Announcements & News
(updated 9/12/08)
General | Upcoming Events | Alumni & Current Students | Faculty

General
The Citadel's chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, is pleased to name the three finalists for the 2008 South Carolina Spanish Teacher of the Year (click here for details).

From July 5-August 1, 2008, Dr. Guy Toubiana directed the French Summer Study Abroad Program in Montpellier, France with 14 students.

In July 2008, The Citadel's chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, published its 20th edition of El Cid, a national, refereed journal in Spanish dedicated to original works of undergraduate and graduate students. Jared S. Newman (Spanish, '08) served as Editor for this issue; Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro is the journal's founding Director.

The American Society of the French Legion of Honor has granted The Citadel's French program $7,500 to be used toward undergraduate scholarships for Modern Languages' French Summer Study Program in 2009. For application information, contact Dr. Toubiana.

In May and June, Dr. Zane Segle accompanied 21 students with the department's study abroad program in Puebla, Mexico at the University of the Americas. Visit the program's blog at citadelmexico2008.blogspot.com.

In June, Professor Eloy Urroz accompanied 18 students with the department's study abroad program in Spain.

Throughout May, The Citadel's chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, conducted its annual Merit Certificate program for outstanding high school students of Spanish throughout South Carolina.

The 16th annual Modern Languages Awards Banquet was held on Tuesday, April 8 from 6-8:00pm. Click here for award recipients, and click here for banquet pictures.

On March 11, 2008 at 6:30pm in Copeland Auditorium, Grimsley Hall, The Citadel's Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi and the Modern Languages Department hosted "Una noche con nuestros novelistas/A night with our Novelists." The department's own Alan Cambeira and Eloy Urroz discussed their recent novels, and select books were available for sale and signing. This event was open to the public. A reception followed in the Greater Issues Room.

From January 29-February 8 the Modern Languages Department, Sigma Delta Pi and Daniel Library proudly hosted the Escuincles Project, an art exhibit and initiative of the South Carolina Hispanic Leadership Council. Click here for details about this project. Access to the exhibit was free to the public in Daniel Library. Download announcement flyer.

At noon on December 7, 2007, The Department of Modern Languages' German Section and Daniel Library hosted the dedication of the James C. O'Flaherty Collection of Hamanniana and Nietzscheana. Click here for further details and pictures.

The Citadel's Tau Iota Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, hosted an awards ceremony on November 15 for its third annual South Carolina Spanish Teacher of the Year award. Mrs. Renée Love of Gaffney High School was crowned the 2007 S.C. Spanish Teacher of the Year and was presented a cash award of $1000 courtesy of the Harvey, Casterline & Vallini law firm and Stewart Title. Runners-up were Mrs. Brenda Barron of Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach and Mrs. Maelda Chalk of Hilton Preparatory School. The Francis Marion Hotel provided complimentary lodging the night of the ceremony and breakfast the following morning to all three finalists and their spouses. At the ceremony's conclusion, Dr. Del Mastro and Chapter President Valentín Boza inducted Mr. Daniel Vallini (Spanish minor, 1995) into Sigma Delta Pi's prestigious Order of the Discoverers for his exemplary support of the Spanish program at The Citadel.

On Monday, October 22 during evening mess, the inaugural language tables were held in Coward Hall (1700-1930) for students interested in speaking exclusively in French, German and Spanish during dinner. The language tables will continue to be offered weekly, Mondays and Thursdays, for those wishing to practice their French, German or Spanish speaking skills.

Alumni & Current Students
On August 2, 2008, The Citadel's Tau Iota Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi was one of only 10 chapters nationwide to be selected as an "Honor Chapter" by the National Executive Committee. This is the 16th consecutive year that The Citadel's group has earned this distinction; there are 552 total chapters in the U.S. and Canada. Cadets Valentín Boza, Jonathan Rodriguez and James Chamberlain served as the chapter President, Vice-President and Secretary respectively for the 2007-08 academic year. Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro founded Tau Iota in January 1993, and he still serves as Chapter Adviser along with Dr. Zane U. Segle.

Andrew Jones (German '07), Fulbright scholar, heads into ministry. Click here for related article.

Jared S. Newman (Spanish/Criminal Justice '08) has been awarded a grant by Spain's Ministry of Education and Science to work for eight months (October-May 2008) as a Language & Culture Assistant in Spain . His grant includes 700 Euros allowance per month (approx $1120 US), medical insurance and paid school holidays. Jared is the first Citadel student to receive this award.

In the spring 2008 term, three Spanish minors and four Spanish majors completed the department's second consecutive 460 course: Internship in Hispanic Language & Culture. Working with Hispanics in the Charleston community, participating cadets mentored children at Mt. Zion Elementary School, translated for the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Sea Island Medical Center and conducted formal interviews through MUSC. For further details, see the Hispanic Health Initiatives' Spring 2008 Newsletter.

Jonathan H. Poole (Spanish '08) is working in the Pentagon for a private contractor as a Defense Analyst on Latin America.

Brandon Hall (Spanish '04) will be participating in a study abroad program this summer with Valparaiso University School of Law. He will spend two weeks in the cities of Valparaiso, Viña Del Mar and Santiago, Chile, then several weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The program's focus will be on international and comparative law and international human rights violations. While in Argentina, Brandon will work with Amnesty International, visiting Argentine prisons, learning about "los desaparecidos," and studying other human rights violations that have occured throughout Latin America

The featured speaker at the 2008 Modern Languages banquet on Tuesday evening, 8 April, was John Michael Alexander ('03), magna cum laude graduate in German and business. In his senior year John was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study the joint efforts of the European Central Bank and Deutsche Bank to moderate fluctuation of the Euro. He conducted his research in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany's banking capital. Upon his return to the US, John taught German and economics before beginning graduate work in the top-ranked international business program at the University of South Carolina. With his dual bachelor's degrees and a master's, he took a position with Exxon-Mobil, a worldwide leader in energy and philanthropy. Supported by matching funds from ExxonMobil, John has generously endowed the Alexander Summer-Study Scholarship. The inaugural $2,000 award was presented at the banquet to sophomore Kent David Smith for study at the Goethe Institute at Schwäbisch Hall. In his after-dinner address John recounted how his study of German complemented his business major and bolstered his credentials for graduate fellowships and a corporate career. "Whether German, Spanish, or French," he concluded, "a second language demonstrates commitment, intelligence, and drive that will not be overlooked." A quarter hour after the banquet officially concluded, cadets were still lined up for a word with Mr Alexander. "It's immensely gratifying," said German professor Al Gurganus as he looked on, "to follow the rise of an alumnus and to behold the good that comes from the urge to give back."

Tara Lee Woodside (German/Psychology '08) was offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Germany for 2008-2009. Ms. Woodside is the eighth German major or minor at The Citadel to apply successfully for a Fulbright since 2002.

On April 18, 2008, Valentin Boza (Spanish major), Chapter President of Sigma Delta Pi at The Citadel, was a panelist in the Sigma Delta Pi Informative Session at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference where he presented on the activities of his award-winning chapter.

Freshmen Caroline Lytle and Ryan Adams and junior Domenic Mitchell were inducted into Delta Phi Alpha, the National German Honor Society, on Sunday, April 13, 2008.

Cadet Jared S. Newman (Spanish, '08) was named Editor of The Citadel's Spanish journal El Cid for the spring 2008 issue.

The Citadel's Tau Iota Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi inducted six new student members and one honorary members on March 4, 2007 at 7:00pm during its annual ceremony in the Greater Issues Room of Mark Clark Hall. Conducted by Valentín Boza (Chapter President) and James Chamberlain (Secretary), Drs. Del Mastro and Segle (Chapter Advisers), the ceremony initiated the following active members: Louis Doelling, Alexander Johnson, Bryan Kant, Robert Kozakiewicz, Lana Moore and Michael Warwick. Dr. Alfred Finch, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, was inducted as an honorary member for his outstanding support of Sigma Delta Pi's mission.

Charles "Chip" Knisley (Spanish, '06) spent four weeks in the fall of 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina where he completed a TEFL course in order to teach English to Spanish speakers.

In March 2008, Senior French and history major John Daniel Lathers was awarded a US Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to learn intermediate Turkish this summer at the American Research Institute in Ankara. (Summer 2007 he applied a Citadel Star of the West International Summer Scholarship to a course in elementary Turkish at Fatih University in Istanbul.) Mr Lathers has been admitted to the master's program at Johns Hopkins' Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy.

Cadet Jonathan Rodríguez, Spanish major, was honored with a scholarship at the Hispanoamerican Society of Charleston's 27 October 2007 banquet. Click here for article in Spanish: http://www.latino4u.net/news.php?nid=3499

The Department is pleased to announce the founding of a new student group: the Modern Languages Student Council. Currently overseen by Dr. Cathy Jellenik, this council includes current student officers of Modern Languages' clubs and honor societies with the goal of supporting and enhancing many of our department's activities.

Sunday, September 30, 2007, Cadets Tara Woodside and Michael Kourkounakis and Dr. Jack Porter of the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice were inducted into Delta Phi Alpha, the National German Honor Society. The ceremony was followed by the German Section's annual fall "Grillfest."

Matthew Lange (B.A., German, 1994) is the proud author of the book Antisemitic Elements in the Critique of Capitalism in German Culture, 1850-1933 published in 2007 with Peter Lang Publishing Group. Dr. Lange is currently an Assistant Professor of German at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Garrison Groh (B.A., Spanish, '04) finished his J.D. at Ohio Northern University and has just been accepted into the U.S. Army's JAG School in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he began a three month program in February 2008 before moving to his permanent duty station (TBA).

Bradford C. Greer (B.A., Spanish, '00) is the Department Chair of World Languages at Hammond School in Columbia, South Carolina, where he teaches Spanish in the middle and upper schools.

Cassandra Cortés (B.A., Spanish and Psychology, '06) is enrolled in the M.Ed. program for Educational Psychology at the University of Houston.

Anderson Stewart (B.A., Spanish, '03) is enrolled in the Spanish Ph.D. program at the University of Kentucky with a teaching assistantship.

Faculty
Dr. Cathy Jellenik's entry "Helen Maria Williams" has been published in the online encyclopedia Enlightenment and Revolution 1690-1815 (2008).

After seven years serving as the founding Director of the Modern Languages Resource Center, Dr. Robert Emory has decided to pass the torch to Dr. Zane U. Segle, who is now the new Director beginning August 2008. The department expresses its gratitude to Professor Emory for enabling many of the department's enhancements in technology over the years. Fortunately, Dr. Emory will remain involved in various activities of the Modern Languages Resource Center to assist Professor Segle with this transition.

Professors Sara Fernández Medina (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) and Amy Emm (ABD, University of Washington) have joined our faculty as Assistant Professor of Spanish and Visiting Assistant Professor of German respectively and beginning August 2008.

Dr. Cathy Jellenik spent a week during the summer in Paris where she conducted research on Annie Ernaux at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro conducted the annual Sigma Delta Pi Executive Committee Meeting in Milwaukee, WI on August 1-2, 2008.

On July 8, 2008 Dr. Al Gurganus gave a lecture entitled "Teaching German in South Carolina's Low Country: A Cultural and Economic Imperative" for Charleston's Deutscher Brüderlicher Bund.

On July 3, 2008, Dr. Guy Toubiana presented his study “Le Discours amoureux de Casanova,” at the CIEF (Conseil International d’etudes Francophones) world congress in Limoges, France.

Dr. Al Gurganus spent part of June 2008 researching at the archives of the Stiftung Neue Synagoge - Centrum Judaicum in Berlin, Germany.

Professor Del Mastro's article "La insolación y Al volver la esquina: Las verdaderas obras cumbres de Carmen Laforet" was published in the Spanish journal Caleta in the summer of 2008.

Dr. Eloy Urroz's latest novel Fricción was released in Spain on June 12, 2008. See related video at ADN and article at Terra.

Congratulations to Professor Gurganus who was reappointed as Director of the Office of Fellowships in June 2008.

Professor Del Mastro spent May 14-29 in Madrid, Spain writing and conducting research on Carmen Laforet at the Biblioteca Nacional.

On June 16, the 8th issue of Decimonónica was published. Dr. Del Mastro is founding Co-Director of this refereed, online journal of 19th century Hispanic cultural production.

Dr. Del Mastro participated in the Association of College Honor Societies Board Meeting in Washington D.C. on June 12-13, 2008.

Professor Cathy Jellenik presented her paper "Le corps de la femme dans L'Evénement et L'Usage de la photo" at the Colloque International Annie Ernaux at the Université York in Canada, May 22-24, 2008.

Congratulations to Drs. Katya Skow and Eloy Urroz who have been comfirmed for their promotions to Full Professor and Associate Professor respectively and effective August 16, 2008.

At the 61st Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (April 17-19, 2008), Dr. Zane U. Segle presented his study "Criticizing the Relaciones de sucesos: Lope de Vega's Plea to the Benevolent Reader in the Prologue of the Festival of Saint Isidore." At the same conference, Professor Del Mastro presented his paper "What is Autonomy: Deciphering Female Identity in Josefina Aldecoa's El vergel" and organized and chaired two sessions: 1) The Sigma Delta Pi Informative Session; 2) "Contemporary Spanish Women Writers."

Modern Languages mourns the loss of J. Harmann Pieper, Emeritus Associate Professor of Modern Languages, who died on March 28, 2008. A 1954 Citadel graduate and a retired Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, he retired from the The Citadel in 1991 after teaching in the Modern Languages Department for 29 years. In 1984, LTC Pieper received the The Citadel's Outstanding Teaching Award, and in 1993 he was inducted as a founding honorary member of the Tau Iota Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. He was November Company faculty advisor for 26 years and resumed this position with Bravo Company as a volunteer in retirement. He also coordinated an exchange program between cadets and French students for several years in the 1970s. LTC Pieper belonged to the Military Officers' Association of America, the Alliance Francaise de Charleston, the Deutscher Bruderlicher Bund, the Charleston AFB Officers' Club, the Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance, the German Friendly Society, the Palmetto Guard Society, and the Charleston Chapter of the SC Genealogical Society. He also served as secretary of the General Wagener Memorial Committee, and he was a member of The Citadel's Brigadier Foundation and a life member of the Association of Citadel Men.

Dr. Katya Skow presented her paper “Reception through Lenses: Glavinic’s Der Kameramörder” at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Philological Association of the Carolinas on March 22, 2008 at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Dr. Mark P. Del Mastro served as an invited external reviewer for the programs of Virginia Military Institute's Modern Languages and Cultures Department on April 2-4, 2008.

In March 2008, Dr. Zane Segle has just accepted an invitation from Hispania to review a book on early modern Spanish literature for a future issue of this refereed journal.

Dr. Eloy Urroz was one of a select group of international scholars, writers and artists invited to participate in the 19th annual International Cervantes Colloquy to be held November 4-8, 2008 in Guanajuato, Mexico.

On March 13, 2008, the journal Studies in Twentieth and Twentieth-Century Literature invited Dr.Cathy Jellenik to serve as a guest reader.

Professor Segle attended the workshop "Language and Culture for International Business" from February 21-23, 2008 at the University of Memphis.

Professor Eloy Urroz's latest novel, Fricción, was published in February 2008 by Alfaguara, Mexico.

Professor Del Mastro participated in the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) Annual Council and Board Meetings in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 13-16, 2008. In addition to serving as Sigma Delta Pi's official representative to the ACHS, Dr. Del Mastro is also an elected member of the ACHS Board.

Dr. Del Mastro edited the 2008 hard copy edition of Sigma Delta Pi's national Ritual.

On February 6, 2008, Professor Guy Toubiana launched his 18th Century online encyclopedia: Enlightenment and Revolution.

Dr. Katya Skow’s article“Camillus vnd Emilia in Germany: A Modern Novel Before its Time” has been accepted for publication by Germanic Notes and Reviews.

In January 2008, Dr. Juan Bahk's article "La Influencia del Jaiku Oriental en la Literatura Hispánica" was accepted by the Italian literary journal Studi Ispanici of Milan, Italy to be published late in 2008.

Dr. Katya Skow's article "Of 'Superweibern' (Superbroads), 'vermieteten Männern' (Rented Men), and 'Champagner-Diäten' (Champagne Diets): Hera Lind and the New German Women’s Novel" will be published in the January 2008 issue of Popular Culture Review.

On January 15, 2008, the 7th issue of Decimonónica was published. Dr. Del Mastro is founding Co-Director of this refereed, online journal of 19th century Hispanic cultural production. Decimonónica was also named co-Journal of the Month in January by The Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

Dr. Zane U. Segle presented his study "Frolicking Through the Grenadine Imagination: Pérez de Hita's Rhetoric of Festivity and the Renegotiation of the Westernized Moor in the Guerras Civiles de Granada" at the 33rd Annual Hispanic Literatures Conference at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, October 19-20, 2007.

Dr. Cathy Jellenik's article "Soudain une vallée: de l'homme bourreau à l'homme sauveur dans L'Evénement et L'Usage de la parole" will be published in the fall of 2008 by the Université York in Canada.

Dr. Guy Toubiana's encyclopedic entries on Barras, Fouquier-Tinville, Theroigne de Mericourt and Tallien were published in the fall 2007 by Greenwood Press in the two-volume Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies 1760-1815 directed by Gregory Fremont-Barnes.

Dr. Urroz's book Êthos, forma, deseo entre España y México was published in September 2007 by the University of the Americas Puebla.