CofC Faculty awarded Alixa Naff 2021 Prize

LCWA’s very own Dr. Amy Malek, assistant professor in International Studies, won the Alixa Naff 2021 Paper Prize by the Khayrallah Center. The annual prize recognizes outstanding scholarly studies from any discipline focusing on Middle East migrations, refugees and diasporas. This year the Khayrallah Center selection committee awarded the best paper prize to Dr. Amy Malek for her paper Clickbait orientalism and vintage Iranian snapshots (International Journal of Cultural Studies).

To find out more about the Alixa Naff Awards and Dr. Malek’s paper Clickbait orientalism and vintage Iranian snapshots click the link below.

https://lebanesestudies.ncsu.edu/awards/scholarly/2021.php 

World Affairs Colloquium Series with Damon Wilson

Join us for a talk on democracy and democratic renewal around the world. Our guest is Damon Wilson, President CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, will present his lecture, “Forging a Coalition in Favor of Freedom Around the World.” This talk is a co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Charleston (WACC) and the Mroz Global Leadership Institute.  It’s open to CofC faculty, staff, students and WACC members.

Damon Wilson is President CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, non-profit, non-partisan foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democracy throughout the world. It promotes political groups, free markets, trade unions and other independent institutions. Prior to joining the Endowment, he helped transform the Atlantic Council into a leading global think tank as its executive vice president. Previously, Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council helping to enlarge a Europe whole, free, and at peace; to secure freedom through NATO enlargement; to deter and counter Russian aggression; and to work with a united Europe as a leading US partner to support democracy in the world.

When: 6pm, Thursday, January 27, 2022
Where: Arnold Hall, Jewish Studies Center (96 Wentworth St, Charleston, SC 29424). This is a live in-person event and masks are required during the talk. Space is limited. RSVP to join the in-person event http://shorturl.at/bhyHZ. We will also stream the talk via zoom. Register for live-streaming at http://shorturl.at/hqAQ7.

 

The Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center lobby got a facelift!

In case you missed it, the lobby in Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center has been renovated! The renovation took place over the summer 2021 and it’s looking bright, beautiful and ready to be used. Visit the Center at 96 Wentworth Street.

M.Ed. in Languages Fall 2021 Newsletter

Don’t miss out on the third issue of the newsletter of The M.Ed. in Languages Program at the College of Charleston!

Congratulations to the graduates this semester – everyone is so proud of all of your impressive accomplishments and all your hard work. Despite a global pandemic and all the additional challenges of teaching during the past 20+ months, you completed your degree! You did it! A special thank you to the M.Ed. in Languages Executive Committee: Dr. Shawn Morrison, Dr. Silvia Rodríguez Sabater, and Dr. Antonio Pérez-Núñez for their unwavering support and collaboration. Thank you so much to all who contributed to the newsletter and many thanks to Katie Agile, the Graduate Assistant for our program, for all her hard work in bringing this to fruition.

Students, alumni, and friends: if you have news or updates to contribute or if you’d like to be profiled in the next issue, please let Director Emily Beck know (becke@cofc.edu). She would love to hear from you!

 

International Studies Major Reads to Elementary Students

Dyllon Gunsolus an International Studies major, minoring in Russian Studies and a concentration in Europe, here at CofC, enjoyed a little bit of fame recently when The College Today published a story about his having won a national championship event in bicycling. Evidently, that story led to an invitation from a teacher at Sangaree Elementary School for Dyllon to read “Bonapart Falls Apart” to the primary school grades pre-2nd.  He also got to participate in a meet and greet with the parents that afternoon when they arrived to pick up their children and share his biking and activity initiatives with the Vice Principle and assist in coordinating a ride to school event in the spring.

We’re looking forward to watching Dyllon as he continues to excell in his academics and extracurricular activities!

 

Photography exhibition by Yulian Martinez-Escobar

We’d like to congradulate Yulian Martinez-Escobar, Adjunct Lecturer of Spanish in CofC Hispanic Studies for his upcoming photography exhibition!

https://www.publicworksartcenter.org/s/stories/november-5-december-30-passenger-in-transit-next-stop-cuba-east-gallery-exhibition

Passenger in Transit was inspired by the song “Pasajera en Trance” (“Passenger in Trance”) by Charly García, an Argentinian rock singer. This exhibition is a window to a beautiful and exciting island that has become a myth to the world during the last sixty years. A year after a normalization agreement between the US and Cuba, my wife and I decided to travel to the Island to take advantage of the newly opened direct flights between Miami and Havana. Bianca, our 10-month-old daughter, became our ambassador everywhere we went. We stayed in the homes of Cuban families who made us feel at home and who gave us a glimpse of how Cubans live their daily lives.

Yulian Martinez-Escobar is a Spanish professor and filmmaker based in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also a self-taught photographer whose work has been exhibited in Colombia and in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. His avid interests include languages, traveling, and culture, which have defined his artistic style. Yulian first cultivated an interest in the fine arts in his native Colombia as an actor in his college theater company. As a photographer, he especially enjoys capturing candid portraits of people he meets in his travels, from Scotland to Peru, from Senegal to Cuba, from The Gambia to The Philippines. As a foreigner, he wants to explore and document the lives and diverse backgrounds of other people who have ended up in the United States.

15th Annual Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival Kicks

The 15th Annual Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival has been featured in the CofC’s College TODAY!

We hope you will join everyone for the 15th annual Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival starting Thursday, November 4th through Saturday, November 6th at the Queen Street Playhouse. The festival will feature 10 award-winning films celebrating contemporary Italian cinema and culture. Students, Faculty and Staff can enjoy the festival free of charge, they will only need to show their college id at the box office.

Festival Website: https://nuovocinemaitaliano.com/

Article featured in The College Today: https://today.cofc.edu/2021/10/21/15th-annual-nuovo-cinema-italiano-film-festival-kicks-off-nov-4/

 

Wines of the World

Please join us at Fall Alumni Weekend for Wines of the World, hosted by the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, on Friday, November 19, from 5-7 pm, in Randolph Hall.

Be transported by tasting wines from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Chile, and Argentina. Tickets are $40 per person and include a $10 donation to benefit CofC’s Study Abroad Program. Tickets will not be sold at the door. All guests must be 21 years of age or older to participate.

We hope to see you there!

Foreign Language Education Alumna Wants to Pay It Forward

Check out this outstanding article in the College TODAY about Foreign Language Education alumna, Martina Abbriano ’19.

“A talented individual with a love for languages, Abbriano knows Italian, Spanish, English and Sicilian fluently and has a strong base of Vietnamese and Ancient Greek. It’s clear the Italian native has a passion for foreign languages, which she decided to put to use when she began thinking about a career. She earned undergraduate degrees in foreign language education and Spanish from the College of Charleston in 2019, where she also minored in linguistics and Ancient Greek.”

“Since graduating two years ago, Abbriano has put those skills to use as a foreign language teacher at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where she teaches Spanish.”

“Her passion for languages and her journey as an immigrant having to learn a new language in a new country has led her back to CofC to help the next generation of English-language-learners as they begin their lives in the United States. Abbriano is now a graduate student at CofC taking an English as a Second Language (ESOL) course to earn ESOL certification, which is available online.”

Grammy Award-Winning Band Ranky Tanky to Kick Off Black Lives Series

Grammy Award-Winning Band Ranky Tanky to Kick Off Black Lives Series!!!
Check out this incredible article in the College TODAY about the event!

“The College of Charleston community is invited to kick off the LCWA World Affairs Signature Series: Black Lives on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, with a performance by the Grammy Award-winning band Ranky Tanky, which includes several CofC alumni.”

Grammy Award-Winning Band Ranky Tanky to Kick Off Black Lives Series

Ranky Tanky Concert