FLL Newsletter is published twice a year, Fall and Spring, for Alumni, Students, Friends, and Faculty of the Iowa State University Foreign Languages Department. For more information about our department and programs, please click here.
In this issue:
For previous issues of the FLL Newsletter, visit http://www.public.iastate.edu/~flng_info/newsletter.html
Editor: Dawn Bratsch-Prince
Editorial Assistance: Lois J. Miller
All other contributions are credited with an author
Please address all correspondence to the editor: fllnews@iastate.edu
Calendar of Events 2000
March
13-17 Spring Break
April
9 4:30-6pm, FLL Awards Ceremony, Oak Room, MU
15 First Annual FLL VEISHEA Book Sale, Pearson lobby
May
5-6 Spring Commencement
15 Summer Session begins
June
8-10 Alumni Days at ISU
August
5 Summer Commencement
21 Fall Semester begins
October
6-7 IFLA Convention in Sioux City
7 ISU Family Weekend
15-22 Homecoming
FROM THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR
by Madeleine Henry
This year, we are implementing some new procedures in FLL to make student placement easier. We now have a placement examination for students of French as well as Spanish. It is hoped that by next year, students will be able to take these exams, as well as exams in Russian and German, online before they even register for courses at Iowa State. That way, we can make sure there are enough sections of the proper courses for students, introduce students to our studies sooner, and help students either complete language study they need for basic requirements or move into more advanced levels of study.
In line with our attempt to reach out to prospective students with on-line placement testing, the department continues to work with pre-college foreign language teachers to encourage Iowa students to study as much foreign language as possible. This year, the Iowa Foreign Language Association will begin sponsoring a scholarship for high school seniors who plan to continue their study of a foreign language at an Iowa college or university. As a member of the IFLA Advocacy Committee, I helped create the guidelines. We hope to announce our winner in early May. The scholarship is currently set at $700 and we hope to extend it to beyond the freshman year.
We are very pleased with the success of our distance education course, which is now titled "Latino Cultural Communication." It will be offered a total of four times this year and has been nominated for a Distance Education Award. Instructor Tia Huggins has now brought in to the class persons with a variety of perspectives on the Latino/a presence in Iowa - employers, members of the state government, and persons who have worked in industries which employ significant numbers of Latinos/as. We have discovered a real need that we can help meet in Iowa!
We look forward to Summer Session and new courses next year. This summer, in addition to basic instruction on campus in Spanish, French, and German, students will be able to study abroad in French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Next year, we will introduce a Business French course and have plans to teach professional writing in Spanish to engineering students. Our literature and cultural studies remain strong also, and once again FLL faculty contributed to a preponderance of Honors Seminars. We truly educate students from the whole University!
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU
The Casa Hispánica Learning Community is now accepting
applications for Fall 2000. Interested students and their families
can get more information and apply online at: http://www.language.
iastate.edu/kleonard/casahisp/casahispanica.htm or contact
Kathy Leonard at 294-5344 or kleonard@iastate.edu
REMEMBERING CHARLOTTE BRUNER (1917-1999)
by Robert Bernard
Charlotte Hughes Bruner, a longtime member of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, died on December 4, 1999, after a valiant struggle with cancer. Professor Bruner had taught at ISU from the early l940s until her retirement in l989. She will be well remembered by both faculty and students for her participation in the Third World Studies Program, as well as for the Negritude and French Literature courses she taught in the FLL Department. Indeed, Professor Bruner's scholarly accomplishments, both in number and scope, defy description. After having taught French and English at ISU for many years, she brought to light the Negritude movement and the black writers of the francophone world. Through her pioneering efforts in this field, she achieved an international reputation. At the time of her death, she had edited two significant anthologies, "Unwinding Threads - Writing by Women in Africa" (published first in 1983 and again in 1994) and "African Women's Writing" (published in 1993) . In addition to these works, she had also written numerous articles on Third World Literature, upwards of fifty or more, and maintained a long association with the ISU program, Third World Cultures for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, of which she was co-founder and coordinator. She also traveled extensively to the continents whose authors she wrote about, reading papers, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America. Toward the end of her academic career, Professor Bruner was honored for her work promoting cross-cultural understanding and human rights by the Iowa Women's Political Caucus (1985). As recently as 1995 and 1997, she received the ISU Strong-Minded Women Award (1995) and was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.
In effect, Professor Bruner never truly retired in 1987, so occupied was she in a variety of activities and endeavors. She continued to correspond with colleagues in the profession, was frequently called upon to read materials submitted for publication and to talk at various universities and symposia because of her fame and expertise in bringing the Negritude movement to its rightful place in the canon of contemporary literature.
For the last three months of her life, she stayed at the Israel Family Hospice House in Ames whose caring staff and pleasant environment allowed her to spend the dwindling weeks and days visiting with family and friends and accomplishing some of the final things she wanted to do. Professor Bruner's interests in academia were both varied and absorbing. She had a passion for collecting memorabilia. She has preserved over the years several items of apparel that her mother had made for her and her two sisters. These items were carefully packed away in boxes with tissue paper and certainly did not look their age. They were curios to be sure and one wondered why she had kept them. No doubt they were in some ways analogous to the agents of Proust's theory of involuntary memory, the catalysts which had brought back nostalgic memories from the past, fragile time capsules which contributed so significantly to her delightful memoir, "Recollections and Reflections of a Faculty Brat," which she had written at the request of her daughter Nell as she states in the Introduction: "She {Nell} wanted to know more about me to better understand herself. I have continued from time to time writing little episodes of what it was like to grow up in a small college town in Illinois, Urbana, in the pre-World War II era." In this wonderful chapter, "American In Search of Time Past," Professor Bruner describes the loving care her mother took in making special item clothing for her and her two sisters. It becomes clear in the reading of this book that having saved some of these articles of clothing was not merely a gesture of nostalgia but equally and more so a tribute to her mother whom she loved so well. Another solace to Professor Bruner in the latter part of her life was painting. Many of her works have been exhibited at the Octagon and she has gifted her friends with the fruits of this special talent. Prominent in her painting are the children and pets of friends whom she loved and considered as extended family. Her remarkable use of color and ability to capture a child's mood or gesture add greatly to the charm of her art.
Professor Bruner's mood remained cheerful and bright until the end. Each new day was a gift which she cherished as she embraced her friends "with hoops of steel" in the final months. Never in denial about her condition but finding talking about her failing health boring and uninteresting, she choose not to. She never asked her doctor how much time she had left but told him she was willing to take extraordinary measures to preserve life which she still found good and worthwhile despite the law of diminishing returns. There is perhaps no better way to conclude this celebration of Charlotte Bruner's life than by quoting a short episode from "Recollections and Reflections of a Faculty Brat" (From the chapter "The Men in My Life" The subject in question is Dr. Frederick Greene, Professor Emeritus, who read to Charlotte when she was five years old and at home recovering from a mastoid infection):
"When he came to sit with me, he used to settle in a chair at the foot of the bed and read aloud. I loved to have him come. He was round and sprightly, with a white beard and flashing eyes. He looked, I thought, like an elf. He read aloud, supposedly to me, though he read in Latin and Greek. He claimed that I understood all of it, and that amused even me.
We must also have talked sometimes, because I remember one incident quite clearly. One volume of my Child's Book of Knowledge had on its cover a picture of Plato and Aristotle walking along, conversing. Plato was pointing upward, Aristotle gestured down toward the earth. Professor Greene explained that Plato liked to talk about ideas, and Aristotle cared more about things. To this day, I feel Plato the more admirable character, and he is quite real to me, thanks to old Professor Greene."
Charlotte Bruner has left behind a rich legacy for her family, the academy, her students and colleagues, reflected in her scholarly contributions, her civic mindedness, her art, and the great gift of herself which she shared so generously with all of her friends.
FIRST ANNUAL FLL BOOK SALE
by Dawn Bratsch-Prince
The department will be holding its First Annual Foreign-Language Book Sale, as part of the VEISHEA open-house activities, on Saturday, April 14th, in the lobby of Pearson Hall.
An array of used foreign-language books, magazines, and textbooks, in additions to other books and academic materials, will be available for a modest price (most .25 to $1.00). Students, alumni, foreign language teachers, and those just eager to practice their reading skills should plan on stopping by! All proceeds from the book sale will support FLL student scholarships
Members of our student-organized foreign-language clubs (French,
German, Russian, and Spanish) will also take advantage of this
opportunity to promote their organizations and to sell t-shirts
and treats in support of their activities.
If you live in or around the Ames area and would like to donate
your used foreign language books, please contact the department
at 294-4046 and we will arrange for pickup.
LINGUISTIC HAPPENINGS!
For the last year and a half, Jim Dow, professor of German, has chaired the ISU Cross-Disciplinary Linguistics Program. During this current academic year, he has planned for several engaging public presentations.
On December 1, there was a panel discussion on "Official English. Also Known as `English Only'" in which Iowa's Senator Steve King and three faculty participated. Senator King is the sponsor of the bill to make English the "Official Language of Iowa." About 90-100 people attended and participated in the discussion.
For February 2000, Professor. Dow has invited Konrad Köstlin of the University of Vienna to give a talk entitled: "Promoting Differences: `There is no thing which separates Austrians and Germans as much as the language they share.'" Later, in March, Thomas Stolz of the University of Bremen will visit campus to present a talk on "Steinthal, Müller, Gabelentz, Finck. `Minor' German and Austrian typologists in the late19th/early 20th century," which will concentrate on the matter of language and racial ideology, a topic that Dow has recently worked on in his research. Christel Stolz, the wife of Thomas Stolz, will also give a talk for FLL faculty and students about her fieldwork on Central American languages. For more information on these upcoming presentations, contact Jim Dow at 294-4555
NEW FACULTY IN FRENCH
by Dawn Bratsch-Prince
This year, in addition to the permanent French faculty, students
in French are able to take advantage of the talents of three language
instructors from very different backgrounds: Marie-Pascale Addison,
who teaches second-year French and supervises student-teachers
for FLL; Niati Sanzu, who teaches first-year French, as well as
French for faculty and staff; and Jean Pierre Taoutel, who teaches
both first- and second-year classes. In this issue, Marie-Pascale
and Niati share with us a little about themselves:
Marie-Pascale Addison: "I am originally from Canada,
and lived most of my childhood abroad wherever my father's diplomatic
career would take him. I have had a wide exposure to various cultures
having lived in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Cyprus, Haiti, France,
Cuba and Poland."
"I entered college at seventeen and earned a BA with a major in French and a minor in Psychology from Ottawa University. I earned an MA in French literature at McGill University. Parallel to my studies, I enjoyed teaching French as a Second Language and successfully pursued a Diploma in Education. I taught French for both the Montreal School Board and a private school before becoming an instructor at Montreal University where, since 1989, I have taught at its summer French immersion program. In 1993, I spent 18 months instructing French student-teachers in Tarnow, Poland. I have lived and been a French and Spanish teacher in Massachusetts, Florida, and Iowa since 1995."
"My husband, Jay, and I have a wonderful daughter, Olivia, and we have recently built our dream house in the Ankeny area where we plan to settle for the foreseeable future. Where else in this world should such a worldly person choose to settle? Iowa offers the best environment to raise a family, take it from me!"
Niati Sanzu: "Culture shock! I never grasped the full meaning of these two words until I came to this country on March 21, 1995, with my wife and my three children. Everything around us was weird: the language, the country, and to top it all off, the weather. The Midwestern language with its idioms did not make any sense to us. It took us several months to figure out that "you bet" was not an insult (because "bête"in French means "stupid, idiot"), and that you have to make an appointment to visit a friend!"
"I left my country, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), ten years ago. The political machine was after me. As a broadcast journalist, I stood up against the regime with its unpopular laws: "don't see evil, don't hear evil, and don't speak evil." I was thrown into a military prison until I managed to leave the country for Nairobi, Kenya (East Africa) where I spent five years before coming to America."
"I earned my Master's degree in French at the University of Iowa in 1998, leaving behind my eleven years of professional journalism. My wife, Séraphine, a registered nurse, convinced me to forget all about my first love: journalism."
"I joined FLL at ISU in August 1999, encouraging my first-year students to enjoy the French language by way of the French In Action method. Our three children, Noella 15, Daniel 9, and Joe 7, like it here in Ames, 'our new village,' although they miss their friends in Cedar Rapids."
I look forward to better serving the community as I hope to
teach a short course in French to interested faculty and staff
members here at ISU. I also pend my time writing my book highlighting
my experience as an immigrant living in American society."
FACULTY UPDATE
Vera Aginsky (Russian) is presenting a paper at the conference of the British Association of Slavic Languages, Cambridge, UK, April 1-3, 2000. She will speak on the imagery of the novel WE by Yevgeny Zamiatin. She continues consulting for the Samara-Des Moines medical partnership, who had a group of medical staff from Samara visit Des Moines February 5-19, 2000. Vera worked with the group during some of their visit.
Brett Bowles (French) will present "Teaching Vichy through Film" at the annual meeting of Society for French Historical Studies in Tempe, Arizona, March 30-April 1, 2000.
Dawn Bratsch-Prince (Spanish) has been granted a sabbatical for Fall 2000. She will be presenting a paper on "The Game of Matrimonial Politics in Medieval Iberia" at the International Medieval Studies Conference at Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2000. She will also represent medieval Iberian studies in a round table discussion on "Feminism and the Academy," at the same conference.
James Dow (German) presented two papers: "Folklore Studies in the United States," Eötvös Loránd Tudomáyegyetem, Budapest (Hungary), January 1999, and "Kultur- und Volkstumspolitik des Nationalsozialismus in Österreich. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der amerikanischen Sichtweise," presented in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Universität Salzburg, March 1999. Jim is also serving this year as faculty advisor to the ISU Japanese Club.
Madeleine Henry (Classical Studies) was appointed for a three-year term to the Iowa Humanities Board.
Nelle Hutter-Kottman (French) has been appointed Assistant Department Chair of FLL for the academic year 2000-2001. Congratulations!
George Jura (Spanish) has been granted a sabbatical for Fall 2000 to complete work on a book project.
Kathy Leonard (Spanish) has been granted a sabbatical for the academic year 2000-2001.
Michelle Mattson (German) has been selected as a finalist for the Fulbright Summer German Studies Seminar in Berlin. The topic of the seminar is "History and Memory Jewish Past and Present in Germany." She is also presenting a paper at a conference on "The Image of the 20th Century (and the End of the Millennium) in Literature, Media, and Society," at the University of Southern Colorado, March 2000.
Peggy Mook (Classics) presented a paper entitled "Subminoan Pottery and Cultural Identity in Protogeometric Crete," at Lighten Our Darkness: Cultural Transformations at the Beginning of the First Millennium BC - From the Alps to Anatolia, in Birmingham, UK, January 2000. She will also present a paper, "From Foundation to Abandonment: New Ceramic Phasing for the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age on the Kastro at Kavousi," at a conference she is helping organize, Crete 2000 (sponsored by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete), in Athens and Crete, Greece, July 2000.
RESEARCH IN BRIEF
Bob Bernard (French) has an article titled "The Symbiotic Relationship of Choderlos de Laclos' De l'éducation des femmes and Les Liaisons dangereuses." forthcoming in Vitae Scholasticae.
Brett Bowles (French) has published "Poetic Practice and Historical Paradigm: Charles Baudelaire's Anti-Semitism." PMLA 115.2 (March 2000). His book review of The French in Love and War: French Popular Culture in the Era of the World Wars by Charles Rearick (Yale UP, 1997), appeared in Contemporary French Civilization 23.1 (Winter-Spring 1999- 2000).
James Dow (German) recently has published: "Goethe," "Hans Naumann," and "Das Nibelungenlied," "Schiller," in Encyclopedia of Folklore and Literature, edited by Mary Ellen Brown (Indiana University) and Bruce Rosenberg (Brown University), Santa Barbara, Denver & Oxford, England: ABC-CLIO, 1998; and "Germany," in the Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity," edited by Joshua A. Fishman. Oxford & NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999. He also published "Who Benefits from Ethnicity," translation of Olaf and Elisabeth Bockhorn's paper "Wem nutzt 'Ethnicität?'" presented at the 6th Mediterranean Ethnological Summer Symposium in Piram (Slovenia), September 1998, and appearing in MESS 3 (1999).
STUDY ABROAD 2000: RUSSIAN IN MINSK
A lucky group of students will participate in the FLL's Study Abroad Program at the University of Belarus, Minsk, from May 13-June 24, 2000. While studying at the university, students will enjoy the beauty of the capital city, visit the historical sights of Belarus, experience the culture by living with families, and gain insights on daily living. Three excursions are planned to St. Petersburg (called the Northern Venice!) and its suburbs; Moscow; and Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. Plenty of time will also be devoted to visiting the region's world renowned museums and theaters.
Those participating in the program are eligible to receive up to nine ISU credits during the six-week program to be chosen from the following: Rus 101-102 Intensive Elementary Russian; Rus 201-202 Intensive Intermediate Russian; Rus 321-322 (Belorussian Art); or Rus 395 and 490 Independent Study.
For more information about this wonderful opportunity to study Russian, contact Professor Vera Aginsky, FLL, 106 Pearson Hall, 294-0182.
NEW FLL COURSES FOR 2000-2001
by Dawn Bratsch-Prince
New Courses for Summer Semester 2000 (See ISU Schedule of Classes
for more information):
Chinese 170x East Asian Cultures (Bai Di)
French 370 The Cross Pollination of French and American Cinema
(Bob Bernard)
German 370 The Holocaust (Michelle Mattson)
New and Noteworthy for 2000-2001
Classical Studies 275x The Ancient City
Fall 2000, instructors James McGlew and Margaret Mook
Focusing on ancient Athens, the class offers an integrated, cross-disciplinary
examination of ancient urban life, with a particular emphasis
on the distinction between public and private life, ancient religion,
daily life and society. This course is meant as an introduction
to 300-level Classical Studies courses and can be used in partial
fulfillment of LAS General Education Requirement in Group 1: Arts
& Humanities. For more information, contact James McGlew at
294-8637.
French 306x Business French
Spring 2001, instructor Brett Bowles
This course is designed to fill a growing demand on the part of
students and should help FLL build links with and draw students
from other colleges. The course will focus on practical skills
(speaking, listening, reading, writing) and tasks (resume writing,
interviewing, negotiating) necessary for success in the Francophone
business world, but will also sensitize students to differences
in commercial culture that separate France (and to a lesser extent,
Quebec) from the USA. For more information on this course, contact
Brett Bowles, 294-9017.
Spanish 303/5 Spanish Conversation and Culture for Engineers
Fall 2001 and Spring 2001
The Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) has asked FLL to
participate in an international learning community for engineers
who wish to develop proficiency in the Spanish language and in
the Hispanic culture. These engineering students, some who are
double majors in Spanish, will take this section of Spanish 303
to sharpen their skills in the spoken and written language before
departing for a semester of study at ITESM in Monterrey, México.
This course will focus on developing speaking skills, learning
technical terminology, and basic rules of derivation, use of hypothetical
statements, indirect discourse, sequence of tenses, writing for
professional purposes, and Hispanic culture. For more information
on the ME learning community, contact Gloria Starns, Engineering
Advising, 294-9946.
Spanish 314H Introduction to Reading Hispanic Texts (Honors
section)
Spring 2001, instructor Dawn Bratsch-Prince
In an attempt to increase our course offerings for honors students,
Spanish 314H will be offered for the first time next spring, for
4 credits. Those registered in 314H will complete the course work
assigned in the non-honors section of 314, plus they will read
Miguel de Unamuno's short novel San Manuel Bueno, mártir,
and two short dramas to be chosen by the students.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! INTERNSHIPS IN FLL
by Dawn Bratsch-Prince
After a slow start, FLL is finally building some momentum in the area of student internships and experiential learning opportunities. Proteus, Inc., the Marshalltown Women's Health Center, Broadlawns Medical Center, and the Nevada Elementary School Resource Center, are all employing FLL interns this semester in a variety of teaching, counseling, and interpreting activities. The Division of Latino Affairs in Des Moines and the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at ISU are both exploring ways in which they can take advantage of our student talent in the near future.
You may wonder why I am so intent on developing internship opportunities for our students. The answer is simple: in my years of teaching and advising, I have noticed that many students have little knowledge of the professional fields open to them with a liberal arts education that includes training in foreign languages and cultures. Some undergraduates are under the mistaken impression that they will walk out of Pearson Hall and straight into an interpreting job with the United Nations. Others think that the only career option is teaching, and thus they choose it by default, as a last resort. As I always stress to my advisees, the last thing our children need are teachers who do not truly love teaching!
So, what career options are open to a foreign language graduate? These internships point in many directions: medicine, teaching, counseling, social work, ministry, advocacy, government, refugee services, to name but a few professional paths. However, we have found that excellent writing and speaking skills, in both English and a second language, seem to be one of the major advantages of the liberal arts education we offer, since these skills are in high demand in any field.
Alumna Sallie Nostwich (Spanish '89) recently commented that in the business world the ability to write well is a talent in great demand. This has been reiterated to me in discussions with an academic advisor in another ISU college, who admitted that the most frequent criticism employers have about their grads are weak writing and communication skills. Alumnus Richard Kocher (French '68), a banker and technical writer for more than 25 years, shares these views. Richard, who earned a minor in education, writes: "While I never became the classroom teacher I planned to be while in college, I am using my language skills by writing procedure and policy manuals and training programs. I am using my teaching skills by leading an occasional training class. A comment in the autumn 1999 FLL Newsletter struck home (p. 2, col. 1 of Madeleine Henry's "Update"): Not only must we learn more than one language to be employable in the classroom, we must be flexible- 'teachers' in business are 'trainers,'and good ones are in high demand"!
The message to our undergraduate majors is clear: Take advantage of the emphasis on reading, writing, and speaking in your foreign language classes. Study hard to become proficient communicators, both verbally and culturally. Explore internship opportunities while you are still a student, since these may open your eyes to the real value of your education and may make you aware of available career options.
ISU TO PARTICIPATE IN 2000 RUSSIAN OLYMPIADA
by Tatiana Spektor
The Russian Club will participate in the 2000 Russian Olympiad (we like to use the Russian version of the word: Olympiada) on April 28, 2000, at the University of Northern Iowa. The Olympiada is for high school students, so we will use this opportunity to promote the ISU Russian Studies program. Also, we think it would be a useful experience for ISU Russian majors to watch and help out at the UNI Olympiada. Another good reason for doing so is this: On a recent trip to Washington to ACTR's offices, Jim Sweigert (the Olympiada organizer and president of the Iowa Council of Teachers of Russian) was told that there would soon be a university-level Olympiada added, perhaps sometime next academic year. Viewing the high school Olympiada might provide our students with an example of what they might expect from the college-level competition Olympiada.
NATIONAL HISPANIC HONOR SOCIETY INITIATES 20 MEMBERS
IN 1999!
By Dawn Bratsch-Prince, chapter adviser
The Sigma Psi chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, at Iowa State University initiated twenty new members during 1999. Our decision to hold an initiation ceremony each semester has greatly increased the visibility of the organization on campus. The Sigma Psi chapter aims to strengthen its presence on campus by becoming more active over the course of the year, and is looking for a service project in which to become involved. Our new members are: Amanda Bergman, Jarred Brinkmann, Jennifer Carleton, Rebekah Dassion, Kelly Dosch, Karen Hébert, Emilie Hohn, Danielle Janke, Timothy Jensen, Katie Kropp, Katie Larsen, Katherine Marvick, Jodee Mascarello, Christopher Messer,Tonya Mjelde, Heidi Monke, Michael Pitula, Raquel Port, Jennifer Spencer, and Michelle Vaughn.
MEET THE STAFF
Hi, my name is Carla Jacobson, and I am secretary to the chair, Madeleine Henry. I was born in Chicago but raised in Ankeny. My work here includes financial, personnel, and administrative matters. I've been back at Iowa State for over 20 years and here in Foreign Languages for nearly eight. I was also employed at ISU for a few years in the 60s. Prior to that, I held positions as secretary to executives with General Motors and Look Magazine.
During the 11 years I stayed home to raise my two daughters, I had a typing and secretarial business. I specialized in theses and dissertations, typing at least 200 of them. I also typed books, the proceedings from the World Food Conference held here at Iowa State (even had a piece of the iceberg in my freezer), and twice assisted the Dean of Home Economics in revisions of a textbook she had written. I serve on committees and a commission at Collegiate United Methodist Church and am also serving for the third year as vice president of my TTT chapter.
Daughter Cherie lives in Marion, Iowa, and is a stay-at-home mom. Her husband does "computer work" for Rockwell. She puts her child development degree to good use working with their two children, Austin 8 and Alexa 5, and volunteering in their classes. Stacie lives in Mesa, Arizona. After working for several years in the field of her degree, exercise science, she currently works for Federal Express. She's been working at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix but has just been promoted to a courier position in Scottsdale. I enjoy reading, the theater, museums, and traveling. I'm also a big figure skating fan. Several years ago I had the privilege of meeting skaters who later won medals in world and Olympic competitions. My dream is to someday be able to take a really good vacation and use some of the seven weeks vacation which I've had accumulated for ever so long.
"Je fais le voyage, mais c'est le voyage qui me
fait."*
By Amanda Fier JLMC/French 1999
Looking at my diploma from Iowa State, I must say that the two degrees there celebrated on that manila paper are not exactly what I had imagined them to be. Five and a half years ago, I would not have been able to tell you that journalism was the "one" for me even though I have always been a strong writer. On the other hand, five and a half years ago I would have been quick to tell you that French was in NO way, shape or form, the "one" for me. To me, studying foreign language was an affliction.
The funny thing is, French was the degree that put much of the meaning into my college education. And journalism was the degree that opened the door so that French could come in. What is now the Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication requires journalism students to select a designated area of concentration in any area of interest in order to round out the student's degree. Don't ask me how I came up with French because two teachers at my high school had long ago pulled the plug on the enthusiasm I had for the language. I gave French a chance by default. Nelle Hutter was my first ISU French professor. She was excited about French, she could actually speak it, and she raved about a summer exchange and brought in slides. So after wading through strife with my parents about the benefits of a summer exchange, I went to Lyon, France. Lyon gave life to the French language because I saw the vocabulary in action, I actually realized why it was important to learn the subjunctive.
My journalism advisor had warned me before I left saying, "Once you travel, you just have to travel some more." After my first experience in Lyon, I said to myself, "Self, I have to travel some more." I contemplated the consequences of adding French and another year or more to my college education. Although it did not come as naturally for me as journalism did, it challenged me and was something I loved for what it was and not what I could do with it. So I went away to study at the Université de Lausanne. I loved it. There, I improved my language skills immensely and learned a lot about the thing called life.
I could actually speak the language when I got home, but my Iowa State credits were few among the many exchange program credits. If I wanted that French degree, I was advised to return to ISU in the fall. I thought, "Another semester. Another loan." But I also thought, "Another degree studying the language I love." So back to ISU I went. And actually, the fall semester of French courses proved to be one of the most enjoyable and it reinforced what I had learned in Lausanne the year before.
So here I am, five and a half years later and that manila paper celebrates two degrees that I did not expect to call my own, especially French. To me, studying French has not been an affliction, well maybe a financial affliction, but it has been much more of something else-a joy.
*("I make the trip, but it's the trip that makes me." Nicolas Bouvier)
A Trabajar?!: Off to work I go?!
By Cindy Tschampl, Spanish '98
Having won the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship before I graduated
in December 1998, I didn't have to face that awful question of,
"What am I to do with my life now that I don't technically
qualify as a 'poor college student' any more": I traveled
to Chile for the year, took a few courses and mainly focused on
cultural discovery and exchange. In fact, the idea of
helping different groups communicate with each other has been
getting me going in the morning for quite some time. It is true
that my semester abroad in Valladolid, Spain and my student teaching
abroad in South Africa helped me to realize that this is something
to explore as a life's work. But, it was only during my year in
Chile where the challenges and responsibilities were larger than
ever before. The active seeking of life experiences to force growth
and foster understanding led to a pattern of more open, honest,
and productive communication. At the risk of sounding corny, I
felt as if I were truly tapping into the sacred wants of my heart--that
with which I could live and work by day after day...I had found
my vocation, that is, where my greatest desires and the world's
greatest need intersect (I have a good friend and campus minister
to thank for that definition).
As the discovery process (please note the word: process!) was unfolding, I realized the wisdom of the advice that so many older friends has given me as an undergraduate: After you graduate and go out into the world. That experience is invaluable when deciding about graduate work or career plans. I would add that it also provides an effective sieve for the limitless opportunities we find surround us.
Now I am facing the big post-graduation question: work or graduate
school? Well, I choose door number three: fellowships and volunteer
work. Why? Now that I have a direct line and am listening to my
heart, I still feel like a baby in the world. I want to know how
my vocation manifests in the "working world" and there
is lots about communication that I need to
learn and practice. I realize that I will never reach perfection
and that the "perfect moment" to enter either a career
or graduate work also doesn't exist, but I can guarantee you that
I will go at a good time as long as I listen to my true North...that
still small voice that says "yes, you can,"and oh, so
often, gets buried beneath the static of our lives.
I welcome any questions and/or comments of any kind (ctschampl@hotmail.com).
ALUMNI NEWS
Thanks to improvements in the university's electronic record-keeping,
our newsletter finally has reached alumni who graduated prior
to 1970. We are very pleased that so many of these alumni wrote
in to tell us where life has taken them. Our faculty and current
students are excited to learn how foreign language education has
impacted the lives of our past graduates!
In Memoriam
Alumna Beverly Sue (Brown) Geisler (1973) died on December 19,
1999, at her home in Fulton. She earned a bachelor's degree in
foreign languages from ISU and a master's degree from UNI. She
worked as a librarian at Cascade High School in Cascade, Iowa;
was a member of the Iowa Teachers Union; taught in the New Bloomfield
School District for the last 14 years; and was a member of Delta
Kappa Gamma teacher's organization. She is survived by her husband,
Joe, of Fulton. Memorials may be made to the New Bloomfield School
District or to Cascade High School.
1960s
Judith DeSart Rosseth (Modern Languages 1962)
bjrosseth@prodigy.net
Judith is a substitute teacher. She adds: "I just wanted
to say how much I enjoyed this newsletter. How nice to see ISU
has improved its foreign language program."
D. Jeanne (Held) Blackstone (German 1964)
jblack@cherokee.k12.ia.us
Jeanne is a German teacher at Cherokee High School. She reports
that German is alive and well at Cherokee High School--with 130
students!
Editor's note: We hope Jeanne writes back and gives us her secret
to maintaining such solid enrollment!
Earl Thompson (Spanish 1964)
earlt@elmhurst.edu
Earl received a Master's degree from the University of Missouri,
Columbia in 1969 and a Ph.D. from the University. of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, 1974. He has been professor of Spanish and Italian
at Elmhurst College since 1974. He has also been active in the
profession as past president of Alpha Mu Gamma (National Foreign
Language Honor Society); past president of the Illinois Council
on the Teaching of Foreign Language; and college marshal at Elmhurst.
Richard Kocher (French 1968 with Spanish and Education minors)
dkocher@mailbox1.tcfbank.com
Assistant Vice-President and Manager of Forms and Procedures for
TCF Bank. He has also been a technical writer and editor for 25
years and a department manager for 23 years. He used his French
background to do some interpreting work in the military while
stationed in Korea and has used his Spanish background to edit
a Spanish language procedure manual for a subsidiary in Puerto
Rico.
Kathy (Pohl) McMillin (German 1969/M.S. Physics 1971)
singphys@aol.com
Kathy is a physics teacher at Prince Georges County Public School
in Maryland. She uses her FL training to teach languages to her
choral society. She has two sons, ages 17 and 20, who more than
likely will be engineers.
Clark Kenyon (Modern Languages 1969)
ckenyon@inav.net
Clark is president of Clark Kenyon Companies. He received an M.A.
and a Ph.D. in German from the University of Iowa. Since then
he has been self-employed. As to his continuation in the field
of German, Clark is occasionally called upon to read and translate
beer steins!
1970s
Christine Wheeler (Greco) Lustgarten (Spanish 1973)
She received her M.Ed (Computers in Education) in 1983 from Lesley
College and her J.D. from Creighton Law School in 1993. Christine
is a Chief Deputy in the Civil Division of the Douglas County
Attorney's Office, Nebraska.
Jean Fay (Spanish 1973)
"I enjoy reading your newsletter- would especially like to
know what Dr. Soto is doing these days, as he was my advisor and
I went to Monterrey with him in 1972."
Editor's note: Sadly, Dr. Soto passed away in 1990. He would be
pleased to know, however, how many of his former students write
to us with their fond memories of him.
1980s
Beth (Johnson) VanderWilt (Spanish 1984)
bvanderwilt@jefferson-scranton.k12.ia.us
Beth is a Spanish teacher at Jefferson-Scranton High School in
Jefferson, Iowa. She welcomes any Spanish students from Iowa State
to visit her classroom!
Beth (Schutter) Eilers (French 1987/Spanish minor)
beth.eilers@dmps.k12.ia.us
She received her M.A. in French language and linguistics from
Illinois State University in 1991. Beth has been a French and
Spanish teacher at Hoover High School in Des Moines, for the past
six years. She is married to Dan Eilers (ISU 1998) and has two
children, Austin, 2 ½ years and Sydney, 1 ½ years.
1990s
Maria Del Carmen Flores-Mills (Spanish 1993 with distinction)
mflores@depauw.edu
She is a Judicial Coordinator and Posse III Mentor at DePauw University;
She has a daughter, Alicia, who is 3 years old, and a brand new
baby boy, Matías José, who was born on January 25,
2000.
Heidi Reyes (Liberal Studies 1994 and Spanish/Anthropology
1998)
heidireyes@hotmail.com
She is the owner of The Queen's Gold, a tapestry and belt business,
which she started in 1999 while living with her parents. Heidi
and her parents will be moving into a new house in the spring,
where she will have her own studio.
Nicole D. (Flakne) Spaur (German and Politcal Science 1995)
ndspaur.aul@juno.com
She received her J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law
in 1998. Nicole is an appellate law clerk with the Third District
Illinois Appellate Court.
Karina McDonald (Spanish 1996 with teaching licensure)
karina@thinkdot.com
She is a homemaker and has two boys, Drew, almost 3 years old,
and Blake, born in September. 1999. "I have many Spanish
children's books which Drew loves me to read to him. This has
helped me to keep 'one foot in the door' with my Spanish! Congratulations
to Dawn Prince on the birth of her little girl!"
CONSIDERING MAKING A CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FLL?
Are you contributing gifts annually in support of a program or project in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature? Do you want to make a gift that will make a significant difference in the future of the department? If so, you may want to make plans through you estate for the future of the department.
The most common method of planning for future support is through one's estate and is a provision in your will for the Iowa State University Foundation. Through such a provision, you may designate how you eventually want the bequest used in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature.
These bequests may be for a percentage of an estate, specific assets, a dollar amount, or the residue in your estate. A bequest to the ISU Foundation is completely deductible as an unlimited federal estate tax charitable deduction is allowed for such gifts. You should check your state laws as to tax applicability regarding charitable bequests.
Once the will provision is in place please notify the ISU Foundation. This allows the ISU Foundation and the department to use the information to recognize your thoughtfulness and generosity and to make long-range plans.
You or your attorney may want to contact us for suggested language that may be helpful in preparing your will provision that will benefit the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Call or write either Patricia Moline, executive director of development in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at 515-294-6431 (pmoline@iastate.edu) or Monica Porter, associate director of planned giving at the ISU Foundation, Alumni Suite, Memorial Union, 2229 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014, or at 1-800-621-8515.