Department Highlights
DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS AMERICAN STUDIES American Studies continues to grow its robust internship program, placing students in such diverse places as the Springville Art Museum, the Utah State Legislature, the Church History Museum, and the Smithsonian. American Studies looks forward to bringing distinguished scholar Ellen Gruber Garvey as part of the American Studies Lecture Series. Finally, in 2015 American Studies will hold two Writing Workshop sessions for students looking to improve their writing in the discipline and prepare for the profession.
ASIAN AND NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES Our department successfully sustained a sabbatical Unit Review from which we are currently recovering with only a few minor casualties. We were privileged to enjoy the association of visiting Arabic professor Sayyed Diafallah January through April 2014. Prof. Diafallah, who specializes in enhancing our students’ spoken Arabic, came to us from The American University in Cairo. After several years of dedicated service to colleagues and students, Steve Riep passed the Chinese Section Head baton to David Honey. Both Arabic and Chinese government programs housed in the department continued this year to have a profound impact on the state of their respective languages nationally, including summer intensive outreach programs on campus. Jim Toronto was appointed Senior Fellow for Islamic Studies, at the International Center for Law & Religious Studies. Don Parry and Steve Ricks were instrumental in facilitating the recent Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit held at The Leonardo museum in Salt Lake City. Our Chinese business case team, under the leadership of Prof. Wang Shu-pei, took first place in national competitions this year. Prof. Van Gessel delivered a keynote speech on Japanese Christian writer Endô Shûsaku for the city of Machida, Japan.
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