November

Huhn Named ϳԹ State Modern Language Association: Outstanding Post-Secondary Language Educator

Foreign Language Professor Christine Huhn named PSMLA Outstanding Language Educator (Post-Secondary) by the ϳԹ State Modern Language Association.

October

Certificate in Spanish for Safety Sciences Now Offered

The Department of Foreign Languages now offers a specialized certificate for Spanish in health, construction, restaurant , and agriculture careers.

Zambrano-Paff and Huhn Present on ‘Mi enfoque’

Marjorie Zambrano-Paff and Christina Huhn, Department of Foreign Languages, presented “‘Mi enfoque’: Empowering Students through High-Leverage Teaching Practices” at the ϳԹ State Modern Language Association conference, October 13–16, 2021.

Huhn Publishes Research on Teacher Educator Classroom Practices

Christina Huhn, Department of Foreign Languages, Christina Huhn, Department of Foreign Languages (Spanish Education), recently published a research article: Reframing my practices: reconsidering post-secondary World Language education in the most recent issue of Teacher Development.

Need to Complete Your Humanities Literature Requirement?

FNLG 121 is taught in English with a focus on literature from cultures outside of the United States. FNLG 121 meets the same requirements as ENGL 121.

Huhn co-facilitates networking session at State Language Conference

Christina Huhn, Department of Foreign Languages (Spanish), and co-presenter Junko Yamamato (Slippery Rock University) facilitated a session entitled “University K-12 collaboration: Promoting language study and teacher education together!”, an annual networking session at the PA State Language Association annual conference.

September

Sell, Schiera, and Siddique Incorporate Digital Storygame Design Into Health-Care Technology Education

The Digital Storygame Project, the Lopez Foundation Inc., and LCA Vantage Healthcare are launching an innovative health-care technology course focusing on K-12 education and the integration of STEM and the Arts and Humanities.

Driscoll, Heise, Stewart, and Vetter Release “Writing Spaces Volume Four”

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing is an open-access textbook series geared towards undergraduate composition courses.

Driscoll Offers Teaching Writing for Publication Workshop

Dana Driscoll (English (Composition and Applied Linguistics graduate programs), Writing Center director) presented “Supporting Advanced Writing Processes for Graduate Students and Teaching Writing for Publication” at the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing on July 7, 2021.

Smith-Sherwood Publishes Research on Use of Integrated Performance Assessment

Dawn Smith-Sherwood, Department of Foreign Languages, and co-author Mark Darhower published their research essay “Bridging the Language-Literature Divide via Integrated Performance Assessments in an Introductory Hispanic Literature Course” in the September 2021 issue of Hispania, the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

August

Driscoll and Co-Authors Present on Self Sponsored Writing at the 2021 Conference on Engaged Learning

Dana Lynn Driscoll, along with co-authors Andrea Efthymiou, Heather Lindenman, Matthew Pavesich, and Jennifer Reid, presented “Self-Sponsored Writing:  A Taxonomy of the Civic, Personal, and Professional Functions of Writing in People’s Lives” at the 2021 Conference on Engaged Learning in July.

Jiang and Vetter Publish Book Chapter on the ”Epistemology of Deceit and Critical Media Literacy” in Wikipedia-Based Education

Jialei Jiang (Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD alumna) and Matthew Vetter (faculty, Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD) recently published a chapter in an edited collection titled “The Epistemology of Deceit in a Postdigital Era: Dupery by Design,” which brings together cross-disciplinary examinations of the power of social media platforms and their role in the proliferation of epistemic harms.

Vetter and McDowell Publish Book on Wikipedia's Knowledge-making Policies and Practices

Matthew Vetter (English Department), with co-author Zachary McDowell (University of Illinois at Chicago), recently published a book titled Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality. The book, which leverages Vetter's 10+ years of researching and teaching with Wikipedia, is a contemporary examination of epistemological policy and practice in what has become the world's largest and most widely-used knowledge archive, the "free encyclopedia that anyone can edit."

April

Sell Explores Films Based on Video Games

Mike Sell (English) has published “What is a videogame movie?” in a special issue of Arts magazine on adaptation between film and videogames.

Kerr and Amicucci Publish Book: “Stories from First-Year Composition”

Jo-Anne Kerr (English Department, emerita) and Ann Amicucci (CAL alumna and assistant professor of English at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) have published a new resource book to help teachers of first-year college writing help their students develop their identities as writers.

March

Sell Featured In New York Times Article on Role-playing Games

Professor Mike Sell (English Department) was recently featured in a New York Times article on the persistent popularity of role-playing games, even in the current pandemic.

Huhn Moderates Panel on Advocating for Extended Study and World Language Teachers

Christina Huhn, Department of Foreign Languages, served as moderator on February 23 for a panel titled “Advocating for Extended Study and WL Teachers in PA: Strengthening the Pipeline,” formed as part of a month-long effort in support of Advocacy Month during February 2021 by the ϳԹ State Modern Language Association.

February

PhD Student Sowell Selected for English Language Specialist Project

The US Department of State selected Jimalee Sowell, a PhD candidate in the Composition and Applied Linguistics program, to participate in the English Language Specialist Program through a project preparing teachers from Central Asia to write conference proposals.

MA Students SeifAllah and Mushi Invited to Join Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society

The English Department is proud of Dalia SeifAllah and Onesmo Mushi, both in the MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program, as they were selected as new members for the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Goss Awarded Dissertation Fellowship to Study Global Citizenship Writing Pedagogies

Debbie Goss (Phd candidate in Composition and Applied Linguistics) was recently awarded a prestigious two-year dissertation fellowship from the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue.

Goss Publishes Assignment Design Essay on UN Sustainable Development Goal for Clean Water and Sanitation

Debbie Goss (PhD candidate in Composition and Applied Linguistics and faculty member at Soka University of America) published “Writing for Clean Water and Sanitation: Accelerating Momentum Toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals Through Action Research” in Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments.

Lucia, Vetter, and Moroz Publish on Rhetoric of Google Lens

Alumnus Brent Lucia, Composition and Applied Linguistics faculty member Matthew Vetter, and Phd candidate Oksana Moroz published “The Rhetoric of Google Lens: A Postsymbolic Look at Locative Media” in Rhetoric Review. 

Jiang and Vetter Publish on Feminist Rhetorical Approach for Teaching Wikipedia-based Assignments in First-Year Composition

Jialei Jiang (Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD alumna) and Matthew Vetter (faculty, Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD) published “Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of a Feminist Rhetorical Approach for Wikipedia-based Writing Instruction in First-Year Composition” in the journal Composition Forum.

Huhn Publishes Research on World-Language Teacher Education

Christina Huhn, Department of Foreign Languages, co-authored an article titled “Issues in world language teacher preparation: ACTFL/CAEP standards and oral proficiency.”

PhD Student Heise Reaches Semi-Finalists in Fulbright Application

Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD student Megan Heise applied to the US Fulbright Student Program, 2021–22, proposing a creative storytelling workshop project with refugee youth in Jordan, and is accepted as a semi-finalist.

January

Park Publishes Foreword for Book on Multilingual Immigrants in the US

Gloria Park (director of the MA TESOL and Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD programs in the English Department) was invited to write the foreword for the edited book Critical Storytelling Multilingual Immigrants in the United States, published by Sense.

Driscoll publishes Keynote Address on Connecting Writing Development with Writing Center Practices

Dana Driscoll (English, Writing Center) had her 2020 keynote address for the South Eastern Writing Center Association published in Southern Discourse in the Center: A Journal of Multiliteracy and Innovation (24:2).

Smith-Sherwood Publishes Co-Edited Book on Women and Science in Spanish Culture

Dawn Smith-Sherwood, Department of Foreign Languages (Spanish) recently published A Laboratory of Her Own: Women and Science in Spanish Culture (Vanderbilt University Press 2021) with co-editors Victoria Ketz (LaSalle University, Philadelphia) and Debra Faszer-McMahon (Seton Hill University, Greensburg).

Liu Presents on History of Using Technology in Teaching Chinese as Foreign/Second Language

Shijuan Liu presented “An Examination of the History of Using Technology in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign/Second Language (Before the Computer Era)” at the first International Conference on the Developmental History of Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language, organized by the National Tsinghua University, Taiwan, December 18–19, 2020.

Liu Gives Invited Online Lecture at Waseda University, Japan

Shijuan Liu gave an online lecture upon invitation from the faculty of Political Science and Economics in Waseda University, Japan, on December 16, 2020, via Zoom. The title of her lecture was “Hybrid Flexible (Hyflex) Teaching and Learning in the United States.”

Liu Publishes on Nontraditional Path to Learning Chinese Language

Shijuan Liu published “Learning the Chinese language on a non-traditional path: a case study” in the Language Learning Journal.