	Department News
	Current news and updates from our students, our alumni and our faculty

Student and Alumni Accomplishments	Recent/Current Events Emily Monroe (BA French '09) is a Master's level exchange student in Lettres et Sciences Humaines at the Ecole Nationale Supérieur in Lyon, France where she is also working as a teaching assistant. Amelia Daniels (BA French '02) is a translator and interpreter for the FBI. Melissa Parsons (BA French '07) is living and working in Paris, France. Ester Barrett (BA French '06) lives and works as an ESL teacher in South Korea. Mia Girard (BA French '06) has completed a Master's in Art History and the University of Bordeaux III and is now working toward a PhD.
	Academic Year 08-09 MA in Romance Languages (French) graduates Tamara Carrell ('06) and Jodie Barker ('03) are both working toward a PhD in French Literature. Ms. Carrell is at the University of Illinois with a specialization in Medieval French Literature. Ms. Barker is working on her dissertation at Rutgers. Her working title is "Dance and the Dynamics of Tension and Release in French Poetry". Jillian Bruns (BA French '08) was employed for the academic year '08-'09 by the French Ministry of Education as a teaching assistant in Bordeaux.
	February 2009 Gustavo Adolfo Aybar, Spanish graduate student, presented his paper "El arquetipo masculino, lo femenino y su síntesis en La Ciudad y los perros" at the 4th Annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Spanish and Latin American Literatures, Linguisics and Cultures at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. The coordinating committee for the conference included UMKC alumnus Francisco Salgado Robles (MA Spanish '06). Francisco Salgado-Robles is currently a PhD candidate (ABD) in Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Florida. His research includes second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, language variation and change, and language contact. Francisco is currently writing his dissertation on the acquisition of the sociolinguistic variation in Spanish in a study abroad context.
	Fall 2008 Tamara Kamatović, undergraduate student in German, was awarded the DAAD Undergraduate Scholarship for the academic year '08-'09. The scholarship supports a year long study in Germany. Ms. Kamatović is studying at the University of Leipzig.
	September 2008 Department of Foreign Languages Alumnus, Michelle Wimes (BA Spanish and Communication Studies '88) is featured this month in the Fall 2008 issue of On the Quad. The article highlights Wimes' achievements, which stem in part from the inspiration she found while studying Spanish at UMKC. Wimes' proficiency in the language and experiences with study abroad now support her in her position as director of strategic diversity initiatives at Shook, Hardy and Bacon, L.L.P. In addition, it is one of Wimes' goals to encourage minority students to consider a career in law, and she is actively supporting this in area high schools and universities.

Department Happenings	May 2009 - Alumni Reception This month, at our annual Student Awards Lunch, the Department hosted an Alumni Reception, inviting all alumni who have graduated from UMKC with foreign languages degrees. The awards ceremony was especially inspirational this year thanks to a wonderful speech given by alum Michelle Wimes (BA Spanish & Comm. Studies '88). We are so happy to have gotten to know our alumni all over again! If you are an alumnus of UMKC Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and would like to update your contact information, please contact UMKC Advancement Services at umkcadvrelations@umkc.edu or call 816-235-1105 , and email us at frn-lg@umkc.edu or give us a call at 816-235-1311. We look forward to hearing from you! May 2009 - Sandra Cisneros in Kansas City On April 16, Sandra Cisneros, acclaimed author of The House on Mango Street, among other titles, spoke here in Kansas City. The Latino Writers Collective, host of the event, first articulated a desire to invite Ms. Cisernos three years ago. Click here to read an article in the Letras Latinas Blog, written by our Xánath Caraza, describing how the event marks another dream realized by the LWC. AY 2008-09 - New German Studies Program The German program began a significant new endeavor by developing a German Studies minor to complement the traditional German minor and major. The German Studies minor requires students to take a minimum of two language courses to further their progress toward reading knowledge in German, and allows students to select their other coursework from among the many classes offered at UMKC that focus on, or include as a significant theme, the history and culture of the German speaking countries. This new minor program reflects national and international trends in German studies, and will allow a broader spectrum of students interested in Central Europe to delve deeper into the significant contributions of Germanic cultures to our contemporary world.
Department Happenings	April 2009 - Cervantes Reading April 23 is celebrated in Spain as book day, in honor of the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes in 1616. Dr. Alberto Villamandos and the Department of Foreign Languages is joining with A&S and HSCP to organize a reading of Don Quixote in celebration of Spain's Book Day, on April 23. Click here for more information.
	July 2008 - Study Abroad Perspectives During the Spanish program's biennial study abroad trip to Xalapa, Veracruz in Mexico, a group of UMKC students and Professor Alberto Villamandos were featured in an article regarding the EEE (Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros) at the Universidad de Veracruz. The article discusses the intensive summer session at the EEE and its benefits from the perspective of Professor Villamandos and four UMKC students. Click here to read the article in the university newspaper UniVerso.
	June 2008 - New French Journal In June 2008 the French section of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures published the first volume of its new French journal KansaS'écrit. The journal, conceived by Assistant Professor of French, Dr. Nacer Khelouz, and authored by UMKC undergraduates and other contributors includes articles in many subject areas, all written in French.
	Spring 2008 - Hildesheim Students Beginning in January 2008 we have been inviting students from the University of Hildesheim in Germany to come to UMKC as short-term student scholars for 90 days to act as research and teaching assistants. So far these students have helped develop curriculum for the German language program; translated scholarly articles from English to German for publication in professional journals; proofread and fact-checked book manuscripts; and re-evaluated transcripts based on interviews conducted in German. They have also served as “experts” in classes in German and about Germany, and have served our students as linguistic and cultural resources. We look forward to the successful continuation of this nascent program.

Faculty Accomplishments
	Forthcoming Works 2009 Dr. K. Scott Baker has two forthcoming publications: an article in Brecht Yearbook, 2009, and a book The Happy Burden of History, or The German Sisyphus. The book, co-authored by Dr. Drew Bergerson and Dr. Clancy Martin, also of UMKC, argues for the necessity of making responsible decisions in our everyday lives. Using performance theory and labeling telling lies, non-conformity and irony as key strategies for living a historically responsible life, the book focuses on German history and the pre- and early Nazi period to examine successes and failures of these strategies. The manuscript is currently circulating among publishers, such as Oxford UP, Verso, and Basic Books. Dr. Gayle Levy will have her essay, "«J'ai été très amusée» : Renée Vivien et l'(auto)mythologisation à travers une lettre inédite" published in the book Renée Vivien à rebours, in France, in 2009.
	January 2009 Dr. K. Scott Baker became editor of The Faculty Advocate, the newsletter of the UMKC chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
	December 2008 Spanish lecturer, Xánath Caraza, has recently published her poetry in the collection Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland by the Latino Writers Collective. Click here to read what the University of Notre Dame blog, Letras Latinas, had to say about a reading hosted by the Latino Writers Collective, in which Ms. Caraza participated.
	October 2008 Dr. Alberto Villamandos published "Las Trampas de la Nostalgia: la gauche divine de Barcelona en su producción literaria" in Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. Dr. Larson Powell lectured on Konrad Wolf's film "Mama, Ich lebe" at the German Studies Association conference in Minneapolis. Dr. K. Scott Baker organized a panel on historical drama at the 2008 German Studies Association conference, an international association open to all scholars working in German literature, culture and politics. The panel included Klaus Vieweg, one of Germany’s foremost Hegel scholars, and Wilhelm Vosskamp, a pioneer of interdisciplinary German studies, as well as Franz-Josef Deiters, a promising new researcher currently teaching in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Baker also presented a paper in the panel from the first chapter of his next book project, which treats the interstices of historical drama and the philosophy of history in late eighteenth century Germany.
	September 2008 Louis Imperiale, professor of Spanish, presented "Francesca y Melibea: ¿Nudos matrimoniales o vínculos de amor?" at the First International Conference of the Brazilian Association of Hispanists in Belo Horiante, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He also presented the film Una Sombra al Frente (Crossing a Shadow) at the 17th Annual Latin American Cinema Festival of Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas.
	Fall 2008 Kathy M. Krause, associate professor of French, Spring 2008 director of Women's and Gender Studies and Chair of Foreign Languages beginning January 2009, was awarded a Fulbright research grant to Belgium for fall semester 2008. She was a visiting scholar at the Université Catholique de Louvain, where she completed archival research pertaining to her study on the intersection of female lordship and literary production in the 13th century. Her recent publications include an article in the French Journal Babel on the manuscripts of the Roman de la Violette, and one in Romance Philology entitled "Genealogy and Codicology: The Manuscript Contexts of La Fille du Comte de Pontieu." K. Scott Baker, assistant professor of German, published Drama and Ideenschmuggel: Inserted Performance as Communicative Strategy in Karl Gutskow's Plays of the 1840's, North American Studies in 19th Century German Literature, Volume 43. Larson Powell, assistant professor of German, was awarded a FaCET Grant for the development of a new course on Eastern European Film to be taught in 2010. Gayle Levy, associate professor of French, will be a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University for the '08-'09 academic year.
	June 2008 Alberto Villamandos, assistant professor of Spanish, published a number of articles and book chapters, including "En busca del Charnego Perdido: Campos de Níjar (1960) de Juan Goytisolo o de la Necesidad del Subalterno" in Revista Hispánica Moderna and "Pasaje al Subalterno: Recuento, de Luis Goytisolo, o la Derrota del Intelectual Antifranquista" in Letras Peninsulares. He presented papers at the Modern Language Association conference in Chicago, the Mid-American Conference on Hispanic Literatures in Madison, Wis., and at the University of Ottawa.
	July 2007 German lecturer, Tanya Kelley, and Assistant Professor of German, K. Scott Baker were awarded a FaCET grant to attend the July '07 TPRS National Workshop. Dr. Baker and Ms. Kelley subsequently restructured the German language program to include storytelling, an instructional methodology that uses wacky stories to model vocabulary and grammar in ways that facilitate student retention of the material. The methodology has allowed all of the German faculty to move toward reading literary works more quickly with the students, which in turn enables them to discuss cultural material in German more quickly than in typical traditional programs. A report detailing the methods of TPRS begins on page one in the Spring 2009 FaCET newsletter.