaching English in Curitiba, Brazil,on a Fulbright scholarship. “I was placed in Curitiba, a large city six hours south of São Paulo, at the Federal Technological University of Paraná. During the time I am not teaching, I am planning to do a project to help connect Curitiba and Columbus, which just became sister cities. I am very excited for this journey!“
Courtney Wilson (BA Italian, minor Russian, 2012) has been teaching English in Seriate, Italy, for the past year, 12 hours a week. “I often teach lessons I’ve designed myself.” On the weekends, Courtney travels and visits friends whom she made on previous trips.
Courtney Wilson
Anaïs Wise (PhD French, 2012) has been teaching French language and culture to Foreign Service Officers for the U.S. State Department since she completed her dissertation, “L’Ironie mériméenne.” She currently is working on a new curriculum meant to facilitate students’ training. She also designs and conducts workshops on cross-cultural communication for the Foreign Service staff. “I never imagined that studying my favorite topic,
irony, would help me serve this great country one day. I’m honored that it does.”
Emily Dore Yuhas (MA Italian, 2012) designs on-line training for corporate entities at Mindset Digital. She married her college sweetheart in June 2014. “We still live in Columbus, as my husband works for Ohio State Optometry, and I work downtown. We are expecting our first child in May!” (photo with Nicoletta Serenata)
GIVE A GIFT … to support teaching and learning French and Italian languages and cultures HONOR AN INSTUCTOR … to recognize an instructor’s dedication to students Our funds are listed online. Choose the one that interests you. You may clip out and send in a contribution directly to the department at 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210. If you access the funds page on the FRIT web site (frit.osu.edu/giving), you may make your contribution to that fund through a secure, online connection. Please send me the Ohio State/ FRIT 17-oz. red coffee mug for a $75 contribution to support FRIT students and learning. Please send me the set of two Ohio State /FRIT 17-oz. coffee mugs for a $125 contribution to support FRIT students and learning.
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WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU... And, we’d like to let you know what’s happening with other alumni and with the department. If you would prefer to receive this newsletter or other information via e-mail, please indicate on the form below, and send it in. Or e-mail your preference and updates to Clare Balombin at balombin.1@osu. edu. We will let you know when a newsletter or other information is uploaded.
The Metro High School French Club enjoys the assistance of Ohio State undergraduates Morgane Vang, Christian Gray, and Alyssa Jones, along with GTA Elizabeth Willis (third from the left, in front), led by GTA Doug Roberts (back row, left), when speaking French and planning activities.
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