Languages and Cultures Department
Meeting Minutes
November 19, 2014
Scott Richardson, Chair
Present: Jeff DuBois, Scott Richardson, Maureen McCarter, Melanie Bowman, Sarah Pruett, Limei Danzeisen,
Chuck Villette, Andreas Kiryakakis, Jason Schlude, Joan Didier, David Arnott
Scott welcomed Joan Didier and David Arnott from the Common Curriculum Visioning Committee, a
subcommittee of the Senate. Joan and David gave an overview of the project, described as a very slow process
during which they intend to gather relevant information from departments and find common ground within the
common curriculum. They hope to avoid some of the pitfalls from past years and eventually come up with a
process that ultimately benefits our students.
Discussion took place on the four questions put to each department:
1) What are the strengths of your department/program? What do you already do well? Remember that
these responses will be shared with the community at large, so please use this opportunity to brag a little
bit. What do you want people outside your department/program to know about your successes and
strengths?
Scott: Among our strengths, we are remarkably versatile, partly because many nationalities are represented
among our faculty. We have often participated in courses and initiatives outside the department. We teach
people how to speak and read other languages plus a lot of other things—from basic grammar to a variety of
other disciplines.
Jason: We are involved in global literacy and communication, are a hub for interdisciplinary programming, and a
key player in study abroad.
Melanie: In French, we do a good job of coordinating a comprehensive sequence of classes, but also have the
freedom to be flexible and teach from our strengths.
Jeff: Not only do we support a strong study abroad program, we bring in a lot of students from abroad. We have
ESL students either working for or volunteering to help with the Japanese program. The exchange students bring a
strong sense of community.
Sarah: A goal from the last curriculum review was to become less departmentalized, and that has happened over
the past five years. For example, there are now many bilingual students taking both Japanese and Chinese.
Jason: In Classics, we have undergrads as well as grad students which adds an interesting aspect to our
department and program.
Scott: Part of our mission is to acculturate students, not only to how language works, but also to connect them
with other cultures. We are opening up our students’ world in a meaningful way.
Jason: The presence of European Studies, which is now a part of LNGS, allows us to be a real hub and to work
together collaboratively with other disciplines.
Chuck voiced concern about this effort dredging up turf wars; he had hoped for a set of principles of liberal arts
education which would have allowed us to explain how our programs fit. Joan responded that she has been
pleased with what she’s hearing from other departments, that others want to be cross-collaborative.
Chuck questioned whether liberal arts ed is relevant any more, particularly with a common curriculum. Dave
stated that there will be a mission-driven set of learning goals. The committee is sensitive to the issues Chuck has
raised.
2) What do you wish you could do better, or do more of? What would it take (resources, support, etc.) for
you to reach those goals?
Jeff: Resources to teach languages five days a week.
Melanie: Three days a week is insufficient. Four would be much better. We need to find ways to get students
more involved. As is, there is no time to focus on skills such as writing. Upper class students are more selfdirecting, but younger ones need structure.
Chuck: Five days, even with shorter class periods, would be better.
Jason: Previous campuses he’s worked on had four days per week for beginning Greek/Latin.
Scott: Discussion on library language labs has started to take place.
Limei: Language labs can fill in for times when we don’t have class and can offer resources for access to
vocabulary, grammar, and activities.
Jeff: A centralized, dedicated space for language acquisition. Melanie concurred: There is no space that has
dedicated software. Though students seem tech-savvy, many often need software that is user-friendly.
Chuck: Ways to replicate an immersion experience; useful, meaningful ways to incorporate the languages into
students’ daily lives.
Maureen: More access to native French speakers closer in age to students, such as Fulbrights, to engage on a
language level but also to share cultural experience. We have to help our students think and to question,
particularly American students, which native speakers can facilitate.
Sarah: We realize there’s value and a certain energy when people get together to learn; we need that
infrastructure to build community.
Melanie: Conversational pen pals—with a reliable language lab—can reproduce a language exchange much more
efficiently.
3) Leaving aside discipline specific knowledge, in what ways does your department/program best contribute
to providing our students with a liberal education for their lives beyond college, as informed and engaged
citizens, productive employees, ethical beings, etc.?
Melanie: Strongest students in STEM fields need direction to figure things out, don’t trust themselves to find the
right answers. They need to be more autonomous.
Jason: Students need to learn the ability to self-assess.
Jeff and Scott: Students need the experience of “estrangement” from which they can gain confidence to express
themselves while working with limited tools. They can find confidence on rough terrain through learning a new
language.
Scott: A big part of liberal arts education is to encourage students to break out of our ethnocentrism and
egocentrism and learn that other people behave and speak socially in other ways than we do. Language programs
facilitate this more than other departments do.
4) Are there ways in which you would like to see your department/program contribute to liberal education
that so far it has not been able to?
Chuck: It would be greatly beneficial to have control of the entire curriculum of first-year students and instruct
them in classes for their entire first year. It would be great to immerse them in language learning earlier in their
college careers.
Sarah: There are now 92 immersion schools in Minnesota, which means that a lot of students are coming in at
higher levels. We could do better at explaining what liberal arts is.
Scott: We used to be able to participate in outside programs far more, but because retired faculty aren’t being
replaced, we are only able to staff our own courses. We’re being restricted, talent-wise, from participating in
other program because of minimal faculty numbers.
Maureen: Language floors
At this point, discussion concluded on curriculum visioning.
Language Lab
Scott mentioned that Karen has already proposed, should the remodeling of the library include space for a
language lab, that it be placed near the writing lab. Scott recommended talking to Kathy Parker if you have other
ideas. Jeff and Chuck have already made some suggestions. As things progress, several of us and HISP faculty will
give more direction.
Assessment
Scott will pass work that’s been done on assessment over to Lisa.
Announcements
Scott announced that he has sold his book, The Games of Dorothy Dunnett, through the University of Missouri
Press. Congrats!
The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 PM.
Mary Niedenfuer