News
View last year's news and reminisce!Student achievements
The Omicron chapter of Phi Beta Kappa has announced that French and Geography double major Chantal Englert has been named recipient of the Samuel Paul Capen Award for "the undergraduate who best exemplifies the spirit of free inquiry and expression," in special acknowledgement of her honors work in both of her majors and the overall excellence of her liberal arts record as a whole. The prestigious Capen award is one of only two prizes awarded by Phi Beta Kappa to graduating seniors.
PhD student Diana Vela has been awarded a graduate research grant, one of only two awarded annually, by the Executive Committee of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. Diana's research project is entitled "Race as a Pretext in the Configuration of Space: Literary Representation in the City of Lima in the 1950s."
The work of French major Amy Hardy was selected for inclusion in UB's annual Celebration of Academic Excellence on Thursday April 17th in the Center for the Arts. Amy's poster summarized work she has done studying synesthesia and visual expressivity in 19th- and 20th-century French narrative.
Warmest congratulations to RLL students newly inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society: Rebecca Anderson, Lynn Banks, Alana Bibergal, Amy Bouvin, Julia Cole, Jeremy Detwiler, Chantal Englert, Kathryn Figliotti, Tracy Fort, Michael Kopalek, Lauren Mook, Emily Smith, Lauryn Ballesteros, Juliet Barry, Andrew Bernstein, Brooke Dell'oso, Julia Eron, Dara Farber, Daniel Geyer, Lindsay Hall, Christine Harvey, Frances Karras, Janelle Olmer, Ian Phillips, Holly Savage, and Brooke Shaughnessy.
Previously inducted into Phi Beta Kappa from RLL are Amy Hardy, Leila Manteghi, Ghislaine Kersten, Devin Callan, Kimberly Butts, and Kate Dunning.
Congratulations also to this year's initiates in the national Spanish honor society, Sigma Delta Pi. Students will be inducted at a reception to be held Friday April 25th at 3:30 in Clemens 930. Inductees, led by club sponsor Professor Elizabeth Scarlett, are Rebecca Lynn Anderson, Laura Arribas Tomé, Christopher J. Banas, Tracy M. Fort, Leila Manteghi, Heather N. Martin, Candace C. McLaughlin, Vera Nicole Neroni, Breanna O'Toole, Holly Savage, and Marissa Erin Sheehan.
Video excerpts
Excerpted proceedings of the New Paths in Political Philosophy conference held in Buffalo on March 28th and 29th:
| Professors Carlo Galli (University of Bologna, Italy) and Adam Sitze (Amherst College) |
Professors Giuseppe Duso (University of Padua, Italy) and Miguel Vatter (Universidad Católica de Chile) |
| Professors Brett Levinson (Binghamton University) and Jon Beaseley-Murray (University of British Columbia) |
Professors Roberto Esposito (University of Naples, Italy) and Lawrence Shine (Buffalo State College, reading for Tim Campbell of Cornell University) |
| Professor José Luis Villacañas (University of Murcia) |
Professor Alberto Moreiras (University at Buffalo / University of Aberdeen, UK) |
José Luis Villacañas to give two lectures
Professor José Luis Villacañas, Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy at the University of Murcia, Spain, will deliver two lectures in the department in advance of the New Paths in Political Philosophy conference scheduled for March 28th and 29th.
- "Estructura paranoide de la Hispanidad," Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 2:00 p.m., 904 Clemens Hall
- "El debate fundacional de la cultura castella," Wednesday March 26, 2008, 2:00 p.m., 904 Clemens Hall
Julian Montague addresses Reading Group in Cultural Studies of Space
Julian Montague, a Buffalo-based artist and graphic designer, will speak on Friday, March 7, at 1:00 pm in 904 Clemens. His work questions how we perceive the lived environment by providing ingenious taxonomies for unexamined or overlooked spaces, whether those of abandoned shopping carts or household spiders. He is creator of The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification (Abrams Image, 2006), and has exhibited his work in Buffalo, New York, Cleveland, and Charlotte, NC.
Soumia Boutkhil, Larbi Touaf present contemporary perspectives on Morocco
Former RLL graduate students Soumia Boutkhil and Larbi Touaf returned to campus on February 18th to participate in a "learned lunch" on contemporary Morocco. Boutkhil spoke on "Women and the nation in the postcolonial Islamic context," and Touaf followed with a presentation on "Morocco's New Public Space."
Roundtable fêtes 400th anniversary of the founding of Québec
In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec by Samuel de Champlain, a bilingual roundtable in French and English explored the francophone presence in Canada during the early modern period. Scholars from France, Canada and the US examined questions of travel, the encounter, ethnology and writing. The event was sponsored by Canadian-American Studies and the Melodia E Jones Chair. Speakers included
- Frank Lestringant (Paris IV Sorbonne) "Le transfert colonial du Brésil au Canada : Marc Lescarbot, lecteur de Jean de Léry"
- Andreas Motsch (University of Toronto) "L'ethnologie sous l'Ancien Régime. Réflexions sur l'émergence d'un discours"
- Janet Ritch (York University) "Promettent assez & tiennent peu"
- Scott Stevens (University at Buffalo) "A Baroque Legacy: Representing the Franco-Iroquoian Encounter"
- Grégoire Holtz (University of Toronto) "De Jean de Léry (1578) à Jean Macquet (1617) : plagiat et dramatisation des récits de voyages"
Robert Davidson presents lecture
The February 8th meeting of the Reading Group in Cultural Studies of Space welcomed Professor Robert Davidson from the University of Toronto. "The Wartime Hotel" examined overlapping spaces of international hotels - those of the foreign tourist, the photojournalist, and the insurgent sniper. Robert Davidson is the author of Jazz-Age Barcelona (forthcoming, University of Toronto Press).
RLL Scrabble tournament raises cash for Literacy Volunteers
Faculty and graduate and undergraduate students from Romance Languages & Literatures, Comparative Literature, and Music competed in a Scrabble tournament on Saturday, February 23rd, in order to raise money for Literacy Volunteers. Professor Jorge Guitart was named grand champion, and he will move on to the next level of competition in March.
Commencement 2007
Led by Amanda Karl, the CAS Dean's Outstanding Senior for Romance Languages, RLL students received their diplomas at General Commencement on May 13th, 2007. The Alumni Speaker at RLL's Commencement Celebration was Tina Song.
Spanish students honored
On April 27th, the Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society held its initiation and reception. The 2006-07 Officers who officiated at the ceremony were Lylian E. Seeloff (President), Jenilyn Vázquez (Vice-President), and Shatorah Roberson (Coordinator). Thirteen new members were inducted:
- Lynne M. Banks
- Juliet Barry
- Astrid Victoria Campagna
- Ian S. Campbell
- Maureen Cattieu
- Lindsay Hall
- Christine Harvey
- Melissa Marino
- Diemuthy Nancy Nguyen
- Ann Marie Olivo
- Sandra Roland
- Emily Terese Smith
- Dancarlys Valdez
Dissertations defended
Congratulations to the RLL doctoral students who have recently defended their dissertations:
- María Pilar Villodre Lopez
- Title: Reivindicación del Pasado: Una Asignatura Pendiente de la España Democrática en la Narrativa de Antonio Muñoz Molina
Committee members: Elizabeth Scarlett, William Egginton, and Jose Buscaglia
Job placement: Associate Professor of Spanish, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester NY - Mari Carmen Veci
- Title: La Felicidad Conyugal en la Novela Española del Siglo Diecinueve: de la Obligación a la Libertad
Committee members: Elizabeth Scarlett, William Egginton, and Ramón Soto-Crespo - Sergio M. Pedro
- Title: The Production of Meaning from the CID to Cervantes/A Study in Medieval and Modern Interpretive Codes
Committee members: William Eggington, David Castillo, and Galen Brokaw
Job placement: Instructor, Modern Languages and Literatures, School of Humanities and Sciences, Ithaca College, Ithaca NY
New faculty
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Alberto Moreiras to a Regular Visiting Professorship in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. Professor Moreiras is the Sixth-century Professor of Hispanic Studies and Modern Thought at the University of Aberdeen.
Joining the faculty in fall 2008 as Melodia Jones Chair of French will be Jean-Jacques Thomas, who is currently Professor of Romance Studies, Literature and Linguistics at Duke University.
John Kraniauskas, Willy Thayer to speak at UB
Professor John Kraniauskas, of Birbeck College, University of London, will conduct a guest seminar in Spanish 412 on Wednesday, September 12th, at 1:15 pm on "Plata quemada, restos pampeanos." The seminar will take place in 930 Clemens Hall and is open to faculty and students. Preliminary readings are available in 910 Clemens Hall.
Professor Willy Thayer, of the Universidad Metropolitana in Santiago de Chile, will deliver a guest lecture entitled "Juicio final o final del juicio: Borges, Leibniz" in Spanish 533 on Tuesday, September 10th at 1:00 pm. The seminar will take place in 930 Clemens Hall and is open to faculty and students.
Moreiras lectures in Humanities Institute series
Video capture and production by RLL graduate student Michael Van Etten.
Marivaux play to be performed in French
The popular Théâtre de la Chandelle Verte will return to UB on December 1st for a performance of Marivaux's Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard. The performance will be at 6:30 PM in the Center for the Arts Drama Theater. Professor Amy Graves will be hosting a talk preceding the play at 4:30 PM in the Screening Room. The title is entitled "Family Drama: Domestic Life and the drame bourgeois in Eighteenth-century France." All are welcome to join. The talk and play have been co-sponsored by The Melodia E. Jones Chair, Arethusa, and the CAS Fund for Conferences and Lectures. Reservations are strongly encouraged, and may be made through this email address: ub-theatreinfrench@buffalo.edu, or by phone at 645-6000 x 811.
Talk by Professor Amy Graves:
Saturday December 1st, 4:30 pm, Screening Room, Center for the Arts
Performance of Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard:
Saturday December 1st, 6:30 pm, Drama Theatre, Center for the Arts
Estudio FAM architect to speak in RLL
On Thursday, November 8, the Department will play host to Esaú Acosta Pérez, an architect with Madrid's Estudio FAM. The group of five architects, founded in 2002, designed the recently inaugurated Atocha monument, which commemorates the 3/11/04 terrorist attack on the Atocha train station in Madrid. Mr. Acosta Pérez will speak about the creative process that went into designing the Atocha monument, within the context of social memory and public remembrance in contemporary Spain.
Since 2003 the Estudio FAM has won several of awards and participated in a number of architectural projects in major Spanish cities, including Madrid and Barcelona. Their work includes museums, theater spaces, educational institutions, public spaces, and most notably, the Atocha monument in Madrid.
A light lunch will be served at 12:00, followed by the lecture and discussion at 12:30. The event will be held in 904 Clemens, North Campus. The event is free and open to the public. Mr. Acosta Pérez will deliver his lecture in Spanish. Discussion may take place in Spanish or English. This event is co-sponsored by the School of Architecture and Planning and the College of Arts and Sciences.
