Passing the baton - Bowling Green State University

An annual
communication
from the
Department of
Romance
Languages of
Bowling Green
State University
Contents
Passing the baton ....1
Noteworthy events ...3
News of our programs
abroad......................7
Residential Learning
Communities..........11
! la Maison Française
! la Comunidad
Focus on faculty.....13
! faculty activities
! introducing our new
faculty
What’s new in the
Language Learning
Center? ..................18
News from alumni ..19
Featured alumna....21
A word from the
editor......................22
Optimized for reading at 125% magnification
Department of Romance Languages
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio
From Dr. Chalupa:
Passing the baton
Online edition
Summer 2006
On July 1, 2006 Dr. Federico Chalupa stepped down as Chair of ROML and
was succeeded by Dr. Rich Hebein. This edition opens with messages…
From the Chairs,
former and present
Hello and welcome to our Department’s fourth annual online newsletter!
It has been a pleasure to serve as the Chair of the Department for the last four
and a half years. I have enjoyed working with our faculty, staff, students and
alumni, and seeing with great pride the Department’s impressive
accomplishments.
Even though it is very tempting to highlight past years’ achievements as well as
to honor those people behind them, I would like to stick to tradition and bring to
your attention some newsworthy events that took place last year.
For the first time students from our Classics and Italian programs have had the
opportunity to study in Italy through a program developed by our Department.
As a team, Ms. Mariella Zucchi-Bingman, Dr. James Pfundstein, Ms.
Cynthia Whipple and I were able to organize and implement the Academic
Summer Abroad program in Rome. The first session ran for six weeks during
May and June 2006. More information is available at .
For the second consecutive year, the Spanish Section of our Department was
granted the Student Achievement Assessment Committee (SAAC) Award. This
university-wide award recognizes “excellence in the implementation of the full
cycle of program assessment.” I want to congratulate the faculty in Spanish and

PAGE 2 OF 22
Passing the baton (continued)
in particular Dr. Lynn Pearson and Dr. Francisco Cabanillas, the
undergraduate advisors in charge of conducting the assessment process and
writing the report.
Once again one of our own has received an award. I am delighted to inform you
that Dr. Lynn Pearson has received the Outstanding Contributor to Graduate
Education Award by the BGSU Graduate Student Senate. We also celebrated
the promotion to Associate Professor with tenure of Dr. Deborah Houk
Schocket. Deborah and Lynn, please accept our sincere congratulations!
The Salary, Promotion and Tenure Committee and I want to recognize the
outstanding performance of faculty members in the areas of Teaching,
Research, and Service. The awardees for 2005 are Dr. Amy Robinson and
Joshua Evans for their outstanding performance in Teaching, Dr. Carlo Celli
in Research, and Dr. Robin Berg in Service.
Finally, I would like to ask you to join me in giving a warm welcome to our new
Chair, Dr. Richard Hebein; our new colleagues in Spanish, Dr. Cynthia Ducar
and Dr. Valeria Grinberg Pla; and Nora Solomon, the new Romance
Languages Study Abroad office secretary.
I am very grateful for the continuous support I received during my term as
Chair.
Best wishes to all of you,
From Dr. Hebein:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Federico Chalupa
I hope you had an enjoyable summer; they are always too short. Welcome back
to those of you who are returning to campus, and I'd like to extend a special
welcome to our new colleagues, Cindy Ducar and Valeria Pla. I am sure that
they will be great additions to our department.
Looking ahead, the big project for the year is program review, which Robin
describes elsewhere in this newsletter. We will all be involved in this to varying
degrees, and I'll be seeking your help and advice as the department makes its
plans for the next seven years. Some alumni may receive questionnaires as
part of this process. Needless to say, we'd appreciate your cooperation. We'll
get through this together.
Another exciting project that is being planned is the Global Village, a living and
learning community for foreign students, currently slated to open in fall 2007.
The community will consist of international students and some native
Americans who will want to live in the community. ROML has agreed to
participate, but the details have yet to be worked out.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the office staff, Linda Meek and Jeanne
Wojtkowiak, for their hard work and helpful attitude; both of you make our work
and lives easier. Finally, I'd like to thank Federico for his years of leadership of
Shatzel Hall,
home of ROML

Ms. Nora Solomon,
AYA’s new secretary
Passing the baton (continued)
PAGE 3 OF 22
the department. Much of what a chair does goes unnoticed, and that's probably
as it should be. A big part of the job is helping colleagues to do theirs rather
than drawing attention to one's self. I have seen Federico defend the
department vigorously, and the best compliment I can offer is that he left the
department significantly better than he found it—not to disparage Henry Garrity
in any way, about whom the same can be said. I hope to follow in that tradition.
Noteworthy events (continued)
Noteworthy events
Rich Hebein
New office staff ! In June ‘06 ROML was fortunate to acquire the full-time
secretarial services of Ms. Nora Solomon, who had begun as a student
employee in the AYA office in September ’05 and is now Assistant to the
Director of Romance Languages/Study Abroad. She earned her BA in Spanish
in May ’06 and is thinking about eventually pursuing an MA on a part-time
basis, perhaps in Spanish or in the College Student Personnel program. “One
of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career at BGSU,” says
Ms. Solomon, “was having the opportunity to study abroad and participate in
the AYA Spain program. When the opportunity presented itself to work with the
program as a student employee, I jumped at the chance to get the word out to
other students about our great programs and share how much the program has
given me. To be able to continue my work in the AYA Office as a full-time
employee is an honor because I feel as though now I am really able to give
back to the University, to ROML and its AYA programs, and help give other
students the opportunity to have an amazingly rewarding experience as well.”
We are delighted to have her on board, and look forward to a long and fruitful
collaboration.
Latino Issues Conference ! On April 27, 2006 the 12 th annual Latino Issues
Conference was held in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson
Student Union. The conference event was co-sponsored by ROML, in
collaboration with the Center for Multicultural and Academic Initiatives, the
Latino Culture Arts Committee, the Latino Student Union, ECAP, the Human
Relations Commission, the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the
Latino Networking Alliance, the Department of Ethnic Studies and the Latino
graduate student association Juntos. The theme of this year’s event was:
“Meeting at the Intersection of Market, Politics and Other Cultural Practices.”
Opening remarks were made by Toledo Councilwoman Taylor Balderas, a
BGSU alumna. The keynote speaker was Dr. Arlene Davila of New York
University, a specialist on Latinos in the U.S., who spoke about “Latinos, Inc.:
Marketing and the Making of People.” The topics of the four sessions were as
follows: I. Between Grassroots Politics, Film and Dominican Food, II. Between
Traveling, Migration and Cuban Food, III. Between Black Skins, Science and
Argentinian Food and IV. Between Gender, Race and Hope. BGSU faculty
Gerardo Cummings, Joshua Evans, Dr. Amy Robinson (ROML), Carlos
Adams, Dr. Rolando Andrade and Dr. Susana Pena (Ethnic Studies) were

PAGE 4 OF 22
Noteworthy events (continued)
among the presenters and moderators, as were BGSU graduate students
Rachel Kizer, Lee Rincon and Clarissa Steele. Among the other participants
from the BGSU community were: Yolanda Flores (event coordinator), Hector
Hernandez and Laura Saavedra (masters of ceremonies), Natalie
Covarrubias (planning committee chair), Kiko Chalupa (graduate advisor),
Aja Stewart (graphics), Brandon Carreon (logistics), Alex Aybar and Felix
Muniz (videography), Juliana Vukonic, Michael Martinez and Ana Irwin
(public relations), LIsa Chalupa and Naomi Valdez (packets/programs), Dana
Chalupa (registration), Ron Henderson and Maliaka Bell (printing), Chase
Bailey, Jordan Portillo and Amanda Guererro (volunteer coordinators). The
continuing success and growing reputation of the conference over the years is
a tribute to the efforts of all the participants. Special kudos to this year’s
conference planning committee directors, Dr. Francisco Cabanillas, Nashieli
Marcano and Manny Vadillo.
Outstanding Performances ! Kudos to the following recipients of
Departmental Awards: For outstanding performance in the area of teaching: Dr.
Amy Robinson (tenured or probationary) and Joshua Evans (instructor rank).
For outstanding performance in the area of research: Dr. Carlo Celli. And for
outstanding performance in the area of service: Dr. R.-J. Berg.
Henry A. Garrity Documentary, Film and Lecture Series ! Since its
inauguration in 2003, the series has been a great success, and this past year
was no exception. On April 12, director Heather Courtney was present to lead
the discussion of her documentary Letters from the Other Side (2005), a film
that interweaves video letters carried across the US-Mexican border with the
intimate stories of women left behind in post-NAFTA Mexico. The second film,
screened on Wednesday, April 19, was Bolivia (2001) by Israel Adrián Caetano,
which chronicles the life of a Bolivian immigrant trying to earn his living as a
cook in Buenos Aires. The discussion was lead by Dr. Laura Podalsky, formerly
of ROML and currently at OSU. (A third film was cancelled when the scheduled
speaker was unable to make it to campus.) ROML thanks those whose efforts
helped make the event a success: Dr. Francisco Cabanillas, Gerardo
Cummings and Dr. Amy Robinson. For the 2006–07 Series, donations will be
greatly appreciated; please contact the department.
SAAC Award ! In March 2006 The Spanish Section received an award from
the Student Achievement Assessment Committee (SAAC). Spanish is one of
eleven programs throughout the University who won SAAC awards “for the
excellence of their assessment programs” based on the assessment reports
they submitted. The winners were selected “on the basis of being the most
complete examples of identifying one or more learning outcome to assess,
collecting assessment information, analyzing it, and doing something based on
the findings to improve student learning.” Congratulations to all those in Spanish
who worked on program assessment, and in particular to Dr. Francisco
Cabanillas, Dr. Lynn Pearson and Susana Juarez for writing the winning
report. Details of the Spanish Section’s assessment process can be accessed
at .
Stills from Letters
from the Other Side
and Bolivia, screened
at this year’s Garrity
Film Series

Stills from "French Means
Business.# Pictured
(clockwise): Paul
Carranza, Dave McCoy,
Laurence Berg, Rachel
Kizer
Noteworthy events (continued)
PAGE 5 OF 22
ROML’s “report card” ! University rules state that “all academic programs of
the university are to be reviewed on a regular seven-year cycle,” and in 2006
it’s ROML’s turn. “The purpose of periodic program review,” according to the
Office of the Provost, “is to provide a mechanism to ensure the improvement of
academic programs on a continuous basis.” The process is two-staged: during
the first year (2006-07) ROML will conduct a self-study; during the second year
(2007-08) an external evaluation will be conducted by experts from other
institutions. The final report is an action plan for program improvement that
includes specific goals and a time frame for achieving them. Comments Dr.
Richard Hebein, Chair of ROML: “It’s easy to see program review as
something onerous, but we should really see it as an opportunity. It enables us
better to understand where we are and where we need to go. And it’s crucial
that all in the Department take part in the process.”
BGSU undergrads in Quebec ! Kudos to Dr. Beatrice Guenther for her
innovative first offering of the new course FREN 395: Workshop in French.
When she teaches the course in spring ’07, the topic will be “Les Lieux de
mémoire: Cityscape and Cultural Memory.” Comments Dr. Guenther
concerning course goals: “We will explore various historical accounts of
Quebec to see that history is plural, not singular. And not merely textual.” The
90-minute weekly sessions throughout the semester will be closely integrated
with an intensive on-site experience in Quebec City during spring break.
Activities in Quebec will include walking tours and visits to museums and a
Huron village. The course is intended for 1 st - and 2 nd -year students in all fields.
Although prior knowledge of French is not necessary, concurrent enrollment in
a French course is required, since some French will be needed in Quebec.
FREN 395 will count toward the minor in Canadian Studies. To conduct
research necessary for the course, Dr. Guenther received a $4,500 Faculty
Enhancement Grant from the Canadian Embassy. “My thanks,” says Dr.
Guenther, “go to Mark Kasoff and Christine Drennen, whose help was
invaluable while I drafted the grant application.”
“French Means Business” online ! A recruitment film intended to stress the
practical aspects of French is now online at . It is the first of a series to be posted on a
projected website devoted to “Careers in French.” The micro-movie was written
and filmed by Dr. R.-J. Berg, who wants to thank his actors Laurence Berg
(teacher at Bowling Green Junior High School), Dr. Paul Carranza (ROML
faculty), Rachel Kizer (ROML MA ‘06) and Dave McCoy (BGSU Information
Technology Services). “Any rumor of a possible Oscar nomination,” comments
R.-J. Berg, “is definitely premature.”
ROML alum goes doctoral ! Kudos to Dr. Taryn Lee McQuain. After
receiving her MA in French at BGSU (2002), she pursued her studies at the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette where, in May ’06, she received a Ph.D. in
Francophone Studies. Her dissertation was entitled “Le Maternel dans les
textes de femmes québécoises.”

PAGE 6 OF 22
Noteworthy events (continued)
Special acknowledgement from ROML to all the following, who graduated…
with BA in French: Janelle Brooks, August ‘05; Kathryn Illausky (cum laude),
December ’05; Sarah Bradley (summa cum laude), Lora Gerker (cum laude),
Heather Kolhoff, Amy Narcavish, May ‘06.
with BS in French Education: Sarah Stuckey, August ‘05; Matthew Bertke
(cum laude), Larissa Fedorko (magna cum laude), David Kozy (summa cum
laude), May ‘06.
with MA in French: Michele Gerring, Jessica Robey, Sarah Stevens, Ying
Wang, Marren Williams, August ‘05; Sylvia Bleinroth, Jennifer McCoy,
Kimberly Scherer, Britt Sommers, Robert Webster, May ‘06.
with MAT in French: Laurence Berg, August ‘05.
with BA in Spanish: Leah LoSchiavo, August ‘05; Juliann Gorse (magna cum
laude), Ashley Schuster (cum laude), December ’05; Elisabeth Graham
(summa cum laude), Kevin Hancock, Brian Hunter, Elizabeth Schreffler
(summa cum laude), Nora Solomon, May ‘06.
with BS in Spanish Education: Lisa Berry (cum laude), Megan Braemer
(summa cum laude), Devin Dlott, Jessica Elsenheimer, Dia Mixon (magna
cum laude), Emily Schnur (summa cum laude), May ‘06.
with MA in Spanish: Mary Farsaci, Erica Finazzo, Emily Gwyn, Callie
Jakubcin, Connie Krysiak, Teresa Kubos, Emily Shea, John Tkac, August
‘05; Jamie Dewey-Montefort, Joshua Pope, Clarissa Steele, May ‘06.
with BA in Classical Civilization: Beth Trowbridge (summa cum laude), May
‘06.
Inducted into Pi Delta Phi (national French honor society), spring 2006:
Gwyneth Foster, Stephanie Hanna, David Kozy.
Awards and scholarships
Caroline Nielsen Award in Classics: Jason E. Lozano
Dorothy Hayes Undergraduate Achievement Award: Chelsea L. Durdel
French Book Award: Larissa R. Fedorko
Pi Delta Phi Award: Leslie N. Spires
Janet M. Shanklin Memorial Scholarship: Rachael A. Englebry, Matthew J.
Federico, Ricardo L. Mendoza, Nicole M. Messmore and Naomi L. Valdez
(for summer 2005); Megan E. Maury and Ashley M. Albridge (for academic
year 2005–06)
Spanish Book Award: Emily T. Schnur
Yvette Caldwell Wiseley Scholarship: Manola Acosta
Wurzburger Memorial Scholarship: Ifolo Nwulu

Ms. Cindy Phelps
Whipple, Director,
Romance Languages
Study Abroad
ROML’s study-abroad
options have
expanded to Rome.
News from our programs abroad
PAGE 7 OF 22
From Ms. Cindy Phelps Whipple, Director, Romance Languages
Study Abroad:
It’s been a busy and challenging year in the new Romance Languages Study
Abroad Office! Here are some of this year’s highlights:
Best wishes and thanks. ! We bid farewell to our part-time secretary, Anita
Knauss, in January of 2006. We will miss her sunny disposition and focus on
students and offer our thanks and best wishes to her as she explores beginning
her own business. With Anita’s departure, I was very grateful to have Jennifer
McCoy (MA, French, May 2006) and Nora Solomon (BA, Spanish and Ethnic
Studies, May 2006), who did a fantastic job working in the office this past year. I
feel truly blessed to have worked with them and wish them both personal and
professional success in their future endeavors.
Welcome, Nora! ! In June, I was thrilled to be able to hire a full-time
Romance Languages Study Abroad secretary. Nora Solomon is an alumna of
our summer program in Spain and worked in the office last year as the
undergraduate student assistant. With majors in both Spanish and Ethnic
Studies and proficiency in several languages, Nora has great enthusiasm for
study abroad and I know that she will be a great help to current and future
program partipants. Please feel free to contact Nora at 419-372-8053 if you’d
like information about our programs or if you have news you’d like to share.
Congratulations! ! The AYA Spain Program is pleased to announce the
recipients of the 2006–2007 Janet M. Shanklin Memorial Scholarship. The
summer 2006 recipients are Matthew Federico, Niki Messmore, Ricardo
Mendoza, Rachael Englebryand and Naomi Valdez. Each student was awarded
$1,000 to assist with tuition and room and board costs during the summer
program in Alcalá de Henares. The academic year recipients are Megan Maury
and Ashley Albridge, who received $2,500 to assist with their tuition and room
and board costs during the academic year program. We congratulate these fine
students and thank the Shanklin family for their continued generosity, which
has helped so many students to achieve their dream of living and studying in
Spain.
New Academic Summer Abroad in Italy Program ! Late last fall, the
department received approval to begin a new summer program in Rome, Italy.
Thanks to much work from former Chair Federico Chalupa, Italian instructor
Mariella Zucchi-Bingman and Classics instructor James Pfundstein, the
department was able to send eleven undergraduate and graduate students to
Rome for a six-week summer program in Italian and Classical Studies. The onsite
director was Dr. Pfundstein, whose report can be read below.
New Home for AYA Spain Program ! The AYA Spain Program in Alcalá de
Henares has found a new home at the Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros
in Alcalá de Henares, a private school for teachers and social workers that is
affiliated with the University of Alcalá. Jon Moczadlo, a student in the spring
2006 program, reports: “One of the advantages of AYA at EECC was the
opportunity for me to practice my Spanish to the fullest, whether it was with the

PAGE 8 OF 22
News from our programs abroad (cont.)
Spanish students, intercambios, or faculty. […] The small class sizes were
beneficial to me because I felt more comfortable in the small class setting,
which allowed me to ask more questions. I learn more with less people and the
small class sizes helped me to accomplish my goal.”
Send us your news! ! Former AYA/ASA students, we would love to hear
from you! Please send any news or digital photos that you would like to share
to cphelps@bgsu.edu or to Romance Languages Study Abroad, Department of
Romance Languages, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
43403-0215.
Cindy Phelps Whipple
From Mr. Kevin Kane, on-site Director in Tours:
Riots ! Parts of France—mostly the poor suburbs of the large cities,
particularly around Paris—were “rocked” by riots in November of 2005. The
adjective in quotes is from the American media, whose reporting on the matter
was less than stellar. The riots were geographically very localized, despite the
ridiculous maps on CNN showing little flames all over France. BGSU students
were never in any danger. Indeed, despite the news programs’ presentations,
they would have had to actively go out of their way and seek riot areas in order
to find trouble.
Institut de Touraine seeks Chapter 11 protection ! The Institut de Touraine
[where BGSU’s undergrad courses are taught] is in serious financial trouble
and is seeking the equivalent of Chapter 11 protection. Under a law that came
into effect on January 1, 2006, the Institut continues operations, it keeps
operational monies in its accounts and it “reorganizes,” i.e. lays off staff. By the
end of March, the Institut had laid off or forced into early retirement several staff
members and twelve professors, some of whom had been teaching at the
Institut for over twenty-five years. Madame Turner and Madame Caillou [who
had been teaching for BGSU] were among those forced into early retirement.
This prompted BGSU students in Niveau Six classes to write a poignant and
impeccably written letter to La Direction de l’Institut to express their dismay that
the most experienced and motivated professors were being forced out. The
letter was also posted in the Salle des Professeurs. Madame Caillou was
particularly touched, since, years ago when she started at the Institut, one of
her first classes was composed largely of BGSU students. She and others very
much appreciated le geste.
Strike at the Université ! In response to a governmental proposal to reform
French employment contract law, students at eighty universities across France
declared a strike and physically blocked access to university buildings. BGSU
students were thus deprived of classrooms for their core courses. Our solution
was to rent classroom space at the Institut de Touraine—for which the Institut,
despite my reminders, has quite sportingly not billed BGSU—and we used 147
rue Victor Hugo [the on-site Director’s residence] as a classroom in order to
provide continuity during the five-week strike. The classroom “rental” solution
allowed BGSU core courses to continue, and students to earn credit, with
" After having just returned
from my fourth travel abroad
experience with AYA, I am
reminded of the
indispensability of such
programs. In fact, I am proof
positive of their efficacy: I
speak Spanish like a native
and, thanks to this second
trip to France, I can
communicate in most
domains with a better-thanaverage
fluency. As for the
cultural enrichment that I
acquired while abroad, quite
frankly, a paragraph just is
not enough to begin to
describe what takes place on
these visits. And if I had not
promised my parents that
this was the last study
abroad trip, I would set my
sights on Italy.#
Rachel Kizer, 2006 MA
graduate
Rachel Kizer (left) with
some American grad
students in a wine bar
just off the Place
Plumereau in Tours

15,000 demonstrators
on the Pont de Pierre in
Tours, April 4, 2006
News from our programs abroad (cont.)
PAGE 9 OF 22
minimal inconvenience. The strike left the issue of final exam dates up in the
air, and the Université, in a typical display of Gallic insouciance, seemed to be
in no hurry to decide the matter. Students, meanwhile, had plans, obligations
and plane tickets, the dates of which had been chosen based on a calendar
furnished by BGSU early in the year. It did not seem either logical or
reasonable—or financially feasible—to oblige BG students to stay (once
François-Rabelais made its decisions) to take final exams. It was by far the
most chaotic, disorganized and un-organizable semester we have ever
experienced. The students certainly suffered, as did the quality of what BGSU
was able to offer them in terms of a coherent university education. Continuing
the strike was voted on favorably by the François-Rabelais students daily, one
day at a time, creating an atmosphere of continual uncertainty and making any
planning impossible. From a strictly cultural point of view it has been extremely
interesting, and I suggested to the students that there is great paper potential in
these events: May 68 vs. Feb/March/April 2006, for example. The students,
however, did not seem at all interested Visit La Maison in this Française aspect of at the strikes.
Internships 2006 ! In April and www.bgsu.edu/departments/
May of 2006, a BGSU undergrad, entirely on
roml/frenhous.html
her own initiative, organized an internship for herself at the Secours Populaire
Français. This internship went very well according to reports from the student,
Ember Ngur. Graduate student Julie Grady did an internship at the local
ROML’s newspaper La Nouvelle Residential République, where Learning she had numerous Communities
responsibilities,
including reporting and writing articles. One of her articles spoke of the break
dancers to be found regularly in the Gare de Tours (train station).
Kevin Kane
From Ms. Susana Juárez, on-site Director in Alcalá de Henares
It is a pleasure for me to announce that BGSU in Spain has been re-elected as
a member of the executive committee of APUNE (Association of North
American University Programs in Spain) for another year (May 2006–May
2007). I will try to maintain BGSU’s prestige as an academic institution in Spain.
At the same time, I will share my experience, knowledge and effort with this
Association in order to improve our American students’ academic and cultural
experience abroad.
As you may know, our AYA/Spain offices moved in September of 2005. Our
new host institution, Escuela Universitaria Cardenal Cisneros (EUCC)
(www.cardenalcisneros.com), is situated in a residential area, twenty minutes
on foot from the Plaza de Cervantes, in the heart of downtown Alcalá. Unlike
our former institution, EUCC is full of Spanish students with whom our BGSU
students can practice the language, exchange cultural experiences and make
good friends. EUCC faculty is always willing to help and accommodate our
graduate students, who take two courses per semester with Spanish students.
Susana Ju!rez

PAGE 10 OF 22
News from our programs abroad (cont.)
From Dr. James Pfundstein, on-site Director of ROML’s inaugural
summer in Rome (May 21–July 1).
The notion that ROML would set up some sort of joint Classics-Italian program
in Italy was more or less a pipe dream until then-chair Federico Chalupa made
it happen. Once he had travelled to Italy, scouted the location, set up a contract
with the language school that would host our program (Torre di Babele, an
Italian language school in Rome, associated with the University of Siena), the
only remaining task was to choose an on-site director for the program’s first
year. What was needed was clearly a person with a deep knowledge of Italian
language and culture who was equally well-versed in Classical antiquity,
someone with excellent interpersonal skills and also a certain hard daring and
resolution. No one remotely like that was available, so I got the job.
It’s safe to say that the program’s first year was a remarkable success. Eleven
BGSU students travelled to Rome and spent six weeks living and learning
there. And we did learn a lot: about ancient Rome and modern Italy, about
ourselves, about each other, about the Roman transit system (if that’s not too
strong a word) and countless other things besides.
Among the learning experiences were the things that didn’t go as smoothly as
they might have. Torre di Babele’s method of teaching through immersion and
cultural activities was a big success for those students with some prior
exposure to Italian, but not so much for those taking Italian for the first time. In
future years we might want to have a short pre-Italian course for those planning
to take ITAL 101 in the ASA Italy program. Communication within the group
was also a problem, and we might want to consider requiring cell-phone rentals
for all students in the program. There were some inevitable housing kerfluffles,
though nothing that proved impossible to resolve.
High points were too numerous even to list. Our trip to Pompeii and Naples was
pretty exciting. It was incredibly moving to walk down the streets and wander
through the houses of an ancient city, frozen in fiery ash on August 24, 79 AD.
And the Museo Nazionale at Naples hosts not only innumerable artifacts from
Pompeii (mosaics and wall-paintings, carbonized but still-intact food from the
never-eaten lunches of that fateful day, a rich selection of “obscene” artifacts
segregated in the museum’s infamous “Secret Chamber”), but also the
monumental statues of the Farnese collection looted from the Baths of
Caracalla in Rome. In addition, the USA was playing Italy in the World Cup
while we were in Naples. Fortunately, the USA team managed to not win, but it
was close, and it was interesting to feel that one’s life was hanging in the
balance. (Italians take their soccer pretty seriously.)
But the living city of Rome is at least as exciting as any segment of its rich and
varied past. The cultural program arranged by Enzo Cosentino, director of Torre
di Babele, kept us from being buried in the dead past. The standout events here
were probably the wine seminar, held at Torre di Babele, or the cooking
seminar, held in a family residence in Trastevere. Here, with a breathtaking
view of the city across the river, we learned how to make an eggplant appetizer,
a sugo for pasta and saltimbocca Romana, a dish that promises to “jump in
Dr. James Pfundstein
Students in the ASA
Italy 2006 program (left
to right): Susan King,
Antonia Pogacar,
Jason Lozano, Ashley
Murello, Chris Rohrs,
Sarah Gothie, Carole
Goddard, Brittany
Albert, C.J. Myers. (Not
shown: Joanna
Colangelo, Sara Flynn)

Relaxing on the patio of
La Maison Française
Mardi Gras at
La Maison Française,
2006
News from our programs abroad (cont.)
PAGE 11 OF 22
your mouth”—and does, if you’re a meat-eater, at least. Then, best of all, we
sat around and ate the stuff, talking our heads off.
All of us who went owe a debt of gratitude to Federico Chalupa, to Carlo Celli
(for sending out scouting missions), to Mariella Zucchi-Bingman (for countless
services rendered) and, of course, to Enzo Cosentino, who has friends all over
the world and now twelve more in Bowling Green.
James M. Pfundstein
ROML’s Residential Learning Communities
From Dr. Corinne M. Mann-Morlet, Faculty Advisor to La Maison
Française
2005-2006 was a successful year for La Maison Française! The hard-working
house staff maintained many of the traditional activities such as the weekly
“Café-Conversation” and Activités Culturelles. During the spring semester, as
part of our weekly cultural activities, several of the graduate students in
French came to share their research with us. Merci encore à Bob Webster,
Jennifer McCoy, Nate Sebold et Brad Gosche!
As has been the case in the past, our Mardi Gras celebration was our largest
social event of the year. It was a huge success: tickets were sold out before
we even opened the doors! It was an evening full of Mardi Gras festivities:
mask and hat making, word games, dancing to the wonderful sounds of our
very own “Los Motecas” from the Spanish section, Cajun food, etc.
2005-2006 was also a year of innovation. In an effort to encourage
participation and involvement from the BGSU community, we began opening
our doors for bimonthly cultural dinners in the spring. Among the cultures
celebrated were Morocco, Quebec, the French Caribbean and Switzerland.
For the Swiss dinner, we had the special treat of having Nicolas Greber
present to show us how to prepare the traditional fireside raclette! Many
students interested in the language and cultures of the Francophone world
began flocking to the house. FREE FOOD and culture will do it!
New as well this year was the introduction of a Speakers Series, which
brought scholars of Francophone origin and/or interest to the house to share
their passion and knowledge. In the fall, we were delighted to have Dr.
Aurelian Criautu, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University,
who spoke about Tocqueville, and Dr. Fatma Azouz, Visiting Fulbright scholar
and international journalist from Tunisia, who discussed her experience as a
Muslim woman in the international media arena. In the spring, we were
fortunate to have our own Ruthy Light from the BGSU Art History Department
present the evolution and revolution of the arts in France from the 19 th through
the 20 th centuries, and Dr. Montana Miller from the Popular Culture
Department shared her experience as a young woman in the French Circus.

Los Motecas,
the Spanish Section’s
resident musical group,
performing at… the
French House!
(Mardi Gras, 2006)
Conklin Hall, new home
to La Comunidad
We were pleased as well to have the opportunity to speak with French-Canadian
author Yves Beauchemin and filmmaker Léa Poole, who visited the house as
part of the Pallister Francophone-Canadian Lecture Series.
Many thanks to the French section and the dedicated French House staff of
2005-2006: Audrey Cauchois, Director, Caroline Eboumbou, Assistant to the
Director and Jennifer McCoy, French Club Treasurer. We are sorry to see
Audrey and Jennifer go. Caroline will be back next year and we will be
welcoming Aurore Genot as our Director.
À l’année prochaine!
PAGE 12 OF 22
ROML’s Residential Learning Communities (cont.)
Corinne D. Mann-Morlet
From Mr. Gerardo Cummings, Faculty Advisor to La Comunidad
Since its inception La Comunidad has been located on the ninth floor of
Offenhauer West, where residents could coexist with students from other majors
and fields of study. As of fall 2006, La Comunidad will have its own exclusive
space in Conklin Row. Future plans are (1) to relocate La Comunidad to a
permanent site in Conklin, (2) to hire in 2007 a director from either Mexico or
Spain, (3) to integrate activities of El Club de Español and the Latino Student
Union with those offered in La Comunidad, and (4) to diversify the activities and
cultural programs offered to residents.
The move to Conklin creates numerous options for La Comunidad residents,
none of which would have been possible without the generous help of colleagues
Joshua Evans, Dr. Francisco Cabanillas and Dr. Federico Chalupa. All four of us
have fought for a better living space for residents and for a varied calendar of
cultural events. Many residents, as well as other students of Spanish and
members of El Club de Español, are encouraged to participate actively in the
cultural and social activities of La Comunidad by enrolling in SPAN 220:
Language and Culture Through Community Living. La Comunidad also has a
new Constitution that, in addition to defining our organizational structure, sets the
standards by which residents are expected to behave towards La Comunidad,
the Faculty Advisor and each other.
In sum, La Comunidad is a residential unit of Bowling Green State University
whose efforts at living and learning the language and the cultures of the Spanishspeaking
world are an integral part of ROML programs and events. Our interests
are those of the Department, and we consider serving those interests to be our
most important responsibility. In this respect we are not a dormitory, nor a
sorority-fraternity house, but a part of the academic institution. It is not our
intention to serve as an alternative to dormitory living nor as a social club, but as
an extension of the academic experience. We therefore prefer that residents of
La Comunidad be recruited from among those students who wish to participate
fully in the aforementioned activities and who share our goal of furthering the
cause of the Spanish language and related cultures.
Gerardo Cummings

Focus on Faculty
Faculty activities
[information provided by faculty]
PAGE 13 OF 22
Dr. R.-J. Berg, Associate Professor, French, continues to serve as TA
Coordinator. The second edition of his business French textbook, Parlons
affaires! Initiation au français économique et commercial (Thomson/Heinle,
2006), was adopted by 82 institutions in its first semester of release, including
Princeton and the Universities of Michigan, California and North Carolina. He is
currently at work on an introduction to French film studies, designed for use at
the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels.
Dr. Francisco Cabanillas, Associate Professor, Spanish, published
"Africanía a dos voces: El arte de Arnaldo Roche Rabell" in the Journal of the
Center for Puerto Rican Studies; "Victor Hernández Cruz: Between Anthology
and Criticism" in Changing Currents: Transnational Caribbean Literary and
Cultural Criticism (Africa Press); "Baldemar Velasquez" and "Farm Labor
Organizing Committee" in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the
United States (Oxford University Press); "El cantante: el cuento que Cortázar
nunca escribio" in Puro Jazz (www.purojazz.com); "Entre el machetazo y la
aparición: un recorrido por las identidades boricuas" in Sargazzo (Universidad
de Puerto Rico); "Settling the Boycott: Ohio's Farm Labor Organizing
Committee Brings North Carolina's Mt. Olive Company to the Table" in Latino
Studies. He presented a paper on "El jazz latino de David Sánchez" at the 26th
International Conference of the Latin American Studies Association.
Dr. Paul Carranza, Visiting Assistant Professor, Spanish, presented a
paper entitled “Voice and Writing in the Structure of Garcilaso’s Third Égloga” at
the biannual conference of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic
Poetry. And his paper on the banquet in fifteenth-century Spain entitled “The
(Anti-)Erotics of Banqueting in Trastamaran Spain” was accepted for
presentation at the 2006 MLA Convention in December.
Dr. Carlo Celli, Associate Professor, Italian, taught six courses and one
independent study and proposed a new course, ITAL 161: "Italian Stereotype in
Film and Literature." He published a book, Gillo Pontecorvo: from Resistance to
Terrorism (Scarecrow) and an article, “Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince,” in
World Literature and Its Times (Thomson Gale). His next book, A New Guide to
Italian Cinema, coauthored with Marga Cottino-Jones (Palgrave MacMillan), is
due out in 2006. He also was a speaker in October 2005 at the Festival of New
Italian Cinema at Stony Brook University.
Dr. Federico Chalupa, Outgoing Chair and Associate Professor, Spanish,
published his article “Jonatás y Manuela: La historización del cuerpo negro y la
construcción de la nación” in the journal Hostos Review. He presented two
papers, “Imaginarios femeninos y mestizaje en Bruna, soroche y los tíos, de
Alicia Yánez Cossío” at the 18 th Annual Pennsylvania Foreign Language
Conference; and “Memoria y agencia de las mujeres afroecuatorianas:

PAGE 14 OF 22
Focus on faculty: activities (continued)
Chiriboga y Jonatás” at the Latin American Studies Association Conference. He
also served as Head of the Festschriften and Book Collections Section of the
MLA International Bibliography. He took 16 students to Xalapa, Mexico during
the spring break as part of the “Impact of Globalization in Mexico” course. He
will serve as Acting Director of International Studies in the upcoming year.
Gerardo T. Cummings, Instructor, Spanish, will defend his dissertation in
August 2006. In 2005 he published a book review in the March issue of
Hispania. In 2006 he published an interview entitled “Damián Alcazar: La tarea
de actor, la política del cine mexicano, y La ley de Herodes” in Revista de
literatura contemporánea; a translation of the final chapter of German Dehesa's
book ¡Fallaste, corazón! in Revista Horizontes; another book review in the May
issue of Hispania; several entries in Hispanic American Biographies (Brown
Reference Group). He has submitted book proposals on Ismael Rodríguez and
Pedro Infante to various university presses. For the past year he has
maintained a website dedicated exclusively to Hispanic cinema, actors and
upcoming movie releases (www.hispanicfilmarchives.blogspot.com). In April
2006 he presented “The Importation of Third World Talent to Hollywood: A Look
at the Entertainment Industry from a Latin American/Hispanic Perspective” at
the Latino Issues Conference. He will again be Faculty Advisor to La
Comunidad, El Club de Español and the Hispanic National Honor Society. He
encourages all BGSU Spanish professors to invite all students to Club de
Español activities and to inform him of potential candidates for induction in the
society during the fall 2006 semester.
Joshua Evans, Instructor, Spanish, considers his first two years of full-time
teaching to have been tremendous learning experiences, both in and outside of
Bowling Green. He has traveled to Honduras and Guatemala on three
occasions, where he worked with American medical professionals as an
interpreter. He has also worked with colleagues Gerardo Cummings and Robert
Barnes to become more involved with the Club de Español and La Comunidad.
They are all looking forward to next year as they anticipate stronger
programming, increased student participation and more events for both
organizations.
Dr. Beatrice Guenther, Assistant Professor, French, published an article in
2005, "Re-constructing a Gendered Bildung: Mme de Staël and Sophie von la
Roche's Epistolary Fiction," which is part of a collection of articles in P.
Schulman and A. Brueggemann’s Rhine Crossings [SUNY Press, 2005]. She
also attended several conferences during the academic year. She spoke on the
sexual politics of the Saint-Simonians, Suzanne Voilquin and Claire Démar, at
the Nineteenth-Century French Studies conference in the fall and again at the
Kentucky Foreign Languages conference in the spring (the paper was solicited,
hence the repetition). In the fall she presented a paper, “Itineraries of Cultural
Identity: Exile and Identity in Marco Micone’s Le figuier enchanté,” at ACSUS
(Association for Canadian Studies in the U.S.) in St. Louis, MO. In February she
was invited to Williams College (Williamstown, MA) to give a talk on migrant
literature in France and Germany, entitled “Representations of Cultural

Focus on faculty: activities (continued)
PAGE 15 OF 22
Métissage in Assia Djebar’s and Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s Literary Works” as well
as to speak to a senior seminar about “Multiculturalism in Quebec: Marco
Micone’s Beyond the Ruins [Migrances].” Finally, she was commentator and
moderator for the panel “Topographies of Memory” during the conference on
Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in
History and the Arts, organized by GREAL, History and other departments at
BGSU.
Dr. Corinne D. Mann-Morlet, Visiting Assistant Professor, French, has
completed an eventful first year at BGSU. Along with her new teaching and
service responsibilities, she has continued to explore her research interests. In
April 2006 she participated in the “Literature and Cognitive Science Conference”
at the University of Connecticut, where she presented her paper entitled
“Cixousian Poetics: Source of Vibrant ‘Knowledges’.” It was the very first
international conference of its kind, dedicated to bringing together literary
scholars and cognitive scientists. Through several ongoing projects, she
continues to explore the intricacies of this recent field of inquiry.
Dr. Lynn Pearson, Assistant Professor, Spanish, published two journal
articles: “The effect of instruction and feedback in the development of pragmatic
competence” (co-authored with Dale A. Koike) in System (2005) and “Teaching
Spanish dialectology with digital audio technology” in Hispania (2006). She has
three publications forthcoming: “Patterns of development in Spanish L2
pragmatic acquisition: An analysis of novice learners’ production of directives” in
the Modern Language Journal; “Teaching pragmatics in foreign language
classes: What do learners think?” in Pragmatics and Language Learning
Monographs; and “Advanced proficiency for foreign language teachers: What can
we do to help them achieve this goal?” (co-authored with Dr. Bonnie Fonseca-
Greber and Dr. Kristie Foell). She presented nine papers at several national and
international conferences including: “Using digital technology to teach Spanish
dialectology” at the 3 rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and
Humanities (Honolulu, 2005); “Educating foreign language teacher candidates to
achieve advanced proficiency” at the Georgetown Round Table on Languages
and Linguisitics (Washington, DC, 2005) (co-authored with Dr. Fonseca-Greber
and Dr. Foell); “Discourse in the language learning community: An exploratory
study” at the 14 th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (Madison, 2005) (coauthored
with Lance Loreno, Spanish Education major); “La comida: An analysis
of L2 Spanish learners’ conversations with their host families” (co-authored with
Curt Collingwood, Spanish MA student); and “A cross-sectional study of the
acquisition of formality distinctions and address forms in L2 Spanish” (coauthored
with Jessica Butts, Spanish MA graduate) at the 8th Conference on the
Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (State
College, PA, 2005). She was awarded the 2005-2006 OCGRE award
(Outstanding Contributor to Graduate Education) by the BGSU Graduate Student
Senate.

PAGE 16 OF 22
Focus on faculty: activities (continued)
Dr. Philip Peek, Associate Professor, Classics, will be on Faculty
Improvement Leave in the fall of 2006. He will be continuing his work in
narratology and humor.
Dr. Amy Robinson, Assistant Professor, Spanish, enjoyed her year as T.A.
Supervisor as well as the opportunity to work extensively with many of the
graduate students on their academic work. She presented a paper at the Latin
American Studies Conference in March, "Foundational Girlfriends: Gendering the
Conquest in Ireneo Paz's Amor y Suplicio (1873) and Doña Marina (1883)." She
was awarded a SPAR Faculty Research Incentive Grant grant with summer
funding to develop her ongoing book project: "Mexico in the Age of Chucho el
Roto: The Changing Meanings of Banditry from the Porfiriato to Post-Revolution."
Her plans for this summer opportunity include writing, taking a research trip to the
Benson Collection in Austin, and coordinating a research assistant's work in a
Mexico City archive.
Dr. Deborah Schocket, Assistant Professor, French, was promoted to
Associate Professor with tenure this spring. In fall 2005 her article, “Social
Identity and Self Definition in George Sand’s Isidora” was published in Dalhousie
French Studies, and her review of Elizabeth Harlan’s biography of George Sand
appeared in The Historian. She has begun researching a new project about the
figure of the bohemian in 19 th -century French literature and will be presenting a
paper on bohemians in Balzac’s Comédie humaine at the annual conference of
the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism in September. She
continues to serve as Graduate Coordinator for the French Section.
Introducing our new faculty
Dr. Cynthia Ducar joins ROML in August 2006 as an Assistant Professor of
Spanish. Dr. Ducar has two master’s degrees, one in Hispanic Literature from
Middlebury College and one in Linguistics from Syracuse University. She recently
completed her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at the
University of Arizona, where she specialized in Hispanic Sociolinguistics,
Heritage Language Pedagogy and Spanish Language Acquisition. Her
dissertation, entitled “(Re)Presentations of US Latinos: A Critical Discourse
Analysis of Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) Textbooks,” explores the
presentation of both US Latino populations and US varieties of Spanish in SHL
textbooks.
As a specialist in the field of Spanish as a Heritage Language, Dr. Ducar has
given numerous presentations on both the pedagogical and sociolinguistic
aspects of SHL learning. In May, Dr. Ducar presented at the Computer Assisted
Language Instruction Consortium in Hawaii, where she and two colleagues
presented one of the first computer adaptive tests for SHL programs. Most
recently, she presented at the combined American and Canadian Associations
for Applied Linguistics Conference in Montreal, where she discussed her work on
the misrepresentation of immigration in SHL textbooks. In addition to her
Dr. Cynthia Ducar
joins ROML in
August 2006

Dr. Valeria Grinberg Pla
joins ROML in August
2006
Introducing our new faculty (continued)
PAGE 17 OF 22
conference presentations, Dr. Ducar has also published in the Heritage
Language Journal, as well as in Divergencias. Currently, she is working on a
chapter entitled: “Discriminación disfrazada: El ataque lingüístico contra el
español en los EE.UU.,” to appear in Espaços linguisticos: Resistências e
expansões.
This fall, Dr. Ducar will be teaching two courses, a graduate seminar on
Hispanic sociolinguistics as well as an undergaduate course on advanced
grammar and composition. The sociolinguistics course will focus specifically on
the case of Spanish in the United States; by examining issues such as
bilingualism, code-switching, and language attitudes and politics, it is hoped
that students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex linguistic and
sociolinguistic situation of Spanish in the United States. Dr. Ducar’s undergraduate
course will focus on developing the process of writing in Spanish for
advanced undergraduate learners. In addition to writing compositions and
delving deeper into Spanish grammar, students will also engage in blog writing
and other modes of computer-mediated communication. She looks forward to
meeting and working with both the faculty and the students in ROML at BGSU.
Please stop by her office in 223 Shatzel and introduce yourself.
Dr. Valeria Grinberg Pla will join ROML in August 2006 as Assistant Professor
of Latin American Literature and Culture. In 1987, she began studying modern
languages and literatures at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1992 she moved
to Frankfurt, Germany, where she received her M.A. in German, Spanish, and
Philosophy as well as her Ph.D. in Latin American Studies from the Johann
Wolfgang Goethe University.
While her master’s thesis focused on language production, her dissertation
deals with the construction of Eva Perón in biographical, fictional, lyrical, and
historiographic texts, as well as through films produced between 1951 and the
present. Her dissertation shows that in social imagery Eva Perón has become a
polysemic symbol through which the Argentinian identity has been repeatedly
debated and redefined.
From 1998 to 2006 Dr. Grinberg Pla taught Spanish language as well as Latin
American Literature and Culture at the university where she received her Ph.D.
In spring 2006, she was invited to teach a graduate seminar at the University of
Buenos Aires. Her fields of interest are the links between history and literature
in Latin American culture, but also 20 th -century Central American narrative. She
has published several articles, including an essay on the Latin American New
Historical Novel and a critical study of the religious imagery of Eva Perón in
issues 2 and 10 respectively of Istmo: Revista virtual de estudios culturales y
literarios centroamericanos. At the last LASA-Congress in March 2006 in
Puerto Rico she chaired a section on Gender and Politics in Argentina.
Currently, she has three research projects. The first explores the ways in which
contemporary literature and film—especially through so-called "testimonial
narratives“—concretely reconstruct the experiences suffered by the people

PAGE 18 OF 22
Introducing our new faculty (continued)
during the military dictatorships in the Southern Cone region during the 70s and
80s. The second project deals with literary history. Since 2004, she has been
co-coordinating a research group on Central American literatures 1890–1950
within the International Research Program “Towards a History of the Central
American Literatures” based at the Centro de Investigación en Identidad y
Cultura Latinoamericanas at the University of Costa Rica. The aim of this
Research Program is to publish a comparative history of Central American
literatures from an interdisciplinary perspective. Last but not least, her
translation of social scientist Siegfried Kracauer from German to Spanish will be
published soon by a Spanish publishing house.
This fall, Professor Grinberg Pla will be teaching two courses. In her course on
advanced composition and conversation she will use authentic texts as writing
models, and students will be asked to produce their own texts. This course
helps students develop written and oral communication skills while reviewing
grammar structures. She will also teach a course on Civilización de América del
Sur that offers a critical socio-economic and political panorama of the South
American region. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the cultural
complexity and diversity of the region. She looks forward to working with the
faculty and students in the department.
What’s new in the
Language Learning Center?
On July 5 Ms. Amber Kennedy began work at BGSU as the LLC’s new
Coordinator.
After completing her BA in English at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA),
Ms. Kennedy pursued her graduate studies at Indiana University where she
earned master’s degrees in TESOL/Applied Linguistics and in Computational
Linguistics.
Ms. Kennedy has a special interest in the field of Computer Assisted Language
Learning. Her experience includes: four years as Team Leader in ODU’s
student computer labs and three years as the Lead Alternate Media Specialist
at IU's Adaptive Technology Center. In addition, she taught beginning ESL for
Adults at IU's English in the Evening Program and ESL K-7 for Virginia Beach
City Public Schools.
Ms. Kennedy loves baseball and is looking forward to seeing some Toledo
Mudhens games. She lives in Perrysburg with two dogs and a cat.
She writes:
"I want to thank everyone who has made me feel welcome in these first few
weeks. I am eager to meet more of the faculty as they return from their summer
breaks, and am looking forward to collaborating on some interactive and
dynamic endeavors at the LLC.
Ms. Amber Kennedy
joined BGSU in July 2006
as Coordinator of the LLC

We’re waiting to
hear from you.
So send us
your news…
before it’s too
late!
Language Learning Center (continued)
News from alumni
PAGE 19 OF 22
New computers ! Many of you will notice that over the summer we replaced all
of the old computers with brand new iMacs. Powered by the Intel Core Duo, our
new machines are twice as fast as the old iMacs. Running MAC OS X, equipped
with a built-in iSight camera, and fully stocked with all of the old software plus
introducing some new software such as the iLife bundle, Macromedia, and
Audacity, the new computers will make interactive language learning easier and
more fun than ever before!
French proficiency test ! The French Section will now be utilizing an online
French proficiency test offered through Brigham Young University. BYU is also
the host of the Spanish proficiency test that the Spanish Section has been using
here at BGSU.
New lab hours ! Beginning in the fall, the lab hours will be extended in the
evenings. The new hours will be 8:30 am–7:00 pm Monday through Thursday,
and 8:30 am–5:00 pm on Friday.
New website ! The old LLC website has been updated. It now includes news
on hardware and software, information on the new LLC Coordinator and staff,
additional Language Learning Resource Links, and much more. Check it out at
.
Coming soon ! Look out for new audio track files for French 101 on the LLC’s
Listening Lab webpage. Also, keep your eyes peeled for some new, better quality
headsets coming to the LLC near you.#
Amber Kennedy
Coordinator, LLC
Here are the updates received since the last edition of our newsletter (summer
2005). We invite you to share your news for the next edition (summer 2007).
Please send your update to our departmental secretary Jeanne Wojtkowiak at
wojtkoj@bgsu.edu (subject: ROML Newsletter) with the following:
! your name, maiden and current;
! the year of your graduation, your degree and language;
! any personal information you want to share;
! permission, if applicable, to publish your e-mail address in the newsletter.
We’ll use your e-mail address to send future issues. It won’t be published in the
newsletter without specific authorization from you. Many who reply with news want
to hear from classmates but fail to authorize us to publish their e-mail address. In
those cases we refrain from doing so, even though we don’t think you would have
minded…

PAGE 20 OF 22
News from alumni (continued)
Class of ‘75
Elizabeth Adams (BA, French & German) is currently Director of Education
Abroad Programs at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. She writes: “It
was my undergraduate on-campus experience at La Maison Française and my
study-abroad experiences in Tours and Salzburg that led me to work in the field
[…]. UNCW sends almost 4% of our students on study-abroad programs, twice
the national average. To this day, my undergraduate days at BGSU and in
France and Austria inform my daily life and work. Thank you, BGSU and
Romance Languages!”
Class of ‘83
Brad Strutner (BA, French; see photo)) lives in Redwood City, CA, where he is
an area sales manager for geoVue, a location intelligence software company.
His hobbies are sea kayaking, coffee roasting and beer brewing. He recalls
fondly the AYA program in Tours in 1980–81: the excursion to Saint Malo,
almost going out with the tide as they returned from a visit to Chateaubriand’s
tomb, Chris Reynolds playing his guitar on the bus… Last summer Brad took
his wife and two daughters, aged 10 and 13, to France, where both girls had
biking accidents. One occurred in Paris, the other on the road from Amboise to
Chenenceau; both girls are fine. Brad would love to hear from any ‘80–‘81 AYA
France students. You can contact him at .
Class of ‘98
Gina DeFrancesco Johnson (MA, French) is currently a high school French
teacher at Portland Public Schools (Oregon). Her IB French class won first
place last spring for their short film entry in the 2nd annual IB film festival. She
continues to chaperone groups of students to France biannually for a month
stay in host families and recently spent a month in Mexico working on her
Spanish. You can contact her at .
Class of ‘04
Ryan Schroth (MA, French) is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. You can contact him at .
Class of ‘05
Sarah Siehl (BS, Spanish Education) is currently one of six high school Spanish
teachers at Northmont City Schools in Clayton, Ohio. She is also a volunteer
soccer coach for girls aged 11–13 and assistant track and field coach at
Northmont High School. You can contact her at .
Q:
Hmm, I wonder… What
does " alma mater # really
mean?
A: "
Brad Strutner,
class of ‘83
!
al•ma ma•ter, noun
[Latin words meaning
nurturing mother, from
the proto-Greek "#$%
&'µ(: “Shatzel Hall”]
1. the school that one
once attended; 2. in
particular, the
academic unit thereof
to which one owes
undying loyalty as well
as annual news about
one’s activities since
one’s departure
(Berg’s Tendentious
Dictionary)

Ms. Toni Theisen, featured
alumna for 2006
Featured alumna
PAGE 21 OF 22
In our first online edition we inaugurated an annual section featuring a ROML
graduate, BA or MA, since s/he left BGSU.
This year’s featured alumna is Ms. Toni Theisen (BS, French 1973). She
can be reached at .
As an undergraduate Ms. Theisen participated in ROML's AYA program in
Tours, an experience she describes as "definitely a turning point" in her life.
Twenty years later, as a graduate student at the University of Northern
Colorado, she returned to Tours and stayed with a family three blocks from
her undergrad French home. Her second homestay was with Monique
Khoury, who currently assists Kevin Kane, our on-site director in Tours.
Today Ms. Theisen is chair of the World Languages Department at Loveland
High School (Colorado) where she has been teaching French for 32 years.
As a teacher she frequently takes students to France for summer homestays
in Nevers, Antibes, Bourges… and Tours. "What a circle of life," she writes.
Indeed.
She has an MA in Foreign Language Teaching and French from the
University of Northern Colorado and an MA in Education of Diverse Learners
from the University of Phoenix.
Very active in the foreign language profession throughout her career, Ms.
Theisen has presented many sessions and workshops for national, regional,
and state conferences and has authored several articles on Multiple
Intelligences, Differentiated Instruction and language learning strategies.
She has participated on a variety of professional committees including the
task force for the Colorado Model Content Standards Project and the teacher
standards committee for Colorado Teacher Licensure. Most recently, she
served on the standards committee for the National Board for Professional
Teacher Standards for World Languages Other Than English. She was an
Executive Board member for the American Council for the Teaching of
Foreign Language (ACTFL) from 2001 to 2005 and served as the national
program chair for the 2004 and 2005 annual conferences. She is coauthor of
the middle school text Bon Voyage and of the EMC/Paradigm French Levels
I–II series C’est à toi.
Ms. Theisen has received many honors and awards including the ACTFL
Nelson Brooks Award for the Teaching of Culture, the Colorado Governor's
Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Southwest Conference on Language
Teaching (SWCOLT) Outstanding Teacher Award, the Excellence in
Teaching Award and the 2002 Genevieve Overman Memorial Service Award
from the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers (CCFLT). She
served as President of the Colorado Congress of Foreign Teachers and as
the Colorado president for the American Association of Teachers of French
(AATF) as well as a CSC Board of Directors member from 1989 to 1993.
She was the Local Arrangements Chair for the CSC, SWCOLT and CCFLT

PAGE 22 OF 22
Featured alumna (continued)
Joint Languages Conference in 1988. In 1991 she served as the Program Chair for
the Central States Conference (CSC) in Indianapolis. She was the Assistant Local
Chair for the CSC, SWCOLT, PNCFL, and CCFLT joint conference in 1995 and
the Co-Chair of Local Arrangements for the CCFLT/SWCOLT Joint Languages
Conference in Denver 2003. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, one of the
first in 2002 to receive this honor.
Toni writes: "My career has been full of adventures and opportunities. I started at
the right place: BGSU. When I take my students to France, and especially Tours, I
still have vivid memories of my study abroad at the Institut de Touraine. Thank you
for being the beginning of my opportunities."
A word from the editor
This is the fourth online edition of News from ROML, and the last of my term as
editor. The response to the first three editions has been most favorable, both
on- and off-campus. We believe that it’s important to inform the BGSU
community about our activities, and to stay in touch with those who have left.
We thank all those who have sent feedback. We especially appreciate news
from alumni, so if you want to update our readership about your doings since
" Paradise Lost #—your years at BGSU, of course—see News from alumni,
page 15. Next edition: August 2007…
DONATIONS ONATIONS TO ROML
We will be most appreciative of any and all
donations, for whichever of ROML's activities
that you may wish to support: our AYA
programs, our Residential Learning Communities,
the Henry A. Garrity Documentary,
Film and Lecture Series, etc. To donate,
please contact Ms. Linda Meek at
. Thank you for your
consideration.
www.bgsu.edu/departments/roml
R•J Berg
Bowling Green State University
Department of
Romance
Languages
203 Shatzel Hall
Bowling Green
Ohio 43403
phone
419.372.2667
fax
419.372.7332