This Week in LACS 11/20/2023

November 20, 2023
Categories: Community Events, Cultural Events, General News Tags: 2023, heritage, japanese, spanish
This Week in LACS

Welcome to this short work week. It is almost Thanksgiving and we are getting close to the end of the semester. I hope you are all looking forward to the holidays this week and get to spend them with friends and family and wonderful food.

Dates and Events this Week 

November 20, 

  • TT Faculty Virtual Meeting to discuss RPT Policy and Appendix, 11:00 am-12:30 pm

November 22,

  • No classes, Administrative Support Associates and Business Services
    Coordinator work remotely

November 23-24

  • Thanksgiving Holiday

Looking Ahead

Dates and Events

November 27, 

November 28

November 29

  • Save the Date: Arrival of Candidate 1 for Translation Search (pending approval)

November 30

  • Save the Date: all Day visit of Candidate 1 for Translation Search (pending approval)

December 1,

December 3

  • Save the Date: Arrival of Candidate 2 for Translation Search (pending approval)

December 4

  • Save the Date: all Day visit of Candidate 2 for Translation Search (pending approval)

December 5

  • Save the Date: Arrival of Candidate 3 for Translation Search (pending approval)

December 6

  • Save the Date: all Day visit of Candidate 4 for Translation Search (pending approval)

December 7

  • 10:30 am – 12:00 pm. Department Meeting, Harris Alumni Center 
  • 12:00-2:00 pm. Harris Alumni Center | Department Celebration | Join us to celebrate 53 years of service to UNC Charlotte by Dr. Robert Reimer, whose last semester is ending this month. Lunch will be provided. If you wish, bring a dessert to share and exchange. 

December 8,

  • 11:00 am-1:00 pm, Launch Center for Migration and Diaspora Studies

December 15, 

December 19,

  • Zoom Phone Migration

January 12, 2024

January 26, 2024

February 16, 2024

February 17, 2024

February 22-23, 2024

  • 10:00 am-6:00 pm. 2024 Heritage Language Learning Symposium, Register 

March 29, 2024

April 19, 2024

Congratulations

Congratulations to Anton Pujol who has been elected editor of the International Journal of Iberian Studies. 

Congratulations to David Boyd for the publication of his translation of Hiroko Oyamada’s “Flight” in Monkey (4): 23-31. Kudos also to David for co-translating Midori Osaki’s “Cricket Girl” in Monkey (4): 120-127. Also congratulations to David Boyd for the publication of his essay “Feeling It” in Monkey (4): 139.

Congratulations to Bobby Hobgood for being awarded the ACTFL/Cengage/IALLT Postsecondary Award for Excellence in World Language Instruction using Technology. 

Kudos to the Japanese faculty who organized and hosted another successful JBusiness Forum. It took place on Zoom and had a peak attendance of 69 people. Many thanks to the sponsors and to the guest speaker, Dr. Sumi. The student presentations were very informative and our alum Luke Hutton spoke eloquently about the process of becoming a professional translator.

Kudos also to Susana Cisneros for organizing a visit to Bank of America for our students. On Friday, November 17th, 17 students visited Bank of America and met with the Charlotte Hispanic-Latino Leadership Council. Our students were able to participate in two panels, one on diversity, careers and job opportunities and another on social capital, culture in the workplace, and identity.

Congratulations to Sandra Watts for being selected to be part of the Spring Constructive Dialogue Faculty Learning Community.

Congratulations to Enika Banerjee (not pictured), Javier García León, Xiaohong Mueller, Yukie Okada, Laura Viale, Svanny Wong and Sarah Wyble for their induction into the Phi Beta Delta Honors Society for International Scholars. 

Announcements & Updates

Change of Venue for Department Meeting: Alumni Center

The venue has changed for our department meeting and our celebration. You are invited to the Harris Alumni Center on December 7 at 10:30-12:00 pm for our last department meeting of the semester. 

Celebration of Robert Reimer retiring after 53 years

At 12:00 -2:00 pm after the department meeting, you are invited for lunch and a celebration honoring Robert Reimer, who is retiring in December after 53 years of service to Charlotte. Lunch will be provided. Many of you have already signed up for the originally planned potluck. Thank you for your generosity. However, faculty are now invited for a catered lunch, so if you wish to bring something, please bring dessert to share.

Search Update

The search committee conducted zoom interviews with 6 candidates on Friday 11/27 and has identified three candidates for the short list, to be approved by the Dean’s office. Upon approval we would invite the candidates for the following dates: 

Please save the dates for

November 29-November 30 

Candidate 1 arrival Wednesday

Candidate 1 meetings and presentations on Thursday

December 3-4 

Candidate 2 arrival Sunday

Candidate 2 meetings and presentations Monday

December 5-6 

Candidate 3 arrival on Tuesday

Candidate 3 meetings and presentations on Wednesday

CHESS

  • Handbook Revisions. 

The committee has completed the revisions and feedback will be solicited this week.  

  • Bylaws Revisions. 

CHESS Faculty Council approved a motion to move forward the first round of Bylaw Revisions for full CHESS Faculty approval. Another round of revisions will follow in late Spring. Faculty voting will begin December 1.

  • New Director of Communications: Jennifer Conway (replacing Lynn Roberson). She will manage the website changes and later provide a communication strategy. 

Process for Curriculum Change Proposals

  • All undergraduate curricular proposals need to be approved by the UCC (Undergraduate Curriculum Committee) chaired by Susanne Gomoluch.
  • Once the committee approves, the proposal comes to the department as a seconded motion on the Consent Calendar. 
  • If you wish to send something to arrive on the Consent Calendar at our December 7 department meeting with sufficient time before to the UCC so that they may comment and request additional information if necessary. 
  • The official deadline to get changes into the 2024-25 catalog is December 31.  This would mean a vote in the department and entry into Curriculog before the winter break. 
  • However, proposals submitted as late as March have made it into the catalog of the following AY. 

Concerns for Faculty Welfare Committee

The UNC Charlotte Faculty Welfare Committee (a committee of the university faculty council) invites you to help us identify opportunities to improve faculty welfare. 

Please help us identify challenges you or others have faced as faculty at UNC Charlotte, as well as suggestions for improving faculty morale and welfare more generally. We plan to develop a survey from these responses to help us understand broader trends next semester. Please provide feedback anonymously and confidentially through this form.

Syllabi Guidelines for AI
Discover innovative strategies for student-facing communication and syllabus guidelines surrounding generative AI tools!

Mental Health First Aid Training
Attend Mental Health First Aid training, a national program that teaches skills around responding to someone struggling with distress or suicide ideation. Register for in-person faculty and staff training Friday, Dec. 15.

Student Achievements

Congratulations to the Japanese program and their major, Andrew Brooks, who won a silver award for the category College III, which is the highest level of the competition, at J.Live Talk 2023. The competition is a national TED-Talk in Japanese. The theme of his talk was learning foreign languages and identities. We are proud of Andrew’s success.