Summer program offers intensive study of Baltic area languages

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an international leader in foreign languages, offering instruction in more than 80 modern and ancient languages, from Akan-Twi to Zulu.

The campus also houses 11 area-studies centers, the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages and the National African Language Resource Center.

Students can put those language courses to the test with a study-abroad experience; they are available on every continent of the world except Antarctica.

This summer, students from across the United States will come to Madison for eight weeks of intensive study of the languages of the Baltic countries: Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian.

The program, the Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI), is sponsored by a consortium of 12 U.S. universities.

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News via UW Communications 

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Grant establishes new undergraduate Russian Flagship Center

UW-Madison has received a 3-year grant for close to $1 million from the National Security Education Program to establish an undergraduate Russian Flagship Center.

The new program will provide highly-motivated students in all majors the opportunity to achieve a professional level of competence in Russian.

The Russian Flagship Center is a program of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature and the Language Institute with the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia and the Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition.

Students interested in applying to the program should contact Director Karen Evans-Romaine at evans-romaine@wisc.edu or Associate Director Dianna Murphy at diannamurphy@wisc.edu

For more information:

• Grant to establish undergraduate Russian Flagship Center (University Communications)
• New Russia program to improve access to language, study abroad (The Badger Herald)
  

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Save the Date: Baltic Studies Summer Institute June 14-August 6

The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) and the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will host the Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI) this summer: June 14-August 6, 2010.

First-year intensive Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian language courses will be offered during the session. Pending sufficient enrollment, second-year intensive courses in those languages will be offered as well.

BALSSI 2010 will also include lectures (in English) on Baltic history and culture and a rich program of cultural events and field trips related to the Baltic countries.

Information and application materials are available on: www.creeca.wisc.edu/balssi

Thanks to a generous grant from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the program fee for first-year Estonian will be waived for graduate students specializing in East European studies in any discipline.

BALSSI is sponsored by a consortium of 12 U.S. universities and receives additional support from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies and the Lithuanian Foundation. 

For more information, please contact Nancy Heingartner, BALSSI program coordinator, balssi@creeca.wisc.edu or (608-262-3379)

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CREECA celebrates Lithuanian Independence Day, legacy of Al Senn

On February 16, Madison-Vilnius Sister Cities and UW-Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) sponsored a celebration  of Lithuanian Independence Day.

The keynote speaker was Alfred E. Senn, UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of History. 

His talk focused on the Independence Day experiences of three distinct groups of people: those who were in Lithuania when independence was declared in 1918, American diplomats who served in Kaunas, Lithuania in the 1920’s, and a Lithuanian woman who was imprisoned in a Siberian labor camp in the 1940s.  

Prior to the keynote address, Ted Gerber, Professor of Sociology and Director of CREECA, read a proclamation from Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz declaring February 16, 2010 as Alfred Erich Senn Day in Madison.

To see more images from the event, please visit the Madison-Vilnius Sister Cities Web Site: http://madisonvilnius.org/

Related story:

• Doug Moe: A chance lunch, a diary and a spot on ‘Antiques Roadshow’ (Wisconsin State Journal)
  

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+700 Wisconsin high school students, teachers participate in World Languages Day

On November 18, 2009 the Language Institute hosted over 700 Wisconsin high school students and teachers at the ninth World Languages Day held on the UW-Madison campus. 

The popular outreach program introduces Wisconsin students to languages and cultures around the globe through workshops, presentations and performances led by UW-Madison faculty, staff and students. 

Workshops at World Languages Day span the globe and this year's event included:

• "Icons and Idols: A Journey into Argentine Popular Culture"
  
• "Write Your Name and Say Hello in Russian!"
  
• "Journey to the West, and through Chinese Characters"
• "Bollywood and Beyond: Hindi Songs in North India"
  

World Languages Day continues to be a popular field trip opportunity for high schools, attracting new schools each year.  This year, eights schools of 27 attended for the first time. 

Through World Languages Day, high school students discover and take home new interests that they might pursue in their future studies. 

One teacher said of the experience, "World Languages Day gave my students a taste of a college campus and opened their eyes to what was available for them to learn."

World Languages Day was made possible by the generous support of the College of Letters & Science Anonymous Fund; African Studies Program; Center for East Asian Studies; Center for European Studies; Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia; Center for South Asia; Global Studies and Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. 

Category: Area Studies
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Units team up, host successful 'The Wall Came Down' conference

Continuing the "Fall of the Wall" events this year, the Department of German rolled out the 42nd Wisconsin Workshop: "The Wall Came Down."

This international conference was organized by Professors Marc Silberman and Venkat Mani and was held at the Pyle Center from Nov. 5-7.

Interdisciplinary scholars and graduate students from the fields of German studies, history, anthropology, communication studies and geography assessed retrospectively how Germany came to terms with national and political division as well as the dynamics of contemporary scenarios of peoples divided against themselves.

Keynote speaker Professor Konrad Jarausch (University of North Carolina), a UW Madison history alumnus (PhD'69) who discussed the nature of the 1989 event. 

The successful conference attracted overflow audiences interested in the cultural and social dimensions of borders, boundaries, and exclusions as well as bridges and crossings. 

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"Satellites" Exhibit to Open at Memorial Union September 25

The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia at UW-Madison is sponsoring an exhibit of photographs by noted photojournalist Jonas Bendiksen.

"Satellites: Photographs from the Fringes of the Former Soviet Union," will run September 25-November 10, 2009 at the Porter Butts Gallery of the Memorial Union.

The exhibit is the culmination of Bendiksen’s fascinating seven-year photographic journey through unrecognized countries, enclaves and isolated communities on the periphery of the former Soviet Union.

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