GSL students study abroad over January IAP
Eighteen MIT undergraduates participated in IAP Madrid, studying Spanish, while having a chance to experience life in Spain first-hand. The subject, 21G.795 Advanced Spanish Communication in Spain, was taught by Global Studies and Languages senior lecturer Margarita Ribas Groeger. Students lived with Spanish host families and spent several hours a day Mondays through Thursdays in the classroom. After class they participated in a range of guided cultural activities including museum visits and a cooking class. READ MORE.
Four MIT students explored Paris côté coulisses/Paris behind the scenes, under the guidance of Professor Sabine Levet as part of the January Scholars Program. The program is an award granted to the best students in the French program at MIT. It is supported by the French Initiatives Endowment Fund. Their stay in France included on-site visits, guided tours, presentations, concerts and plays, and delicious meals in brasseries and restaurants. READ MORE.
Recent hapenings
The Japanese group, in collaboration with MISTI-Japan, hosted “Japan at MIT” on February 8, 2019. More than 50 students attended the event. Mr. Yamauchi from Consul General of Japan in New England provided information about the activities and scholarships supported by the Consul General of Japan, and brought words of support and encouragement to our students. It was a wonderful event where all levels of students studying Japanese language and culture were mingled.
Catherine Clark’s new book, Paris and the Cliché of History, was named to the 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic Titles list. Her book was also honored at an event held January 24 at the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris. The library is one of the institutions she’s written about, and the event was a conversation about the book with Éléonore Challine, an art historian who teaches at the Sorbonne. An excerpt from her book has been featured in Spectrum, a publication that connects friends and supporters of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to MIT’s vision, impact, and exceptional community. In other news, Clark participated in Finding One’s Place: Photography and Its Many Dimensions, a symposium in Los Angeles about photography and 3D hosted by LACMA, USC, and UC-Riverside, held February 1-2.
Ian Condry gave a talk at Harvard for the Program on US-Japan Relations called “Sound, Inequality and Democracy” on February 19 for their regular seminar series.
Haohsiang Liao and Kang Zhou have published a book, Beginning Mandarin Chinese Characters, by Tuttle Publishing Company in January, 2019. This book introduces 300 Chinese characters and 1200 Chinese words through thematic groups and interactive activities. It is essential for anyone wishing to pass the official Chinese government HSK Level 1 & 2 proficiency exam or the Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture Exam.
Haohsiang Liao was invited to give a plenary speech titled “The Technological Advancement of Chinese Language MOOC Assessment” at The 3rd Online and Mobile Innovative Models of Chinese Learning International Conference at the University of Hong Kong on January 19, 2019.
In February 2019, Bruno Perreau was awarded a Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship for Recently Tenured Faculty by the ACLS. He will be a residential fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 2019-20, and a visiting scholar in the Program in Critical Theory, at UC Berkeley in the Fall 2020.
Leanna Rezvani’s students enjoyed a Paris Combo concert at Berklee Performance Center on January 19.
William Uricchio spent the final week of IAP in Berlin (where he has just joined the board of the Silbersaltz Festival), Amsterdam (where he lectured and continued interviews with his new research partner, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam), and Madrid (where he keynoted at the Cineteca Madrid’s ‘The Electric Gaze: an international seminar on the intersections between image, technology, and critical thought’). At the start of March, he will lecture on his work with new story forms at the Cartegena Film Festival in Colombia. A newly-minted Merkator Fellow, he’s trying to find ways of connecting his research with that of colleagues in Germany.
Sister Dang Nghiem will speak on “Mindfulness and Medicine” on Thursday, March 8, 2019. Sister Dang Nghiem is a monastic disciple of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the author of two books Healing: A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun and Mindfulness As Medicine. Sister Dang Nghiem, joined by sister Truc Nghiem, will also be leading a meditation session the following morning, on Friday, March 8. This event is the second in a series of annual lectures that are part of the T.T. and W.F. Chao Distinguished Buddhist Lecture Series. MORE INFO