DFLC Outstanding Senior: Jansen VanderMeulen

Chinese:
Paige Danielson, Kacie Salmon, Tatiana Wade, Camille Keefe, Sarah Sheperd, Emily Rager, Hannah Zmuda, Daltan Boucher, Ben Duckan
Outstanding Senior: Philip Benjamin Pitts

French:
Ricky Barich, Alyson Wiley, Navjeet Lehal, Kayla Schwoch, Lindsay Cannon, Jesse Pearson, Jennifer Burke
Outstanding Senior: Jesse Pearson

German:
Kelton Christopher, McKenzie Corpron, Connor McCaw, Amelia Nixon
Outstanding Senior: Justin Niedermeyer

Italian:
Griffin E. Berger, Karen Savage

Japanese:
Kacie Kubosumi, Makenna Smith, Lukas Fontanelle, Jingchuan Zhao, Jasmin Seaman, Siqi Wu, Sam Borom, Jenwick Chiu
Outstanding Senior: Weijing Lin

Russian:
Justin Derek Lam Po Tang, Breanna Michelle Ziccarelli, Jacob Scott Freeman, Preston Michael Snyder

Spanish:
Shanelle Mariah Briggs, Isla Fionn Dubendorf ,Noreide Aguilar, Anna Maria Cloud, Kiera Burnett, Armando Vargas, Philip Behrend, Maira Birrueta, Marlon Onán López Cabrera
Outstanding Senior: Jansen VanderMeulen

Professor Joshua Bonzo, chair of the Foreign Language Day Committee, reports that the event was a huge success. Almost 180 students from Pullman, Walla Walla, Shadle Park, Colville, and North Central high schools attended WSU’s annual Foreign Language Day. In addition to personalized tours in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, students attended mini-classes with WSU foreign language faculty; met and mingled with WSU foreign language students (conversing both in their languages of study and English); learned about studying abroad; participated with a Q/A panel involving WSU students majoring in foreign languages; and enjoyed a chance to mingle more informally with WSU foreign language students and faculty. Visiting students indicated they enjoyed their mini-college experience. Although most of the students were first-time participants in WSU’s Foreign Language Day, several who attended last year returned for more this year.

Dr. Christopher Lupke and Dr. Francisco Manzo-Robledo continue to serve on the Humanities Planning Group, which Dr. Lupke chairs. The main goal of the HPG is to establish a Center for the Humanities at WSU. To this end, this year we awarded three WSU internal Humanities Fellowships to support the research of faculty in the humanities at WSU. In addition, we sponsored three public lectures and two literary readings. Most important, we convened our third annual Humanities Week. This year, the theme was “The Humanities and the Natural World.” Foreign Languages was well represented in the events, as we sponsored the Global Cinema Film Series. We organized two roundtable discussions featuring faculty who work in the environmental humanities. One group was WSU faculty and the other group was University of Washington faculty. It was the first time at WSU that we collaborated with humanities faculty from UW on such a large scale. Among the WSU faculty, Dr. Kota Inoue in Japanese was one of the presenters. We also hosted Bill McKibben, arguably the most important environmental activist in the United States today. McKibben was on campus for two days and led four different events. The week concluded with the Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, which the HPG co-sponsored with the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs at WSU as well as the University of Idaho. It was a robust series of events and the total attendance and participation came close to 1000 people.

Last semester we started a new social media campaign called #WanderlustWednesday. We are happy to report that this campaign has seen a lot of success. It has encouraged more students in the Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures to study abroad to apply their language skills that they’ve learned here and to experience different cultures than their own.

Meet Cori Uddenberg! She is a senior majoring in Spanish and Public Relations! She studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain, for six months, during the spring of 2014.

“I was able to travel through most of Western Europe. Sometimes it feels like another life. I can’t believe that it’s been well over two years since I left for my semester abroad. The thing I enjoyed the most was the anonymity of it all. It’s a crazy thing to find yourself living on the opposite side of the world and to realize that life goes on there too, and to also get the opportunity to create your own story. A lot of amazing people came into my life that year, and I’m still in contact with many of them. Any opportunity to expand your world is a worthwhile one, in my opinion.”

Meet ‪Sienna Talbert! Sienna is a junior from Tacoma, WA studying Spanish Education. Sienna is part of the ISA Bilbao program studying Spanish Culture and Language in Spain for two semesters.

What’s your favorite memory abroad?

“It’s hard to just pick one favorite thing about being abroad. Having both semesters abroad has made a huge difference in my experience and my knowledge and understanding of the Spanish language and culture. I think I would have to say going to Morocco for six days during the beginning of my program. I had the opportunity to ride camels, interact with the Moroccan people, and sleep two nights under the stars in the Sahara desert. This is a trip I will never forget and will forever leave a stamp on my heart.”

Do you have any tips for anyone thinking of going abroad?

“First off, if you’re considering it, do it! Going abroad has been the best choice in my college career thus far, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. But when you make the decision to study abroad, look at all your options and really think about where you want to go and why you’re going abroad. Is it classes, is it language? Whatever that may be make sure you find the program and city for you.”