REALC News
February, 2014
REES Faculty Discuss the Controversies Surrounding the Sochi Winter Games
On February 5, 2014, several members of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian (REES) faculty hosted "The Olympic Games in Sochi: Behind the Hype," a roundtable discussion timed to coincide with the highly anticipated Winter Games in Russia. Media coverage leading up to the games was hardly celebratory in nature, however, focusing instead on Russia's controversial anti-gay laws, problems with journalists' housing in Sochi, and the looming threat of terrorism. It was this last point that prompted much of the discussion. Associate Professor of History Matt Payne led the roundtable, offering a brief history of Caucasian terrorism and Circassian genocide. Drs. Juliette Apkarian, Vera Proskurina, Oleg Proskurin (all from REALC), and Hubert Tworzecki (POLS) joined in the lively discussion.
November, 2013
Chinese Program Announces New Summer Program and Scholarship
New Scholarship for Emory Summer Chinese Studies Program in Nanjing and Beijing
Building upon the successes and experiences of the Emory Summer Study Abroad Program in China in the past +10 years, the 2014 Program has been redesigned to include an array of exciting, new features! Offered through the Department of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures (REALC) at Emory University, the 2014 Program will operate in collaboration with both Nanjing University and Beijing Normal University in China, offering two courses on Chinese language and culture studies in Nanjing and Beijing, China's two capital cities and Olympic cities. (Nanjing will be the host city for the Youth Olympic Games in the summer of 2014. The 2008 Olympic Games were held in Beijing.) No knowledge of Mandarin Chinese is required. To apply to this program, CLICK HERE.
Five scholarships will be awarded in the amount of $500-$1,000, depending on students’ academic merits and financial needs. The scholarship can be used towards international travel, program fee, or tuition associated with Emory Summer Chinese Studies Program. The selection will be based on financial needs and the following factors:
- The appropriateness of the student's plan of study to his/her overall academic plan
- The quality of the match between the student's goals and the opportunities that the program offers, and
- The strength of the student's preparation at Emory.
To be eligible the scholarship, students must:
- Be enrolled as an Emory student
- Have and maintain at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
- Return to Emory for at least one semester or more after the completion of the program
- Have applied and been accepted to Emory Summer Chinese Studies Program in Beijing.
To apply, students must complete and submit the following:
- Cover sheet
- Resume or C.V.
- A one page essay explaining reasons, goals and plans for studying abroad in China
- 1 Letters of recommendation from Emory faculty familiar with you and your work
- Academic Transcript
The deadline for this scholarship is March 1, 2013. Applications must be received in hard copy by 5 pm on the posted deadline by the REALC office (202 Modern Languages building). Only completed applications will be considered.
For more information, please contact Dr. Hong Li.
Email: hli01@emory.edu, phone: 404 727-2511
August, 2013
A Letter from Interim Chair, Cheryl Crowley
The new academic year brings a change to REALC: department chair Dr. Juliette Stapanian-Apkarian is taking leave to devote herself full-time to research, and I'll be in the chair position for a year. As we get ready to start what I hope will be a great year, I'd like to say hello to everyone, and thank you to Dr. Stapanian-Apkarian for her wise guidance and leadership.
The coming year promises to be filled with hard work and great reward. It is an honor to serve as chair in a department full of so many talented and dedicated people, and to work with so many bright, promising students. The specializations of our faculty are diverse and address languages and cultures that stretch halfway across the world. Still, the remarkable spirit of cooperation and shared purpose that we bring to our work means that the department has been able to grow and to thrive over the many years that we have been together. I look forward to a year in which we continue to benefit from the creative energy that all of our members bring to research, teaching, and service to the community.
We can't predict what the year will bring. We can expect that Russia will be in the media spotlight because of the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, and that the rapid pace of economic and social change in East Asia will continue to present many challenges and opportunities. We can be certain of one thing, though: the skills and knowledge that we teach in the Department of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures will be more important than ever in preparing our students to understand the world, the world that they soon will inherit. It is a great privilege to be part of that process as a member of the REALC community.
Sincerely,
Interim Chair, REALC and Director of the East Asian Studies Program
A Letter from Outgoing Chair, Juliette Apkarian
Dear Friends,
To navigate an intricate and dynamic world successfully, understanding of diverse perspectives is critical. Focusing on the languages/cultures/societies of East Asia and East Europe, REALC and its affiliated programs explore global complexities through innovative, cross-disciplinary study. Among initiatives this past year, we contributed to path-breaking scholarship, cohosted a stellar international conference in Japanese Studies, launched a special Peer Mentoring program in Chinese Studies, developed a new interdisciplinary minor in Korean Studies, and highlighted the work of distinguished alumni in Russian Studies. Our courses this year included activities with digital technologies and cyber-culture, and we offered a new freshman seminar that worked with a refugee center in Clarkston. This year our faculty and students helped to support Emory’s inaugural “Korea Week,” “China Day” and “China Summit.” Other events included a digital Japanese “Extravaganza,” a roundtable on “Putin and Pussy Riot,” and discussions on topics ranging from traditional culture to contemporary social change. Our faculty continue to earn major grants and develop distinctive programs for international teaching-fellowships, “open classrooms,” and study abroad. Our marvelous students do important Honors work and volunteer projects, and their achievements are recognized in such arenas as the international Jiangsu Cup Speech Competition, regional Japanese Speech Contest, and Slavic honor society Dobro Slovo.
While our programs have accomplished much through creative teamwork and collaborative partnerships, we also are eager to look ahead. As we work together, I warmly welcome my colleagues Dr. Cheryl Crowley to the position of Interim Chair of the department, and Dr. Julia Bullock to the position of Chair in the following year. I am delighted that Dr. Crowley continues too as director of EAS, Dr. Elena Glazov-Corrigan now assumes the directorship of REEES, and Dr. Rong Cai continues to serve as co-director of Emory’s CI. With immense gratitude to so many for their support and inspiration, I turn excitedly with you toward the future.
With heartfelt appreciation,
Outgoing Chair, Dept. of Russian & East Asian Languages & Cultures (REALC)
New REALC Appointments Announced
Cheryl Crowley, Assoicate Professor of Japanese and Director of the East Asian Studies Program, has been named the new Interim Chair of REALC. Her appointment will span the Fall 2013 - Spring 2014 academic year. Julia Bullock will begin a three-year appointment as Departmental Chair beginning in the Fall of 2014. Associate Professor of Russian Literature and Culture Elena Glazov-Corrigan was appointed Director of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Program this month as well. Finally, Senior Lecturer in Chinese language Yu Li has been named REALC's Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS). We look forward to an exciting new year under their leadership, and extend warm congratulations to all!
May, 2013
Japanese Language Program Launches New Student Website
Senior Lecturer of Japanese Language Noriko Takeda announced the creation of a new website designed to showcase student work at all levels of Japanese language instruction. Rising senior James Lunde was instrumental in the site's creation, and will act as the webmaster throughout the 2013/2014 academic year. The site was organized by REALC's Japanese faculty with the aim of providing current and prospective students with examples of recent assignments and projects, and to honor some of the program's most accomplished students. This project was made possible in part by Masse-Martin funds secured by Noriko Takeda. CLICK HERE to visit the site.
November, 2012
Chinese Senior Lecturer Hong Li has been awarded the Grant for Innovative Teaching from the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence. The grant will enable her to 1) create a digital iBook for her work titled Fun with Chinese Grammar: 35 Humorous Dialogues and Comics (co-author: Jing Paul; illustrator: Eric Reinders); and 2) produce 35 three-to-five minute videos to be included in the digital publication.
Complete with texts, audio, video, and cartoon drawings, Fun with Chinese Grammar: 35 Humorous Dialogues and Comics is a book of Chinese grammar suitable for teachers and learners of beginning and intermediate Chinese. It presents 35 Chinese grammar patterns in humorous conversations featuring the everyday life of college students. It also provides grammar exercises and communicative activities. The former intends to help reinforce understanding of grammatical structures, and the latter aims to promote learning of grammar in meaningful and interactive ways.
Korean Lecturer Dr. Bumyong Choi received an ACTFL Robert Ludwig Scholarship, a competitive award given to foreign language instructors in order to offset travel expenses associated with the upcoming ACTFL Annual Convention.
May, 2012
Director of the East Asian Studies Program and Associate Professor of Japanese Cheryl Crowley has been named the interim director of the Emory Writing Center, a position she will hold during the 2012 - 2013 academic year. The center is staffed by a team of undergraduate and graduate students who offer free assistance to their peers as they work to improve the writing skills of Emory's student body. Congratulations Cheryl!
April, 2012
Chinese Lecturer Yu Li has been appointed DUS of Linguistics for the Fall, 2012 semester.
Yu Li earned an MA in Linguistics at PKU and a PhD in Linguistics from UNC Chapel Hill before joining Emory's Chinese faculty in 2007. In addition to language instruction, she regularly offers courses in linguistics such as "Sounds of Human Language" and "Chinese Writing Systems in Asia." Her appointment as DUS will doubtless strengthen the fruitful relationship between REALC and the Program in Linguistics. Congratulations, Yu Li!
March, 2012
New Chinese Position Filled
After an exhaustive search, Dr. Maria Sibau of Seton Hall University has accepted REALC's Assistant Professor of Chinese position! Sibau is a scholar of traditional Chinese literature and culture, with a particular interest in seventeenth-century vernacular fiction. She earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Venice University, an M.A. in East Asian Studies from UCLA, and a PhD in traditional Chinese literature from Harvard. Her dissertation, "Reading for the Moral: Exemplarity and Heroism in Xingshi yan and the 'Fiction of Moral Duty,'" is a study of the ways in which traditional moral virtues such as filial piety, loyalty, and chastity are represented in short story collections from the mid-seventeenth century. At Seaton Hall she offered courses in traditional and late imperial Chinese civilization, advanced Classical Chinese language, and research methodology for Asian Studies. At Emory, Sibau looks forward to teaching courses on specific genres and topics in Ming and Qing literature and culture, and to interdisciplinary work within as well as outside of the Department of REALC. She will be teaching CHN 272: Literature in Early and Imperial China in the fall. We are very excited to welcome her to Emory!
Japanese Lecturer Accepts Job at University of Iowa
Dr. Yumiko Nishi, Lecturer in Japanese Language and Linguistics at Emory since 2008, has accepted an exciting new job at the University of Iowa as the Assistant Professor of Japanese Linguistics. There she will have the opportunity to teach courses in Japanese linguistics, second language acquisition, and language pedagogy, and to further her own research in those areas. She will additionally serve as the coordinator of the Japanese language program, overseeing curriculum development and outcomes assessment. The move from Atlanta to the rural community of Iowa City is something she takes in stride. "I am looking forward to doing research with undergraduate and graduate students, exploring the local farmers markets, and expanding my repertoire of corn dishes," she laughs. She adds, however, that she will very much miss her beautiful office, the talented people in our Language Center, and her many students and colleagues. The feeling is, of course, mutual. Yumiko will be missed for her unwavering dedication to her students and for her commitment to excellence within the Japanese language program at Emory. Most of all, however, she will be missed for her generosity, endless good humor, and infections smile! Our loss is definitely Iowa's gain. We wish her the best of luck in her new home and much success in her career! Congratulations, Yumi!
February, 2012
Professor Mikhail Epstein Appointed to 3-Year Position at Durham University
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theory and Russian Literature, Dr. Mikhail Epstein, has accepted an appointment to direct the newly formed Center for Humanities Innovation at Durham University in the U.K. The goal of the center is to develop highly creative new branches of the humanities that are capable of engaging with the rapidly changing intellectual climate of the twenty-first century. The Center will focus in particular on the transformative potential of the humanities and their capacity to change the objects of their study. The Center is intended to act as a point of mediation between existing disciplines, seeking to initiate interactions between traditional scholarship and humanistic technologies in ways that will enhance intellectual creativity and foster academic cross-fertilisation. In addition to his work with The Center, Dr. Epstein will hold a chair in Russian and cultural theory at the university. The appointment will begin in October of 2012, and while he will be dearly missed by his students and colleagues, he is confident that his work with the Center will ultimately benefit Emory. He explains, "I believe that my Durham appointment may enrich my research and teaching in ways that will be useful to my department." The Department of REALC wishes him much success in this exciting and challenging endeavor.
New Korean Faculty Position Filled!
Thanks to a special grant from Korea Foundation to establish a professorship in Modern Korean Society we will be welcoming Dr. Sun-Chul Kim to Emory as an Assistant Professor. Sun-chul is a graduate of Columbia University, where he completed his PhD in 2008 under the tutelage of the late Charles Tilly. He taught in the East Asian Studies program at Barnard College, and joined Emory in Fall of 2011 as our Korea Foundation Visiting Assistant Professor. A scholar who works at the interface between the humanities and social sciences, he teaches coursework in the areas of Korean politics, history, and sociology. Sun-Chul has consistently displayed an unwavering dedication to his students and to the development and promotion of Korean studies at Emory. His highly interdisciplinary work will be invaluable to programming in REALC and East Asian Studies. His tenure-stream appointment will formally begin Fall 2012.
REALC Encouraged Students to Love Their Majors on Valentine's Day
February 14, 2012: As part of Emory College's first annual "Love Your Majors" week REALC hosted the Silk Road Cafe, an event designed to showcase the best of our four main departmental areas. Students
were treated to food, poetry, calligraphy, riddles, games, and prizes from China, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Oleg Proskurin delivered a rousing recitiation of Russian poetry, while Bumyong Choi treated students to Korean board games and tea. Cheryl Crowley set up a calligraphy demonstration, allowing many students to experiment with the art form for the first time, while Wan-Li Ho challenged her audience to guess a number of Chinese riddles. The Russian poppy cake, or маковый рулет, was a crowd favorite, and the Chinese bean cakes disappeared without a trace! In the end, students and faculty alike experienced a bit of the cultural treasures of REALC's diverse programs, and a good time was had by all!
Russian-Speaking Tour Director Externship
Go! Productions is organizing an event in Las Vegas March 14 - 16, 2012 for which they need approximately 10 Russian-speaking students to act as tour guides. GO! Productions is an Atlanta company that specializes in Corporate Theatrical events and multi-media services. This specific conference will be for a major automotive company (name will be released once participants are chosen). Staff will be escorting a group of 180 guests during their stay in Las Vegas. This client group is from Russia and are all associated with the automotive industry. Most are not English-speaking. The primary function of the selected applicants will be to provide translation and direction for the clients. For more information about this PAID externship, please send resume and cover letter to Stephanie Richards.
January, 2012
Korean Lecturer Awarded Fellowship
Korean Language Lecturer, Dr. Bumyong Choi, was awarded this year's ECLC Curriculum Development Fellowship! Dr. Choi joined the Dept. of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures in July 2011 and has worked tirelessly to expand the newly founded Korean program. The Curriculum Development Fellowship aims to provide support to foreign language faculty who plan to develop teaching materials, assessment tools, and/or research designs that will benefit foreign language programs at Emory.This prestigious and richly deserved award will permit Dr. Choi to continue his efforts to accommodate the increasingly high demand for Korean language courses at Emory. Congratulations Bumyong!