Schleicher honored on campus and nationally for her distinguished service

Professor Antonia Schleicher

Professor Antonia Schleicher, who joined the Department of African Languages and Literature in 1989 and who is a specialist in African linguistics and language pedagogy, is this year's recipient of the A. Ronald Walton Award.

The award is bestowed by the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) for Schleicher's distinguished service to the profession.

In addition, Schleicher is one of the recipients of the Chancellor's UW-Madison Distinguished Teaching Awards.

Schleicher has helped to make a name for UW-Madison in the field of African Languages, as well as being a strong promoter for the less commonly taught languages at the national level. 

In 1999, through her initiative and leadership, UW-Madison became the home of the National African Language Research Center and, in 2008, the site of the only federally funded flagship program in Yoruba.

Along with having served as president of both the African Language Teachers Association and NCOLCTL, she has provided a home here at UW-Madison for the secretariats of both organizations. Moreover, she has recently been elected to serve a  three year term on the Board of Directors of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the organization in the forefront of foreign language education in the United States.

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L&S faculty take home eight Distinguished Teaching Awards

Each year, the Committee on Distinguished Teaching Awards honors faculty for teaching excellence. This year, the committee selected ten outstanding faculty — eight who teach in the College of Letters & Science.

Congratulations to the winners on this outstanding achievement! 

To read more about the recipients and their work, see: http://www.news.wisc.edu/17913

• Emily Auerbach, professor of liberal studies and the arts and English, Van Hise Outreach Award
• Richard Avramenko, assistant professor of political science and integrated liberal studies, William H. Kiekhofer Award
• Donald Davis, associate professor of Languages and Cultures of Asia, Class of 1955 Distinguished Teaching Award
• Judith Leavitt, Ruth Bleier WARF Professor of medical history, history of science and women’s studies and UW Foundation Chair Rupple-Bascom Professor, Chancellor’s Award
• Mahesh Mahanthappa, assistant professor of chemistry, Emil H. Steiger Award
• Kirin Narayan, professor of anthropology, Chancellor’s Award
  
• Antonia Schleicher, professor of African languages and literature, Chancellor’s Award
• Tracy Schroepfer, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Chancellor’s Award

The recipients will receive their awards at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 21 at 3:30 p.m. at the Pyle Center.

News via University Communications

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'African Storyteller' collection now available online

People of South Africa: Boy with a Basket. Photo by Harold Scheub.

Dr. Harold Scheub, the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities in the Department of African Languages and Literature, is one of the world's leading scholars in African oral traditions and folklore. 

Thousands of UW Madison students know Professor Scheub as the 'African Storyteller' on campus.

To record oral traditions, Scheub has walked more than 6,000 miles through South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. He has also published more than two dozen books and more than 70 articles.

Now, you can listen to Scheub's recordings and see his images of Africa taken during his fieldwork in the late 1960s and into the 1970s in the Harold E. Scheub Digital Collection. 

The collection includes South African voices, images and sounds.

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Arabic and Persian Immersion Program moves to Madison, celebrates successful year

The UW-Madison Arabic and Persian Immersion Program recently completed its 6th summer of top-flight language education.

The 2009 program was held for the first time on the UW-Madison campus with 18 students enrolled in Arabic classes and 15 students enrolled in Persian classes. The move to the Madison campus was considered a resounding success for students and staff alike.

Madison gives students the opportunity to interact with numerous native speakers, enjoy field trips and excursions, and partake of the many middle-eastern restaurants in the area.  Student feedback clearly deemed both the program and the move to Madison a rousing success.

The APIP Executive Committee is now preparing for APIP 2010, June 12-August 7, 2010 at UW-Madison. APIP again promises to offer unlimited challenges to students willing to spend eight weeks learning Arabic or Persian in a most unique manner.

Please visit APIP for more details or contact the program coordinator directly via email at apip@global.wisc.edu

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Waliaula wins literature prize for Swahili children's book

Kennedy Waliaula, a scholar of literary theory and African literature, has just won another literature prize for his Swahili children's book KISASI HAPANA ("No to Revenge") published by the Oxford University Press (Kenya).

Waliaula is the newest faculty member to the Department of African Languages & Literature.  He is an accomplished fiction writer known to his readers as Ken Walibora - there is a language puzzle in his nom de plume. Waliaula authored Swahili adult and children’s books, for which he has received the Jomo Kenyatta Literature Prize in his native Kenya. 

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African writer joins UW-Madison faculty

The Department of African Languages and Literature is delighted to welcome its newest faculty member this fall: Kennedy Waliaula.

Waliaula is a scholar of literary theory and African literature, and is an accomplished fiction writer. Known to his readers as Ken Walibora -- there is a language puzzle in his nom de plume -- Waliaula authored Swahili adult and children’s books, for which he has received the Jomo Kenyatta Literature Prize in his native Kenya.  

He recently received his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, with a dissertation on Kenya prison writings.  

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Center for Humanities receives $10K grant from WI Humanities Council

The Center for the Humanities will receive a $10,000 Major Grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council to fund their high school outreach program Great World Texts in Wisconsin.

The upcoming 5th year will bring Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" into high school classrooms throughout the state.

The year-long effort of Great World Texts connects University of Wisconsin scholars with high school teachers and their students in an in-depth exploration of great works of literature.

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