MlJC Modern Languages & Cultures

n The College at Brockport -Department of Modern Languages and Cultures

S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 I S S U E 3

LA GAZETTE Message from the Interim Chair, Donna Wilkerson-Barker

Greetings MLC community! This year, MLC faculty and students worked together to reach our world and our community by presenting research projects at a wide array of conferences such as the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference, Seneca Falls Dialogues, New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers, Scholar’s Day, and the Diversity Conference. Many students studied abroad and here on campus, others presented poster sessions to mark international and cultural events such as the International Day of La Francophonie and Hispanic Heritage Month. Faculty and students also engaged in Community Service Learning Projects and experiential learning to cultivate connections between learning in the classroom and application in new and different social and cultural contexts. Other highlights of the year included the International Guest Speaker Series, which provided the campus community an opportunity to engage with a variety of global topics from areas of the world as diverse as Chile, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Egypt, and India. Five students were also inducted into Phi Sigma Iota, MLC’s Honor Society. We hope you enjoy reading about some of these events in more detail throughout the newsletter. As some members of our community transition to graduate school or professional employment, and others look forward to next year’s academic, research and internship opportunities, we all remain members of the Brockport MLC community. We encourage you to keep the community lively via Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram and we look forward to future collaborations!

Student Recognition Jeana Clocksin was the recipient of this year’s Departmental Scholar Award and the Eric Steele French Prize. She was also awarded the Benjamin Piedmont Student Research Award for a project she is conducting in association with her Honor’s thesis on Haitian literature, which she presented at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference. In addition to receiving numerous honors and awards throughout her academic career, Jeana is graduating with a 4.0 GPA and a double major in Spanish and French. She has held leadership roles, developed herself professionally, artistically and musically and served her campus and local communities.

Jeana’s professional experience includes working for the past year and a half as a medical interpreter and scheduler for Raland Compliance Partners, LLC and as a teacher assistant and Haitian Creole community interpreter and document translator at the BOCES Sodus Migrant Summer Camp in the summer of 2017. Jeana discovered her passion for assisting students from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including both francophone and Hispanic immigrants, when she volunteered at the camp the previous summer as a bilingual teacher assistant. Jeana’s volunteer work with Haitians and Hispanics also includes her role as Student Mentor for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute in Monroe County and her work in Haiti as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and interpreter from 2014-2015. During a visit to Haiti, she collaborated with local artists to write and record the song “Gras Bondye,” which features her vocals. It is now on the radio in Haiti. She was the pianist for her high school Jazz Band and during college she has volunteered as the pianist at a local church. Regarding her talents in the visual arts, Jeana is the illustrator of a children’s book I Wish I Could Fly, I Wish I Could. Jeana has provided academic support to her peers in her role as a tutor but also as a model student in the classroom. Given her dedication to internationalism and her developed skills in intercultural competence and French/Spanish language, Jeana is well poised for opportunities in a globalized world and job market.

Since graduating a year ago, Ian Benz has been keeping busy and putting his Spanish skills to good use. Over the summer, Ian worked at a landscaping company while looking for more gainful employment which he eventually came into. He is currently working in the Rochester City School District as Bilingual Clerical Support Staff and shopping for Instacart on the side. He is always looking for new opportunities, and is about to start a political affairs internship with the Borgen Project, a lobbying group which works on behalf of the World's poor. In his free time, Ian plays in two bands in Rochester and it's become a rewarding hobby of his, along with cooking. He currently lives in an apartment downtown Rochester with his girlfriend and their two cats.

After graduation Chaynna Colon started working towards a Master’s in mental health counseling at The College at Brockport. She currently works as a graduate assistant for the Office of Community Development. Chaynna works specifically with the Leadership Development Program at the College overseeing the Green Certificate level. She also enjoys doing community service in the Brockport and Rochester area. She just got back from co-leading the College’s alternative spring break trip to Memphis, TN where they worked with an early start high school and an afterschool program call “Las Americas.”

Lauren Hooven graduated from The College at Brockport in May of 2018. She received her Bachelors Degree in International Business and Economics with Minors in Marketing and Spanish. She is currently substitute teaching in two local districts, the Depew Union Free School District as well as the Alden Central School District. She is also working part time as a Customer Service Professional at H&R Block during tax season. In the Fall of 2019, she will be enrolled at the University at Buffalo as a graduate student in the Higher Education Administration program with a concentration in Student Affairs. She has also received an assistantship where she will be an Assistant Hall/Complex Director on campus. She is thankful that Brockport guided her in this direction and can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Since graduating from the Departments of Criminal Justice and Modern Languages at The College at Brockport Denise Torres has had the amazing opportunity to use both of her degrees in working as a full time Spanish Interpreter for over a hundred defense attorneys. She works for the Legal Aid Society where she helps with undocumented individuals in assisting their attorneys to make sure they are aware and understand everything about their criminal cases. Denise hopes to continue using her languages skills and knowledge in Criminal Justice to help those who need it most.

WHERE IS THE CLASS OF 2018 NOW?

Kerianne Wilson is also a recent graduate of the Spanish Department Class of 2018. Currently she is enrolled in the TESOL Master’s Program at the College at Brockport. She is also a Second Grade ELA and Social Studies Teacher at Eugenio María de Hostos Charter School in Rochester.

Since graduating from Brockport last year Brendan Bialy lived two completely distinct lifestyles. Immediately after graduation Brendan began working full time at Oak Orchard Health in Brockport as an interpreter. Though only there for a short while, he learned a lot about migrant communities in the U.S. In late June his world completely changed as he received notification that his application to teach English abroad in Spain had been accepted and that come October, he would be living far away from home for nine months. As an “Auxiliar de Conversación” he helped Spanish high school students practice English and learn about American culture. Additionally, he played ultimate frisbee with “Los Bárbaros y Vikingas” at different tournaments throughout Spain. He returned to New York in June and he is planning now to apply to Graduate School in Europe.

After spending her senior year in France and graduating, Samantha Schifano will be attending the University of Buffalo to pursue a PH.D in French beginning in Fall 2019.

Faculty News

Dr. Ewelina Barski presented with her student Phoebe Defino at the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers (NYSAFLT) regional conference at Nazareth College. Their workshop titled “Spanglish in the US” explained the structural differences found in the Spanish that is spoken in the US due to its contact with English. She also published, with her colleague Dr. Donna Wilkerson-Barker, “Making the most of General Education Foreign Language Requirements” in Foreign Language Annals.

Dr. Rachel Linville presented her paper “A Biutiful Worldview: Alternatives to a Society Pervaded by Capitalist Values” at the Cine-Lit 9: Mujer y Género, an international conference on Hispanic literature and film hosted by three universities in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Skye Paine published his article “Please, Instruct and Edutain: Strategies for Teaching Seventeenth-Century French Literature to Millennials” in Biblio 17: North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature. He also presented his paper "Instructing with Pleasing PowerPoints," at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies.

Scholars Day

Dr. Andrea Parada was on sabbatical in spring 2019 to continue her work on representations of women in the personal correspondence of Diego Portales Palazuelos–one of the most influential nineteenth century Chilean statesmen. She examined how Portales’ letters are symptomatic of the double discourse around family, marriage and maternity that was typical of Chilean society at the time.

Dr. Donna Wilkerson-Barker hosted a poster session to celebrate the International Day of La Francophonie, an event that celebrates the French language and the diversity and richness of francophone cultures around the world. Students in FRN 213 and a faculty member from Computer Science, Sandeep Mitra, presented on a variety of topics including Haiti, Québec, language policies and education, Sénégal, the legacy of French colonialism in India, Michaelle Jean, the Secretary-General of the OIF from 2015-2019, and la francophonie itself.

Dr. Ismael Souto Rumbo presented on “Rethinking Galdós Studies Symposium” at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, on September 14-16, 2018. He presented his paper titled “Mysticism, Revolution and Masculinity in Ángel Guerra by Benito Pérez Galdós.

MLC chaired four different panels for Scholars Day 2019 in which students displayed their scholarly work while practicing their public presentation skills. In the panel chaired by Dr. Ewelina Barski-Moskal, students Virginia Huber, Julia Blackwood, Catherine Gilman, Janique King, Colby Miller, Nathan Mundt, Sydney Rider, Mikhaila Schweikowsky, and Mallory Woytowicz discussed the topic of multiculturalism in the US. Dr. Skye Paine chaired a panel titled “Why Haiti is the Most Important Country in the World” in which Brooke Hill, Jamila Tripp, and Camryn Stvil discussed what they learned about Haiti in the newly created course on the country. Jeana Clocksin concluded the session with a presentation of her Honor’s thesis on Haitian literature, “Unearthing Early Haitian Creole Literature: The Literary, Linguistic and Sociocultural Significance of Ti-Jak by Carrié Paultre” in which she drew attention to a neglected wealth of Haitian Creole literature.

In a third panel entitled “Gender and Sexuality through Hispanic Film,” students Emily Herman, Kourtney Baker, Jeana Clocksin, Mildaymig Cueto Brito, Frances Bueno, Scarlet Travis, Brenna Wright, and Megan Wright showcased their own work on topics of gender and sexuality in a series of films from both Spain and Latin America. Dr. Rachel Linville chaired a panel on “Human Struggles & Experiences in 20-21st Century Spain,” in which student Aracely Hernandez presented her paper titled “Resistance as Survival: The Identity Struggle of Silenced Women.” Also, Emily Herman read her work on “Exploring Sociopolitical Separation in 20th & 21st Century Spanish Literature and Film,” while Jeana Clocksin presented “Suffocating Heat and the Smell of Clouds: Sensory details in Laforet’s "Nada" as a Creative Expression of Sociopolitical Themes in 20th Century Spain.”

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Sponsored by Women and Gender Studies and Modern Languages and Cultures and funded by an Investment Fund for the Future Grant, Brockport's 2018-19 International Speaker Series opened with a film screening and talkback of "A Fantastic Woman" (Chile), winner of the 2018 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language film. The film was screened in recognition of National Coming Out Day.

Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant from Syracuse University kicked off the series of talks presenting his paper “One Island, Divided and United: Haiti & the Dominican Republic.” In another talk entitled “Politics of Migration: Intersectionality and Qualitative Research in Venezuela,” Venezuelan clinical psychologist Lis Santamaría presented her research on Venezuelan emigration patterns of the last 18 years using life stories and semi-structured interviews with Venezuelan emigrants and document research, including local NGO reports. The series also included a talk from Dr. Manar Sabry who addressed women’s empowerment in the Middle East with her presentation “Empowering Women in the Middle East: Education, Employment, and Politics” and a presentation addressing feminist consciousness in contemporary Indian Hatke cinema by Dr. Gohar Siddiqi, Assistant Professor of Screen Studies at Clark University.

International Guest Speaker Series

Faculty-Led  Trip to Montreal Professor Skye Paine took five students to Montreal over the fall break. They went on a tour of the old city, learned about the complicated history of French Canada in the colonial governor's mansion, studied aboriginal artifacts in museums, and went to an art gallery. They also got to enjoy regional delicacies like Montreal Bagels and authentic Poutine. They even went to the world-famous Jean Talon Public Market and ate "Les Pets des Soeurs." What does that mean you ask? Well, that is kind of a vulgar name for a sweet treat, so I can't tell you here. However, if you see the students in the picture above, you should ask them. Better yet, tag along next time we go to Montreal and find out for yourself!

Community Connections On April 10, 2019, twenty-five students from Eugenio María de Hostos Charter School in Rochester visited The

College at Brockport for Scholars Day. The students attended two panels, one in Spanish and one in English, and had lunch with MLC faculty. Many of these students are bilingual and engaged with our Spanish majors in the language during the question and answer time following the presentations.

This last year, one of the Department’s double majors in French and Spanish had the opportunity to participate in the Angelo Del Toro Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute (PR/HYLI), one of the Community Service Learning (CSL) programs that the Department offers. Upon completion of the CSL experience the student was able to understand the socio-cultural environment of the Hispanic students selected to participate in the Leadership Program; demonstrate knowledge of the challenges of being bilingual and bicultural; analyze leadership in the context of Hispanic youth and New York State legislation and demonstrate in depth knowledge of the state legislative process.

The Department is also excited to announce a new partnership with Language Intelligence LTD, a local company that offers a full suite of language services. Students will have the opportunity to complete an internship with this dynamic company beginning in the 2019-2020 academic year.