STUDENT NEWS: Students Contribute to Dictionary of an Endangered Language

In early December, students of Dr. Pilar Valenzuela's Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics class presented their work on the trilingual dictionary that Dr. Valenzuela is preparing as part of an NSF project to document a dying Amazonian language, Shiwilu.

Students worked on Spanish and English versions and learned about linguistic diversity, differences in worldview and culture, and habitat. They also, improved their knowledge of Spanish, which included learning vocabulary from the Spanish dialect spoken in the Peruvian Amazon.

Click here for photos of students presenting their work.

FACULTY NEWS: Religious Studies

Nancy M. Martin, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Religious Studies, Wilkinson College, presented a paper titled “Identities, Communities and Religious Figures in Transition: The Transformation a Sixteenth-Century Hindu Saint into a Global Icon“ at the International Conference on the Image held at UCLA on December 2. In November she delivered two lectures at California Lutheran University, the first for students in the religion department on the immensely popular Hindu woman Saint Mirabai, and the second a university-wide lecture titled “Holiness and the Pursuit of Justice: Perspectives from the World Religions.” Professor Martin’s most recent article on this now global figure “Mirabai Comes to America: The Translation and Transformation of a Saint,” published earlier this year in the Journal of Hindu Studies, can be accessed on-line.

COLLEGE NEWS: Faculty Fulbright scholar brings intercultural exchange to Chapman



Dr. Wenshan Jia with Dr. Binlan Huang,

a Fulbright Faculty Scholar at Chapman University.

 Representatives from Los Angeles-based Consulates General of the People’s Republic of China visited Chapman University last month, thanks to an invitation extended by Chapman University’s visiting Fulbright Faculty Scholar, Binlan Huang, Ph.D.

In addition to her research work, Dr. Huang is also using her time here to help promote inter-cultural relations. At her invitation, the education consul, Zhunmin Chen, and education vice-consul, Yi Wang, visited Chapman last month. The two consuls met with Dean Patrick Quinn of Wilkinson College; Jim Coyle, Ph.D., director of Chapman’s Center for Global Education; Wenshan Jia, Ph.D., associate professor, and holder of the Wang-Fradkin Professorship in Scholarly Excellence, Department of Communication Studies; and Chancellor Daniele Struppa.

Read more in Happenings!

EVENT NEWS: "It's a Wilkson Life" ... Holiday Party, Dec. 15

Wilkinson College faculty and staff are invited to "It's a Wilkinson Life" holiday gathering on Wednesday, Dec. 15 from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. in Roosevelt Hall, Laura Scudder Conference Room, 127.  Please RSVP to Virginia Halverson at extension 7355.

Once again we will be collecting unwrapped children's toys ($10 value) for Project Access through December 16.

STUDENT NEWS: Students Present a French Performance

The students of French 360, an upper level French course, presented a performance in French, the work of a semester, on Monday dec. 6^th, in Beckman 404, in front of a very nice and enthusiastic crowd of currently enrolled students in French classes and high schoolers.  The play was written by the students, who also created their costumes and included a series of videos, images, and clips.  This multimedia based play aimed at proposing a new look at theater but also, at easing the understanding of the language.  The performance is the result of a grant Prof. Olivier received from Chapman a few years ago and it is going to be offered as a class next year again.

View more photos here!

EVENT NEWS: The Spanish Showcase, Dec. 10

The Spanish Club invites you to THE SPANISH SHOWCASE - Friday, Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. in Beckman 404. It's a night full of performances, plays, singing, and dancing! Food will be provided.

STUDENT NEWS: Students Given Grants for Research

Three History majors have been each granted the maximum of $750 to do research abroad from the Office of Undergraduate Research:

Chelsea Judy ('11), “Coastline in Trust: 19th-Century British Coastal Conservation” (England)

Alissa Caton ('11), “Indian in Color, British in Taste: The Educational Debates in 19th-century India” (England)

Priya Shah ('12), “A Preliminary Study of the Impact of Colonization through the Collective Memories of the Shiwilu and the Shawi” (Peru)

Congratulations!

COLLEGE NEWS: Chapman Partners with Clark University on Holocaust Fellowship

In a unique initiative, Chapman University will partner with Clark University in Worcester, Mass. to create a new graduate fellowship in Holocaust history, the two universities announced.

The fellowship will be offered as an "innovative academic collaboration" between the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education at Chapman University and the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, according to the two faculty members who teamed to create the program: Marilyn Harran, Ph.D., Stern Chair in Holocaust Studies and director o the Rodgers Center at Chapman, and Deborah Dwork, Ph.D., Rose Professor of Holocaust History and director of the Strassler Center at Clark.   

Daniele Struppa, Ph.D., chancellor of Chapman University, said, "This initiative demonstrates what is possible when faculty and administrators at two universities, located on opposite coasts, think in new was about what will benefit students at their institutions, and then invest the energy and creativity to move from vision to reality."

The fellowship will send one graduate student from Clark University's Strassler Center - which offers the nation's sole doctorate in Holocaust studies - to study and teach at Chapman University's Rodgers Center, which focuses on teaching undergraduates.  The initial fellowship will begin in fall semester 2011 and run through spring semester 2013.  The selected fellow will serve in-residence at Chapman's Rodgers Center, one of only a very few Holocaust education centers in the United States located in and supported by a private university. 

"This announcement brings to fruition what began as the shared dream of my colleague Deborah Dwork at Clark University and me," said Dr. Harran of the Rodgers Center.  "We envisioned a fellowship program that would benefit each of our institutions, introducing new perspectives and research to our Chapman undergraduate history program while offering an outstanding junior scholar from Clark the opportunity to gain teaching experience.  I am proud that Chapman University and Clark University have forged this innovative and creative partnership."
Dr. Dwork of Clark's Strassler Center agreed: "The Chapman University Fellowship in Holocaust History is a cutting-edge academic initiative.  I am as delighted as I am proud to join my colleague, Professor Marilyn Harran, and the whole Chapman community in this endeavor."
The selected fellow's responsibilities will include teaching one course in the area of Holocaust studies each semester, presenting one public lecture annually, mentoring and sharing their research with students minoring in Holocaust history and majoring in European history, as well as continuing research and potentially serving as a representative of the Rodgers Center at academic conferences and symposia.

FACULTY NEWS: Department of Communication Studies

The Fall 2010 edition of Global Media Journal (American Edition) has been published, and can be accessed at www.globalmediajournal.com.

Gregg A. Payne, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, is Guest Editor. Dr. Wenshan Jia, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Director of Asian Studies, is the Graduate Student Submissions Editor.

STUDENT NEWS: PAT President Wins Award

Phi Alpha Theta president, Kirsten Moore (pictured left), has received the Tenaya Hills Outstanding Senior Thesis Project Award.

Each year one outstanding member of PAT receives the Tenaya Hills award for their research efforts. 

Congrats Kirsten!

FACULTY NEWS: Dr. Valenzuela keynotes bilingual conference on Thanksgiving Day, thanks to Skype

On Thursday, Nov. 25, while Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving, the Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon were commemorating the 58^th anniversary of the implementation of Bilingual Schools in their communities. Their keynote speaker was Pilar Valenzuela, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Languages at Chapman University, who delivered the talk titled “The Languages of the Peruvian Amazon and their Grammar,” via Skype. The presentation was attended by a group of approximately 250 bilingual teachers who gathered in the city of Pucallpa.

Read more in Happenings.

FACULTY NEWS: Marvin Meyer’s new book explores literary essence of Gnostic scriptures

Marvin Meyer, Ph.D., Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies and chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has just published another book, written with the poet Willis Barnstone and entitled Essential Gnostic Scriptures: Texts of Luminous Wisdom from the Ancient and Medieval Worlds – Including the Gospels of Thomas, Judas, and Mary Magdalene (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2010).
Read more in Happenings.

EVENT NEWS: The Departmental Art Exhibition, Dec. 6-10

The Art Department is showcasing the newest and most innovative works of art created by their students. Opening Reception is on Monday, Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. in the Guggenheim Gallery and all are invited.

EVENT NEWS: Jason Weems, Visual Arts Speaker, Dec. 8

Jason Weems is an Assistant Professor in Art History at the University of California Riverside where he specializes in American art, with particular interests in history of visuality in the regional, national, and transcultural contexts.

His current book, Barnstorming the Prairies: Aerial Vision and Modernity in Rural American, 1920-1940, traces the impact of aerial view-making on representations of the American Midwest. Other interests include the changing conceptualization of scale in American art and the scientific visualization and consideration of pattern in American landscape art.

Professor Weems will be speaking about Native American Earthworks, Modernist Aesthetics and the Aerial Gaze.

Alumni News: Literary Magazine and Creative Nonfiction Journal Come to Life

Litterbox Magazine - Founded by Pat Martin ('09) and Sarah Reck ('09) is the result of a facebook status conversation between two graduate student friends living on opposite sides of the country. In such a world ripe with technology, the idea was immediate: to create an online receptacle for bold, fresh voices in the literary world. To begin, they turned to their writerly friends, the bold and the fresh in their everyday lives. This meager literary journal soon morphed into a magazine set out to showcase the various talents in more fields than just short story and poetry.

Check out dirtcakes (Founder, Editor Catherine Keefe ('07)), a triannual journal of creative nonfiction, poetry, art, and photography dedicated to exploring themes suggested by the UN Millennium Development Goals to end extreme poverty by 2015. "School Me" arrives December 31, 2010.

Help Wilkinson College Give Back

Wilkinson College Dean's Office is collecting (approximately) $10 (unwrapped) toys for Project Access. Toys will be picked up on Friday, Dec. 17 and can be left in Roosevelt 123.  Need some ideas? How about ... Legos, dolls, Hello Kitty, Transformers, board games, Hot Wheels, Barbies, Bratz dolls, Toy Story toys, puzzles, movies, toys from the movie the Disney movie Cars, school supplies, Polly Pocket toys ... 

A collection is being taken up by Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, which has adopted a military family from Camp Pendleton Base. Phi Alpha Theta hopes to raise enough money to fulfill the family’s holiday wish list. Contribution may be left with Ashley in Roosevelt 200.
 

Destination: Africa opens windows to another world, Dec. 2

Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the International Documentary Program present Destination: Africa, a screening of five student-produced short documentary films, on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m.
Read more in Happenings!