spacer
The University of Tennessee at Martin

The University of Tennessee - Martin

Search The University of Tennessee at Martin:

Main Navigation:

spacer



 

Department of English & Modern Foreign Languages
209 Hurt Street
131 Humanities Building
University of TN at Martin
Martin, TN 38238
(731) 881-7300
Chair: Lynn Alexander
lalexand@utm.edu

 

 

Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages

Lectures and Special Events

 

Professor Pierre Lincourt, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

 

Professor Pierre Lincourt is the director of the School for French language and Quebec
Culture Studies
in the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. He and his
institution are official partners with UTM. In the past, we have sent
students to their 5-week summer immersion and also to semester programs
(where there is an exchange agreement). Prof. Lincourt will visit the UTM campus on
Thursday, October 29, and speak about Quebec culture and his program in
Humanities 417 at 3:00pm. I encourage any who are interested to come or
send students.

 

Professor James Westerhoven, Hirosaki University

 

Professor James Westerhoven, our visiting professor from Hirosaki, arrived UTM last Thursday and willbe here till October 16.

He will do a two-part presentation on Tsugaru culture, “Voices from the Snow – An Introduction to Tsugaru Culture. The first will be on October 8th at 3:00 p.m. in Gooch Hall 222. The second part will be in the large seminar room in the library on the 13th of October at 3:00 p.m.

Tsugaru is the area where Hirosaki University is located, in the northeast section of the main island.
He is going to show a video, too.

 

Spanish Student Presentation (in Spanish)

 

It’s not often that we get a presentation in a foreign language here at UTM, let alone by one of our students. However, Paij Lintz is going to give a Power Point presentation on the entrances and fortifications of Toledo, Spain, a city rich with culture and history and a UNESCO World Heritage City since 1986. Paij spent four weeks there this past summer and her presentation is part of an assignment.

 

The presentation will be in HUM 405 at 4 pm, Thursday, October 1.

 

____________________________________________________

 

The next French-Club Meeting will be Thursday, October 1, 5:00pm at Tuscanos Redstaurant.

 

____________________________________________________

 

First Language Club Activities

 

French Club: dinner & a movie Monday, Sept. 21 at 6:00 pm in Humanities 417. Why not bring some food suggestive of France or the French-speaking world?

 

Japanese Club: meeting Thursday, Sept. 17 at 5:00 p. in Humanities 405.

 

Spanish Club: meeting Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 5:00 pm in Humanities 413.

 

Here is the German Club at a nice restaurant in Nashville where we ate dinner before attending the Nashville Symphony Orchestra's All-Beethoven Gala at the Schermerhorn Center on 9/11/09.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tim McCoy - Foreign Policy in Africa

 

The Center for Global Studies is pleased to announce that the first speaker in the International Lecture Series this spring is Mr. Timothy McCoy, a 1991 graduate of UT Martin, with a major in Political Science and a Minor in French. His talk on American Foreign Policy and Africa: Time for Change? will take place on Wednesday, Feb.4, at 4:00pm in the Legislative Chamber, 111 University Center.

 

Mr. McCoy is currently Vice President for Member Services at The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), a non-profit grouping of 160+ U.S. companies doing business in Africa. Based in Washington, D.C., CCA promotes Africa as a business and investment destination for American companies. Before joining CCA, Mr. McCoy served from 1992 to 1999 as senior program officer for West and Central Africa at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the nonpartisan international affairs institute of the Democratic Party. He joined CCA in 1999, holding the positions of director of marketing and public relations and then director of international business programs. In 2002-2003, he also worked on behalf of CCA in the secretariat of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa in Lusaka, Zambia. >From 2005-2008, Mr. McCoy was marketing and public relations officer for Dr. Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of HIV and director of the Baltimore-based Institute of Human Virology, which is one of the country's largest implementers of HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs in Africa under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He has visited 54 countries around the world, including 28 countries in Africa, and has lived abroad in New Zealand, France and Zambia. A native of Cleveland, Tennessee, Mr. McCoy speaks French fluently and, besides earning a B.A. at UT Martin, attended Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) as a Rotary Foundation Scholar.

 

Mr. McCoy will bring a wealth of knowledge and many personal observations to his lecture on Africa, a continent which most Americans know quite superficially. As a UTM graduate, he will also be able relate his experiences effectively to our current students and offer them sound advice as to how they might prepare for an international career in public affairs/business similar to his. I would appreciate your announcing his upcoming lecture to your classes and encouraging your students to attend. This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Management, Marketing, and Political Science, the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, and the Center for Global Studies and International Education.

 

 

Dr. Julie Hill and her percussion students - Lecture/Concert

 

As its first event of the 2009 Spring Semester, the Center for Global Studies is pleased to announce a special program presented by Dr. Julie Hill and the students in her percussion ensemble on Monday Feb. 2, at 7:30 pm, in the Harriet Fulton Performing Arts Theater (Fine Arts Building). Over the Fall Break, Prof. Hill (accompanied by co-group leader Dr. David Coffey) took her percussion students to the University of Tampico (Tampico, Mexico) to befriend their counterparts in music—both faculty and students—and to prepare a number of concerts for their Mexican host campus. This unusual international venture enabled her students to grow professionally as they learned first hand about the people and culture of one of our most important neighbors. Next Monday evening Prof. Hill and her students will share their experiences with us by showing a PowerPoint presentation on their trip and by performing some of the selections they played for their Mexican audiences. I think that you will find their program enriching and entertaining and hope that you will strongly encourage all students to take advantage of it. This event is free of charge and is co-sponsored by the Department of Music and the Center for Global Studies and International Education.

 

Molière in Martin

Harriet Fulton Performing Arts Theatre

Fine Arts Building, UTMartin Campus

 

The Vanguard Theater, University of Tennessee at Martin is performingMolière's "Learned Ladies" (Les Femmes Savantes) from Nov. 6 to the 8th (8:00pm) and Nov. 9 (3:00pm).

 

http://www.utm.edu/departments/univrel/newsitems3.php

 

The presentation is timed perfectly for National French Week, Nov. 5-11. Performed from Richard Wilbur's translation of Les Femmes Savantes, a 1672 comedy of manners or social satire, putting down those seemed to worship showy erudition and wit, often at the cost of common decency. Could a university learn a values lesson here? Be there.

 

 

PROF. PIERRE LINCOURT

Humanities 417, Tuesday from 3:00 to 4:00 pm

 

Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, director of the École de Langue et de Culture Québécoise. whose programs UTM students have attended for nearly a decade to learn French in a way that is quick, fun and efficient, will address the UTM community about his institution's 2009 programs. His presentation will be this Tuesday in H417, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. Come and find out why and how a 2nd-language immersion program works, by learning about a successful five-week Summer program in the beautiful natural setting of the Saguenay River Valley of Québec.

 

 

THE ILLEGALIMMIGRATION DEBATE: THE PLIGHT OF THE GLOBAL NON-CITIZEN

Wed.,October 29, 4-5pm, Legislative Chamber, UC

 

Dr. Daniel Nappo will deliver the next talk in the International Lecture Series, speaking on THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DEBATE: THE PLIGHT OF THE GLOBAL NON-CITIZEN, on Wed., Oct. 29, from 4-5pm in the Legislative Chamber (University Center). Dr. Nappo will be particularly concerned with (illegal) immigration from Mexico and related issues, such as border security and the impact of immigrants on the U. S. economy. These are issues of great importance to us all which, following heated discussion during the long primary season, were conspicuously absent from the one vice-presidential and three presidential debates this fall. Dr. Nappo will pick up the discussion in his lecture and will try to shed some light on topics both controversial and misunderstood which are sure to return to the national spotlight soon after the next president takes office.

 

Dr. Nappo is Associate Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages. His academic fields are Mexican literature of the 20th Century and classic and contemporary Mexican film. He has conducted extensive research, taught, and lived for many years in Mexico. Thanks to his professional and personal experiences, he has gained many insights into the culture, politics, and economy of Mexico today. These insights will inform a lecture which will have more immediacy and authenticity than many of the rather theoretical discussions of immigration we find in the media. Indeed, when Dr. Nappo spoke on immigration last Spring for the History Club, his audience reacted very favorably to the personal observations he was able to make and the Center’s Advisory Board requested that I ask him to participate in this year’s International Lecture Series, so that he could share his insights with others. We hope that you will join us for Dr. Nappo’s lecture and that you will encourage students to take advantage of this event. Light refreshments will be served.

_______________________________

 

Wednesday, September 27 (7:30 PM) in the Harriet Fulton Theatre at UTM

 

Women of Paris

 

Featuring Claudia Hommel and Bob Moreen, co-founders of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals. The program celebrates famous female singers of Paris: Josephine Baker, Bricktop, Juliette Greco and Edith Piaf. Admission is free. Don't miss great piano/vocal cabaret act.

__________________________

 

The UTM International Lecture Series presents Suzuko Okamura Hamasaki

who will give a lecture/demonstration, WHAT IS THE WAY OF JAPANESE KARATE?, on Tuesday, April 1, from 5:30-7:00pm, in Watkins Auditorium (University Center).

 

Ms. Hamasaki has practiced Karate-do continuously for almost half a century. Beginning in Japan when she was only 6 years old under the tutelage of her father, Mitsuyasu Okamura, Ms. Hamasaki was at the start one of the few women to engage in a martial art that was dominated by men in an era in which male chauvinism was all too common. Yet she never stopped challenging the status quo. As a young adult, she entered major competitions, most notably placing first in the 5th World Karate Championships in Madrid, Spain (1980), the 1st World Games in Santa Clara, California, and the 35th All Japan Sports Championships in Shiga, Japan (1981). Since arriving in the United States in the early 1980s, Ms. Hamasaki has taught Karate, lectured and published throughout the world on the subject. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Karate-do in Japan. The experience of having been involved in Karate-do as a student, a competitor, a teacher, a lecturer and a writer who grew up in Japan but has spent half her life in this country has given Ms. Hamasaki great insight into the way in which the martial arts of Japan, and Karate-do in particular, is transmitted to and received by the public.

 

This event will offer an illustration of the key techniques of Karate and many insights into Japanese culture. Ms. Hamasaki’s lecture/demonstration is a featured activity in this year’s International Week and is part of the Center’s Spring 2008 Spotlight on Japan. It is open to the general public as well as the university community and will be followed by a reception in the University Center. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the Division of Student Affairs, the Martin Japanese Karate Dojo (Student Club), and the Center for Global Studies and International Education.

______________________________________________________________________________

Don't Forget the Mid-Continent Consortium's Foreign-Language Immersion Weekend for Spanish (Feb. 29-March 1) and French (March 1-2). All information is on the web site: "2008 Immersion Weekend".

______________________________________________________________________________

Japan, Our Forgotten Partner

Mr. Thomas Hyde, President of Management Recruiters Japanese, Murfreesboro, will deliver a lecture on Japan, Our Forgotten Partner, on Wed., Feb., 27, at 3:30 pm in 111 UC (Legislative Chamber). Although this lecture will directed to the students of an Economics 100 class, the instructor, Dr. Bob Figgins, will be glad to welcome any members of the campus community who wish to hear Mr. Hyde’s remarks.

Mr. Hyde is a UT Martin alumnus who illustrates how much travel and study abroad can enhance a standard undergraduate education. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business at UT Martin, Mr. Hyde took advantage of university programs in Spain, Japan, Israel, and China to broaden his perspectives on the word and to become proficient in Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. His experiences as an exchange student at UT Martin’s longtime partner in Japan, Hirosaki University, were especially rewarding and Hyde credits them with setting the course of his later professional life. After graduation, he continued his international education, studying on a Rotary Fellowship in Hong Kong and completing a two-year master’s program at International Christian University in Tokyo.

In his business career, Mr. Hyde has reaped dividends from his many years of living and studying abroad: his firm, MRJapanese, has a long and successful track record of placing professionals with competence in Japanese and English in U.S. and Japanese companies needing bilingual employees and Mr. Hyde has become a prominent member of the business community in Tennessee. As Mr. Hyde will remind us in his talk, this community includes over 150 Japanese companies which, in sectors like automobile manufacturing, have become the mainstay of our state’s economy. Despite the attention given by the media to rising countries such as China and India, Mr. Hyde will argue that that we are well advised to recognize the importance that these companies have on our economic well-being and to further strengthen our business relationship with our “forgotten” partner, Japan.

______________________________________________________________________________

The Muriel D. Tomlinson Memorial Lecture, " The Rise and Fall of Mexican Cinema (1937-1970)," will be presented by Dr. Daniel Nappo, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Chair, Department of Modern Foreign Languages. This lecture in the PHI KAPPA PHI series, will be mediated by a Powerpoint component with photos, newsclips, and promotional posters. The presentation will be informational rather than scholarly, and is intended for a general university audience. Tuesday, February 12, 2008, Watkins Auditorium at 7 pm.

______________________________________________________________________________


Pierre Lincourt, director of the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi's "Ecole de Langue Française et de Culture Québécoise" will be on campus Monday afternoon, October 29. His summer and other programs have been popular and very effective French immersion experiences for UTM students, working through the Mid-Continent Consortium for International Education (founded at UTM). He will be presenting his programs at 4:00pm in Humanities 417. If you know of people who would like to study French in a highly professional immersion setting and in one of the most physically beautiful settings in North America, the Saguenay Valley of Quebec, encourage them to come.

______________________________________________________________________________

Don't foget the North-American Marketing Expo, from 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Friday, Oct. 12, at Boling University Center, with a focus on the international business which has become so important to Tennessee's economic wellbeing.

______________________________________________________________________________

Travel Studies & Study Abroad Fair

The Center for Global Studies will sponsor a Travel-Study Fair on Monday, Oct. 1, 2-5pm, in the University Center (first floor corridor, between the Legislative Chamber and Watkins Auditorium), which will feature all the travel-study and study-abroad programs available to UT Martin students this coming academic year. The faculty/staff group leaders will be present at information tables to distribute promotional materials and to discus their trips with students and other members of the campus community. We need your help in announcing this Fair to the students in your classes and in encouraging them to attend. To update you on the travel-study/study-abroad offerings in 2007-08, I am including below and by attachment a complete list of these programs, along with the group leaders. If you have any questions, please call the Center for Global Studies at x 1023.

________________________________________________________________________

Talented and Famous Mexican Percussionist Visits UTM

The innovative Evaristo Aguilar will visit our campus on Monday, April 2 and will offer a concert in Watkins Auditorium at 5:30. Biographical information on this exciting musician is avilable on line.

________________________________________________________________________

UTM Wecomes Visiting Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Luis Aguirre

ITINERARY: VISIT OF DR. LUIS ALBERTO AGUIRRE URIBE,

AUTONOMOUS AGRARIAN UNIVERSITY “ANTONIO NARRO”

Wednesday, February 21: Arrive Nashville International Airport, 2:20 pm, Continental flight CO 2321.

Lunch / Dinner in Nashville; arrive Martin 6 pm; check-in at EconoLodge.

MFL Foreign Film Series, Aventurera (Mexico, 1949), 7 pm Watkins Auditorium.

Thursday, February 22: Visit to UTM Campus.

Visit to the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, 8-9 am.

Tour of the facilities of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, 9-12:30 pm, with Dr. Jim Byford.

Lunch at the Chancellor’s Residence, 12:30-1:30 pm.

Tour of UTM campus with Chancellor Nick Dunagan, 1:30-3 pm.

Presentation, 3-4 pm, UC Legislative Chamber, Title: “Sanitary and

Phytosanitary Regulations in International Trade” (in English).

Return to hotel, 4:30 pm. Dinner at Los Portales, 7 pm.

Informal afterglow at the home of Dr. Paul Crapo, 9-10 pm.

Friday, February 23: Pick-up at Econolodge, 9 am.

Distance Learning Center and CGS and International Programs, Gooch, 9-10 am.

Depart for Nashville, 10 am; arrive Nashville 1 pm; check in at Maxwell House Millennium Hotel.

Tour of Nashville, shopping, 2-4 pm.

Visit with Dr. Jim Byford and representatives from state agricultural organizations at the Ellington Agricultural Complex, 4 pm.

Farewell dinner at Mere Bulles, Brentwood, 6:30 pm.

Return to Maxwell House Millennium Hotel, 9 pm.

Saturday, February 24: Pick-up at hotel 9:30.

Breakfast in Nashville, 10 am.

Arrive Nashville International Airport, 12 pm.

Departure for Monterrey, Mexico, 2:45 pm, on Continental flight CO 3025.

Biographical Information for Dr. Luis Alberto Aguirre Uribe

Born in Mexico City, Dr. Luis Aguirre has had a distinguished career as an academic, teacher, investigator, and director of phytosanitary regulations for trade between the United States and Mexico. Dr. Aguirre earned his B.S. degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Autonomous Agrarian University “Antonio Narro” in 1972. He then earned his Masters of Science degree from the Technological Institute of Higher Education of Monterrey with the thesis, “Sexual Attraction in the Mexican Fruit Fly Anastrepha ludens” (1974). In 1978 he earned a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University (College Station) with his dissertation, Biology of the Immature Stages of the Pecan Weevil Curculio caryae Horn, and the Oviposition Habits of the Adult Female Weevil.

Shortly after earning his doctorate, Dr. Aguirre began work as a professor of agriculture and entomology at the institution where he had earned his BS degree, the Autonomous Agrarian University “Antonio Narro”, located in Saltillo, Mexico. Dr. Aguirre has taught numerous courses in entomology, pest control, horticulture, and use of pesticides. He has also directed dozens of dissertations and masters theses, as well as served on many committees for the review and coordination of the agricultural programs at la Narro. From 1986 to 1990, Dr. Aguirre served as the Secretary General of la Narro. He has also published papers in dozens of referred scientific journals and given presentations in all the major cities of Mexico, in San Diego, California, and in San Salvador. Currently, Dr. Aguirre is working in the department of parasitology at la Narro.

In the late 1990s, Dr. Aguirre held several important posts related to international trade for the administration of President Ernesto Zedillo. From 1993-95, he served as Coordinator of the National Centers of Reference; from 1995-97, he served as Director of Phytosanitary Regulation; and from 1998-2000 he served as the General Director of Plant Sanitation. These positions have permitted Dr. Aguirre a unique perspective of the manner in which NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, is applied to trade between Mexico and the United States.

In November 2002, Dr. Aguirre was elected by students and faculty to become the rector (like a chancellor or president) of the Autonomous Agrarian University “Antonio Narro”. During Dr. Aguirre’s four-year term (there is no reelection) all the graduate programs of the university were accredited by important agencies, several agreements of cooperation were signed between la Narro and universities throughout the world, and President Vicente Fox recognized la Narro as one of the thirteen top universities in Mexico, as well as the premier agricultural university in the country. Dr. Aguirre also insured the economic viability of the institution in years to come by balancing the budget with careful stewardship of funds and three programs of voluntary retirement.

On March 31, 2006, Dr. Nick Dunagan visited Saltillo, Mexico and, with Dr. Aguirre, signed an agreement of cooperation for student and faculty exchange, as well as for research, between UTM and la Narro. UTM is only the fourth US institution of higher education to sign a formal agreement of this kind with la Narro. We currently have one student from la Narro with us here in Martin, and soon we hope to send students from Tennessee to Dr. Aguirre’s fine institution.

_________________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE IMMERSION WEEKEND

UTM French and Spanish students look forward to participating in a language immersion weekend at Cedars of Lebanon State Park from March 23 to 25, with students from other institutions in the Mid-Continent Consortium for International Education.