December 2005
Volume 5, Issue 1
GREAL News
Inside this issue:
Gorbachev visits Miami
Hovel Bequest Update .... 2
Two New Majors.............. 2
Miami in Munich............... 2
Alumni News.................... 3
Faculty News ................... 4
From the Chair:
Wow - to think that the year is
coming to a close! This has
been a wonderful year for
GREAL as you can see by our
Newsletter. Just last week
faculty senate approved two
new majors in GREAL (see p.
2). More and more students
are pursuing studies in both of
these areas and the new
majors will meet their needs.
Students of German will be
receiving more scholarship aid
thanks to our benefactors,
Ralph and Joan Hovel Van
Vliet. This fall the department
underwent program review,
something that is done every
five years. Both an internal
review committee as well as
and external one meet with
department members to
discuss what is going on in the
department. To that end, we
compile a self-study. That
study demonstrates the
progress of GREAL over the
last five years. One interesting
statistic: total GREAL
enrollment in all courses has
increased from 1763 students
in 2000-2001 to 2659 students
in 2005. Great news!
On behalf of all the faculty in
GREAL I want to take this
opportunity to wish all of you
peace, joy, and health in the
New Year.
Robert DiDonato
Prof. Margaret Ziolkowski (GREAL), on the left, greets Michael Gorbachev during his visit
to Miami University in October, as Associate Provost Mary Woodworth looks on.
In October 2005, Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the
Soviet Union, visited Miami. He spoke to a packed and attentive
audience in Millett Hall about his perceptions of the reasons for
the collapse of the Soviet Union and his assessment of current
global challenges. Earlier Gorbachev met with a Political Science
class and answered their questions. He also met informally with
students, faculty, and administrators. The visit was sponsored in
part by GREAL and the Havighurst Center for Russian and PostSoviet Studies.
On the Department’s two newly approved majors: Russian,
Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies – a two track major:
“Language, Literature, Culture” and “History and Politics,” and the
other in East Asian Language and Cultures with an emphasis
either on Japan or China or both, see the related article on p. 2.
One interesting statistic: total GREAL enrollment in all courses
has increased from 1,763 students in 2000-2001 to 2,659
students in 2005 (“From the Chair”).
Page 2 of 4
GREAL News
Update on Ralph and Joan Hovel Memorial Bequest
$1,355,000 to
support
excellent
students of
German!
In our May, 2005 issue,
we reported on a gift of
$850,000 by Ralph Martin
Hovel (’35) and his wife
Joan Van Vliet to Miami
University’s German
program. The money
generated by the bequest
is to support excellent
students of German, and
will be used in part to
attract high school
students interested in
pursuing German Studies
at Miami. This past year,
awards went to students
on the Intensive German
Summer Program. This
fall we learned that an
additional $505,000 was
made available to the
German section of
GREAL for scholarships.
After meeting with a
representative of the
scholarship office, we
have determined a
number of ways in which
to award the money to
both incoming students
interested in German and
also to students already
here who are pursuing
German studies. The
funds make it possible for
us to attract more
students to our already
successful German
program and to support
them in a variety of ways
from help with tuition to
study abroad. We are
indeed most grateful to
the Hovels for
remembering German at
Miami and being so
generous in their support.
Two new GREAL Majors approved by Senate
“[The new majors]
will benefit
graduates in the
twenty-first
century.”
Monday, December 4,
was a big day for GREAL,
as Miami University
Senate unanimously
approved two new majors
put forth by the
Department: East Asian
Languages and Cultures
and Russian, East
European, and Eurasian
Studies.
The Department was
congratulated by Dean
Jeffery Herbst on its fine
work in developing the
majors proposals and in
providing offerings for our
students with relevance
for important parts of the
world that will benefit
graduates in the twentyfirst century. In this way,
the Department is playing
a significant role in Miami
University efforts to
become more
international. The addition
of Hebrew and Arabic to
GREAL have increased
the number of languages
available to Miami
students.
Japanese and Chinese
enrollments continue to
grow, and now students
can pursue a major in one
or both of these areas.
See the Department
website for details on the
new majors.
Miami German Students in Munich
.
Seven current Miami
students are studying in
Munich for the 2005-06
academic year. Pictured
with Prof. Ruth Sanders are:
(front row from left to right)
Dava Belloli, Chris Burton,
Prof. Sanders, Margie
Yeager; (back row, left to
right) Jon Bobak, Erin
Munsie, Adam Payne, and
Brandon Durbin.
Page 3 of 4
GREAL News
Alumni News (received May-December 2005)
Lynn Morgan (1974),
married to Dan Bauer, two
sons (Morgan 17 and
Matthew 13), senior
attorney for Department of
Housing and Urban
Development in
Washington aiding
homeless persons.
J. Steven Bonnell (M.A.
1988), has, after serving
in Iraq, returned to his job
at Barr Laboratories in
Cincinnati as the Manager
of Environmental
Services; also does pro
bono Russian translating;
his wife, Ann (née Troxel)
is working with Conversa
Language Services in
Cincinnati as a Spanish
translator; sons Nathaniel
and Micah are thriving.
Dan Thornton is
Associate Director of
Scholarships and Student
Aid, University of North
Carolina/Chapel Hill,
teaches Dutch, and will do
research in the
Netherlands this summer.
Gena Ellis Kittel (1990)
has moved with her
husband to the Black
Forest; Gena continues to
work with the University in
Cologne translating and
grading exams.
Paulien Ruijssenaars
(1992) and her husband
are expecting their first
child in July. Paulien has
moved to consulting in her
field of communications.
Katy Cassidy and
husband Mark are training
for the Berlin marathon,
September 2006, in their
Australian hometown.
Kristin Diane Phillips is
doing research this
academic year in
Tanzania toward her
graduate degree in
Anthropology (U of
Wisconsin); she travels to
Indonesia to visit her
fiancée.
Ashley Meier Barlow
(2000) will begin her third
year at Salmon P. Chase
College of Law (NKU),
works as a law clerk at the
Hesch Law Firm in Oakley
and Tranter & Meier Law
Firm in Ft. Thomas (KY),
where she lives with her
husband (as of June 19,
2004) Brandon Barlow, a
loan officer with Wells
Fargo and real estate
agent with Huff Realty.
Sean Killian works for
Chermonics International
in Washington, DC in
international development,
and looks forward to
attending the World Cup
in Germany in the
summer.
Cariña Jeep (2003)
graduated from law school
at Michigan State in May,
passed the Florida bar
exam during the summer,
and has begun working
with a national legal firm in
Tampa.
Noah Bieszczad (1999)
works with a wine
distributor in Toledo,
following an internship as
a wine grower in France.
Mike Price (2003)
finished his first year at
the University of Miami
Law School, will study
international law abroad,
and visit the other Miami,
as well.
Jessica Scheetz
Douglas (1999) teaches
middle school German in
Williamstown, New
Jersey.
Andrea Stefaniuk has
completed her MA in
Translation Studies at
Kent State University, and
is teaching high school
German in Ohio following
a stint in Colgne.
Thomas Stefaniuk
divides his time between
Berlin and Ohio.
Let us know what you are
doing, and please include
your year of graduation.
[email protected]
Faculty News – July – December 2005
Dept. of German,
Russian, and East
Asian Languages (with
Arabic and Hebrew)
Irvin Hall 172
Oxford, OH 45056
Phone:
(513) 529-2526
Fax:
(513) 529-2966
E-Mail:
[email protected]
GREAL Chair:
Dr. Robert Di Donato
Technical Support:
Daniel Meyers, Director,
Interactive Language
Resource Center
Editor:
John M. Jeep
Peter Carels, in his ninth and
final year as director of our
Summer Intensive German
Program in Heidelberg/Jena/
Berlin, marked the 20th
anniversary of cooperation
with the host city of
Neckargemünd (near
Heidelberg) by presenting
Mayor Althof with a
proclamation from the mayor
of Oxford, Jerome Conley, at
a reception in the city hall
attended by the 19
participating Miami students.
Robert DiDonato published
The Big Yellow Book of
Verbs with Listen, Franklin.
McGraw-Hill, 2005, a
reference work containing
555 verbs conjugated and
with sample usage
sentences.
Mila Ganeva gave a paper,
„Vicki Baum and the
Mannequin Novels of the
1920s and 1930s“ at the
Conference of the German
Studies Association in
Milwaukee in September.
John M. Jeep continues as
President of the National
German Honorary, Delta Phi
Alpha.
Mieko Ono led the East
Asian Languages and
Cultures Major approval
process, published an essay
on “A Cat and Traditional
Tokoyoite,’’ and addressed
Miami’s Linguistics Program
on Japanese.
Noriko Reider published
three articles and gave one
presentation each at Atlanta
and Cambridge, England.
Sven-Erik Rose has
delivered papers on Marx,
Heine, and the Holocaust,
has a publication forthcoming
on Kant, has developed a
Jewish book discussion
series, and is working on
curricular development
related to diversity; for next
fall he has accepted a
tenure-track appointment in
the Department of French
and Italian.
Ruth Sanders is on
sabbatical for 2005-2006 at
the Institut für Deutsch als
Fremdsprache, University of
Munich, where she is
working on a manuscript on
the social history of the
German language.
Liang Shi was invited to give
a talk to the Scott Hall
residents about the women
issues in the film Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Nicole Thesz has articles
forthcoming on Thomas
Mann and Günter Grass, and
gave a paper on German
citizenship in Atlanta.
Margaret Ziolkowski
published Alien Visions:
The Chechens and the
Navajos in Russian and
American Literature.
Retirement: Dr. Edward
M. V. Plater completes his
tenure teaching German,
Film Studies, and
German-American
heritage this December.
Arriving at Miami in 1967,
Dr. Plater also served as
director of the Language
Lab. The Department
wishes Ed and his wife
Debbie many happy years
of retirement.
Visit us @
http://montgomery.cas.muohio.edu/greal/
Miami University
Dept. of GREAL
Irvin Hall 172
Oxford, OH 45056