News from Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
College of Arts and Sciences
Spring/Summer 2014
New Chair Named in LLC
A Word from the Chair
Greetings. Yes, I am not Allen Miller. This was an
eventful semester with a lot of changes as you will
see below, and I am very grateful to the faculty and
staff for helping make sure we had a smooth if
unexpected transition in leadership. 2014 has
gotten off to a tremendous start in terms of student
and faculty accomplishments. Our department
continues to win awards, undergraduate students
continue to excel in scholarship and receive
generously funded opportunities to travel. We
have also had remarkable success in placing recent
PhDs into tenure-track jobs at prestigious colleges.
This remains the gold standard for any PhD
program.
Dr. Nicholas Vazsonyi,
Jesse Chapman Alcorn Memorial Professor of
Foreign Languages
Professor of German & Comparative Literature
vazsonyi@sc.edu
Published twice a year by the Dept. of Languages, Literatures,
and Cultures at USC.
Dr. Nicholas Vazsonyi, Chair
Dr. Mark Beck, Assistant Chair
1620 College St., Room 917; Columbia, SC 29208
http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/
After serving almost four years as Chair of LLC, Allen Miller,
Carolina Distinguished Professor and Professor of Classics
and Comparative Literature, has accepted a position as
Vice Provost and Director of International Programs in
spring 2014. In his new role he will oversee International
Programs at USC, English Programs for Internationals, the
Space Needs and Planning Committee, and the Classroom
Enhancement and Scheduling Committee. Allen joined the
faculty at USC in Fall 1998 and has served as Graduate
Director and Director of the Comparative Literature
Program, and most recently Department Chair. His
contributions to LLC are numerous and the students,
faculty and staff will miss him.
Nicholas Vazsonyi was named Interim Chair of LLC in
February 2014, after serving as Interim Chair in spring
2013. Nicholas is the Jesse Chapman Alcorn Memorial
Professor of Foreign Languages and Professor of German
and Comparative Literature. He began his USC career as an
Assistant Professor in August of 1997 and has served the
department as German Graduate Director, German
Program Director, LLC Graduate Director, T&P Chair, and
has been a member of the College of Arts & Sciences
Academic Planning Council since 2013. For the past 10
years, Nicholas has been publishing on the work and
significance of the German composer Richard Wagner
(1813-1883). Last year, just in time for the bicentennial, he
completed editorial work on the Cambridge Wagner
Encyclopedia which contains entries from over 80 leading
scholars from 9 countries. Please join us in welcoming
Nicholas to the Chair’s office.
January 2014 Promotions
Congratulations to our two recently promoted faculty! Promoted to full Professor in January 2014 are
Jeanne Garane and Agnes Mueller. Jeanne Garane is Professor of French and Comparative Literature and
teaches courses on francophone literature and film, postcolonial theory, translation, and comparative
literary studies. Agnes Mueller is Professor of German and is an expert on recent and contemporary
German literature. She is core faculty in Comparative Literature and affiliated with Women's and Gender
Studies and Jewish Studies. Her book, The Inability to Love: Jews, Gender, and America in Recent German
Literature will be coming out later this year with Northwestern University Press.
Graduate News
• Rob Irons, a PhD in Comparative Literature, accepted a tenure track job at Hampden Sydney
College in Virginia.
• Christiane Steckenbiller accepted a tenure-track position as assistant professor of German at
Colorado College in Colorado Springs where she will help revamp the German curriculum.
• Gengsong Gao, a PhD student in Comparative Literature, was awarded a $25,000 College of Arts
and Sciences Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship for the 2014-2015 academic year.
• Comparative Literature doctoral candidate Irina Vasilyeva Meier was awarded USC's Rhude
Patterson Graduate Fellowship, one of two $5000 Trustee Fellowships awarded to female graduate
students in the Humanities or Social Sciences.
• Please congratulate CPLT PhD students Irina Vasilyeva Meier and Xiang Jin for each receiving a
Ceny Walker Graduate Fellowship from the Walker Institute for International Studies. They will use
their awards to travel to Russia and to Korea, respectively.
• The Comparative Literature Program Cantey Award winners are Isabel Meusen and Julia Luján.
They will be using their awards for research trips to Berlin and Buenos Aires respectively.
Congratulations too, to Todd Spaulding, who received an honorable mention and runner-up award
for his project on H.P. Lovecraft.
To learn more about our Graduate Programs, please visithttp://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/programs/GRAD
Undergraduate News
• Russian majors John Keaney and Laura Tarbox were awarded prestigious Boren Scholarships,
funded by the U.S National Security Education Program, intended to promote study of languages
and regions critical to U.S. national security. The scholarships cover up to $20,000 to fund a year's
study abroad. Tarbox will spend the year in Irkutsk, while Keaney will spend the year in Moscow.
Keaney also was awarded a highly competitive internship from the U.S. State Department to work
in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow during summer, 2014.
• Russian major Jessica Rohr was received an International Experience Award from the Walker
Institute for International Studies.
• Del Maticic, Classics major in the Honors College, received an Exploration Scholars Grant from the
Honors College to investigate the manuscript of a medieval preacher's manual housed in the
Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
• Del Maticic and Olivia Garrett, Classics major and President of our chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the
national Classics honor society for undergraduates, are presenting their research at the UNCChapel Hill Conference for undergraduates. Olivia's work is the result of a TRIO-McNair Fellowship,
which is intended to prepare students for graduate school.
• The Spanish House has awarded Nicholas Peter and Courtney Wolf Study Abroad Scholarships to
attend intensive language training programs in Cadiz, Spain. The awards are the first presented by
the Spanish House in its residence in the International House at Maxcy College.
Merci!
RETIREMENTS
After 25 years of teaching French on all levels at USC, Carla Grimes retired this spring.
James T. Day retired in August 2013 after 28 years teaching French at USC. He was long-time FLS editor,
frequent and versatile French Literature Conference organizer, respected critic of French and Francophone
literature, inspired and inspiring teacher, steadfast and exacting champion of le bon usage, and, above all,
valued friend and colleague.
Congratulations to the following
LLC faculty who received recognition and awards this spring!
 Judith Kalb was named USC's Ada B. Thomas Outstanding Faculty Advisor for 2014.
 Jorge Camacho was selected to receive the Russell Research Award for Humanities and Social
Sciences, the most prestigious award for scholarship awarded at USC.
 Krista Van Fleit Hang received a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award
to do research in India for her next book project, and will be spending the spring 2015 semester
in India.
 Mark Beck and Judy Kalb both received Course Revision Grants from the Vice Provost’s office.
Mark’s CLAS 230 passed the Provost’s Quality Review process, and Judy will be working with
Irina Vasilyeva Meier on RUSS 201 and RUSS 202 courses.
ASPIRE Awards, 2014
 Catherine Castner received funding for her project “Edition of Latin text of Biondo Flavio's On
the Origin and Deeds of the Venetians.”
 Daniela Di Cecco received funding for her project: “The Personal is Political: Women's
Experience in the Writings of Madeleine Bourdouxhe (1906-1996).”
 Lara Ducate was also a winner for the project: “A Longitudinal Study of Teacher Candidates'
Affect, Competencies and Appropriations of Teaching Languages with Technology.”
Provost Humanities Awards, 2014
 Alexander Beecroft received a grant for his project “A Global History of Literature.”
 Krista Van Fleit Hang’s project “From the Middle Kingdom to the Western Heavens” also won a
Humanities Award.
Congratulations again to all of our outstanding faculty!
During the 2013-14 academic year, the French program
counted over 50 majors and 150 minors, taught by five
Who we are… Focus on French!
tenure-track faculty, four instructors, seven graduate
In a continuing effort to reflect on individual
teaching assistants and four adjunct faculty members,
language programs each newsletter, this issue takes
offering courses ranging from beginning French
a look at the French Program.
language through master- and doctoral-level seminars
and on topics as varied as French cinema, theatre,
women writers, travel writing, translation, events both
current and medieval. Over 100 students studied abroad in French-speaking countries for a month, a
semester, or a year, or visited and hosted students in and from France. The program’s web pages, soon
to be revamped along with the entire Languages, Literatures, and Cultures website, welcomed the
addition of a new promotional video – made by 2012 graduate and double French and Media Arts
major, Andrew Callicott – capturing the essence of the program in the views of some of its current
students: http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/fren/french.html.
Up Next Issue: ¡Bienvenidos, Bem-vindos! Welcome to the Spanish and Portuguese Programs!
THE FRENCH PROGRAM ‘S
ANNUAL AWARDS DAY CEREMONY ON APRIL 28, 2014
Thanks to the generosity of a number of community donors and both current and retired French
faculty, students in French shared over $25,000 in scholarships to support study abroad during
spring, summer, and fall as well as to recognize academic accomplishment. Study abroad
destinations included USC in Tours (still going strong after 30 years), Sciences-Po Paris, Pau, Aix-enProvence, and the French Program’s brand-new direct exchange with the Université d’Artois in
Arras.
RECIPIENTS FOR SPRING 2014
• The Philip A. Wadsworth French
Scholarship: Kari Berg
• The French Alumni Scholarship: Colleen
Dunne, Austin Nix, Ashylnn Polanco
• The Amy B. Millstone Scholarship for
Study Abroad: Eva Gasque
• The John F. and Carol and Carol J. Kososki
French Scholarship: Andrew Kovtun
RECIPIENTS FOR SUMMER 2014
• The Philip A. Wadsworth French
Scholarship: Caroline Djakiew, Kristin
Kane
• The Hardee-Belasco French Scholarship:
Erin Hamner
• The French Alumni Scholarship: Leah
Vidovich
• The Derial Jackson Memorial Scholarship:
Calla Chuy, Stefanie Feltwell, Celika Lara,
Shannon Woods
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The Elizabeth Joiner Study Abroad
Scholarship for French Minors: Sarah
James Dietz, Abigail Jameson, Sandra
Martinez-Coronado, Ellen Smith
RECIPIENTS FOR FALL 2014
The French Alumni Scholarship: Michael
Arin, Madeline Griffith
The John F. and Carol and Carol J. Kososki
French Scholarship: Sally Barth, Georgia
Froman
ANNUAL MERIT AWARDS
The College of Arts and Sciences Rising
Senior Award: Zachary Errickson
The Marye Stone Dahlman Award for
Excellence in French: Grace Plowden
The Kyrl Leighton-Faxford de Gravelines
Scholarship: Natalie Smith
The Albert Ross Garner Award: Rachel
Khouri
To find out how you can support our students, follow this link to see all of our gift opportunities, or e-mail
pilotc@mailbox.sc.edu for more information about supporting our students:
http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/sites/sc.edu.dllc/files/Click%20Here%20to%20Give_1.pdf
University of South Carolina Awards Day
Thursday, April 17, 2014
The following students were recognized at the University of South Carolina Awards day ceremony held on April
17, 2014. These awards are made on behalf of our very generous donors and supports. To find out how you
can support our students, follow this link to see all of our gift opportunities, or e-mail pilotc@mailbox.sc.edu for
more information about supporting our students:
http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/sites/sc.edu.dllc/files/Click%20Here%20to%20Give_1.pdf
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Carroll T. and Edward B. Cantey, Jr. Bicentennial Fellowship:
Isabel Meusen, Todd Spaulding, Julia Lujan
Edward T. Aylward Award Excellence in Undergrad Spanish Studies: Heidi Furman
Excellence in Undergraduate Languages:
Rachel Parker (Chinese), Carrina LaCorata (French), Bryan Wehrenberg (German), Jaris
Dykas (Italian), Joseph Butler (Japanese), Laura Tarbox (Russian)
Gerda Jordan Award Fund for German Studies: Jaris Dykas
Hoechst Scholarship Fund for German Majors and Minors: Owen Taylor, Nicole Magin
Kyrl Leighton-Faxford DeGravelines Scholarship:
Natalie Smith, Nicole Halla
Ludmilla Ignatiev Callaham Scholarship for Russian Language and Scientific Study:
Marina Volynets, David Galban
Maria Reyes Scholarship for German Majors and Minors: Gabrielle Kozub
Rising Senior Awards:
James Holt, Rachel Harrison, Zachary Errickson, Holland Stocker, John Avery Keaney,
Ryan Beber
Robert F.W. Alston Award in Ancient Languages:
Del Maticic
Testing and Placement
As summer vacations approach, LLC Placement Coordinator Tim McAteer and his staff are making final
preparations for the influx of incoming freshmen for our foreign language placement exams. So far,
over 5,500 incoming students have registered for orientation this summer! For
these students and their parents, Tim’s staff will have plenty of campus maps
and, of course, tri-fold brochures promoting many of our language programs.
LLC’s Testing and Placement faculty don’t just provide a valuable service for the
university and department, they are often the first representatives of the
university that many of these students and parents meet.
Coming up in the Fall 2014 Newsletter… Faculty recently tenured and/or promoted…reports from Summer
Study Abroad…Meet our new Faculty!
For the most up-to-date news and announcements, visit our website at
http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/