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We congratulate each of our French and Francophone, Hispanic, and Italian Studies majors and minors who graduated on Sunday, May 22, 2011. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors and hope you will let us know about your new adventures.

Anna M. Jursik, recipient of the Anna S. Aronson Memorial Award to recognize a student with outstanding promise in French and Francophone Studies;

Marsha Kaplan, recipient of the Murray Sachs Prize for Outstanding Work and Dedication in French and Francophone Studies; and

Adam N. Levine, recipient of the Eli D. and Mollie Goodstein Prize in Spanish for outstanding student in Spanish.

Please accept our best wishes for your continued success and our congratulations on your awards!

Additional congratulations go to:

Lottie Benzacar ('11) who received a 2011 J.V. Cunningham Award for Excellence in Writing for Work in a Foreign Language.

The awards are named for J.V. Cunningham, the distinguished poet and scholar who taught at Brandeis from 1953 until his retirement in 1980.  These awards recognize well-written and insightful undergraduate papers or essays completed for courses other than senior thesis; submissions are made by faculty members. 

Welcome to the Spring 2010 edition of the ROMS Newsletter! Here is a snippet of the goings on in the department.

The program is booming, we have 21 majors and 37 minors in French and Francophone Studies, 7 majors and 20 minors Italian Studies, and 29 majors and 45 minors in Hispanic Studies. We have a Facebook group for majors, minors and anyone else in the Brandeis community. Please join us!

We have new courses and new publications to celebrate. Here is what’s up!

Our faculty have been energetically developing new courses. Martine Voiret is planning a course on French Film for the Fall of 2011. Also in the French area, Michael Randall is planning a course on Modern French Philosophy. In the Hispanic Studies area, a new faculty member is planning two new courses. More details on this exciting addition to our faculty, and to our curricula, are forthcoming.

Jane Hale has some exciting progress and events coming up related to her work in Africa- [On April 22] I'll be speaking about my Global Famliy Literacy Project, which began in 2007 with the founding of Malapa A Balang Lesotho, or "Family Literacy Lesotho," whose mission is to encourage the development of beautiful children's picture books about Lesotho in the Sesotho language and put them in the homes of Basotho families.  This spring my students (in EL 94--attached to COML 166--"Literacy, Language, and Culture") and I founded the second component to the project, called Famni Ki Li Ansamn, or "Families Reading Together," which has a simliar mission for children's picture books about Haiti in Haitian Creole.  We kicked off that part of the project on March 27 at the Waltham Literacy Festival at the Waltham Public Library.  After the event, we donated $400 worth of Haitian children's picture books to the Waltham Library, using a  Brenda Meehan Social Justice in Action Grant we won from  Brandeis.

Moreover, we teamed up with the Study Abroad to offer our first summer courses in Italy as part of the University’s Summer Language Institute in Italy. More information is available here, and through the Study Abroad office.

Please have a look at the Internships and Grant Opportunities on our site, there are some exciting ones out there! As you look ahead to summer, think about keeping sharp with one of these opportunities, and gaining valuable professional and educational experience while you're at it. Let us know about your projects as well, we'd love to include them here in the newsletter.

Quinn and Ellen, as always, keep the Department running with admirable efficiency and much appreciated good humor. They are particularly nimble this year handling various transitions.

We are looking forward to an active and rewarding 2010!

Please stop by for a cup of coffee or some candy, talk, and see us or send news.

Bien Cordialement, Cordiali saluti, Saludos.

Italian Studies Newsletter
April 2010
Ciao!
As we move along into the Spring semester, it is time to let you all know of everything we have been doing in the Department of Italian Studies.
We have been energetically organizing a series of vibrant activities for our students and to introduce our faculty. Here is what’s up!

• April 14th Three course Dinner at Famous North End Restaurant Fillipo's with Jamie Longo, student of Italian.
• April 17th A Gala of Unity in Italian Language at Northeastern University, it is an intercollegiate event.
• April 21st Dancing with the stars Prof Servino and Prof Paoletti both in the show.
• April 22nd in Shiffman219 2-3pm Prof. Unglaub will present Sofonisba Anguissola.
• April 24th Concert at Brandeis by Italian musicians TBA.
• April 28th field trip to “Oyeah" Jovanotti and Soleluna NYLab in Boston.
• May 4th End of the Year Lunch & prizes for best compositions, essays and poems. Deadline: April 29!