Dear Graduates and Friends of the Department of Languages, Greetings!

 

Here is the first Department of Languages Newsletter. We plan to issue it periodically to give you an idea of some of the significant changes that are taking place in the Department, as well as news about present and former students. In this we have made a beginning, but we need your help to make it more comprehensive. Please let us know where you are and what you are doing. Send us a note about yourselves, or about other graduates you may know of, but whom we may have unwittingly overlooked. A short note, a post-card or telephone call will always be most welcome.

Dr. Mamoojee ended his term as Chairman last summer and Emil Dolphin is once again in the Chairman's office. We are in the process of rewriting the French program and will have more details about that in the next issue. A number of exchange programs have been established: for example, with Rhône-Alpes and Baden-Württemberg and I am glad to say that our efforts to persuade students to take advantage of a period of residence in Quebec, or in Europe, have enjoyed considerable success. Some of you may know that Lakehead now has an exchange agreement with Gifu University in Japan (initiated by our Department). Each summer a group of Gifu students comes to Lakehead for three months and some stay for the entire academic year. This has permitted a number of Lakehead students to go to Japan. This summer we will also be providing English as a Second Language for students from China and Korea.

We have had to limit our enrolment in first and second year French courses to 35 students because of the increased demand. I am delighted to report that enrolments in German, Latin and Spanish have doubled in the last few years. By the way, spring courses this year are 0300 Linguistics, 3505 Modern French Poetry and 2105 Classical Mythology, all courses start on May 5th.

I am also very pleased to be able to say that the Department has joined the recent Lakehead University OSOTF campaign with a pledge of $5,000. That means that, if we attain that goal, the Government will match it dollar for dollar. That will create $10,000 to be used for a bursary for a student in Languages.

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The Department of Languages on the Internet

The Department now has its own Homepage on the Worldwide Web. In it we include full details about our programs, courses and ourselves, as well as a substantial number of off-campus links which we think you may find useful. These include the French and Spanish Embassies in Ottawa (full of information about both countries), cultural information including art, literature, music and recipes, dictionaries, direct connections to major European newspapers, the Office de la langue française in Québec, the Délégation Général de la langue française in Paris, and fairly comprehensive information for anyone going abroad on an exchange, to work or to relax, and much more. I hope you will have a chance to look at it
( http:// www.lakeheadu.ca /langwww/ lang.html )
and, of course, we would like to hear your reactions and receive any suggestions for its improvement you might care to make. It is intended for students and teachers on and off-campus, as well as for the general public.

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Students in Europe and Japan

Paula Haapanen came back last summer from a year at the Université de Lyon II; she is our 2nd-language monitor for the current session.

Catherine MacIsaac, last year's assistante en langue anglaise, returned from a year in Ardèche and is now teaching in Nova Scotia.

Sameena Black is the assistante for 1996-7.

Sara Reinikka will be the assistante in France for the 1997-98 academic year.

Laurien Stafford is completing a second year at the Université de Grenoble and

Nadine Singleton has recently returned from a year in Alsace.

Kerrie Etienne returned from a year as an au pair near Bordeaux.

Karen-Lynn Kruger is working as an au pair in Munich, gaining valuable experience in both German language and culture.

David Bruno took a course at the Universidad de La Habana last summer,

Lisa Nichol was in Gifu, Japan among other Lakehead students, some of whom are still there.

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Graduate School

Erika Dolphin (BA 1986) was awarded a fellowship by the Art Institute of New York University in 1995. Since that time she has been working on her PhD in Art History which she expects to finish next year.

Linda Grassia (HBA 1996) - Linda is now working on her Master's Degree in French at the University of Western Ontario. She was awarded a fellowship by Western when she graduated from Lakehead last year. During her studies at Lakehead, Linda was the recipient of "Le Prix du Consul Général de France à Toronto" and "Le Prix de l'Attaché Culturel de France à Toronto" for attaining the highest standing in French at an undergraduate level and in a French literature course.

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Departures

André Cloutier- Professor André Cloutier retired in June 1996 after many years of teaching at Lakehead. He did his undergraduate work at Laurentian University and his graduate work at Laval. After teaching in Manitoba, Professor Cloutier joined the Faculty of Lakehead University in 1967. A former Chairman and Acting-Chairman of the Department on numerous occasions, he devoted himself particularly to serving the Ontario francophone community, on both the local and provincial stages. He was active in francophone television programming, a founding member of AFNOO (Association des francophones du Nord-ouest de l'Ontario), and subsequently president of that organization. In 1982 he was a member of a three-man delegation sent to London, England to lobby against the repatriation of the British North America Act. A past vice-president and president of ACFO (Association canadienne-française de l'Ontario), he was a frequent speaker at conferences and contributor to the francophone press. Professor Cloutier leaves us after a lifetime of dedicated teaching and energetic service to our French-speaking compatriots. He will be missed, but we wish him well in his future endeavours and trust he will enjoy a fruitful and rewarding retirement.

Alan Moorhead - A graduate of Lakehead (Honours French) in 1975, Alan went on to obtain a B.Ed. from Lakehead, and M.A. from McMaster and a D.E.S.S. in Interpreting from the Université de Paris III, as well as a number of other certificates and diplomas in France. Over the years, he has been a frequent instructor in the Department in both Intermediate French and French Translation. He is presently working for the Metropolitan Toronto School Board.

Marie-Noëlle Rinné - A sessional lecturer in French since 1989, Marie-Noëlle has left to pursue further studies in Manitoba. She taught French at the Intermediate and Advanced levels as well as courses in Civilization and Translation. She is originally from Bordeaux, where she completed her schooling, and then went on to study at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris before coming to Lakehead where she obtained a BA in French and Spanish. In 1993 she took a year's leave of absence to complete her Maîtrise in FSL (French as a Second Language) at the Université de Pau. In addition to French and Spanish, she also speaks Finnish and, in her spare time, unfortunately more limited than she would like, she enjoys music, literature and the outdoors.

Hendrika Schurrhuis-Schonberger (Henny) - After 12 years of faithful service as the Departmental Secretary, Henny (with her BA and BEd now complete) resigned last year to devote herself fully to teaching. Her responsibilities have been ably assumed by Michelle Joerges (née Greenhalgh), a French graduate from Lakehead in 1995.

 

A Word of Welcome

Sylvie Berbaum - We have been very fortunate this year to welcome Sylvie as a sessional lecturer in French. She arrived in Canada from France in 1990 and since 1995 Sylvie has been Rockerfeller Visiting Fellow at Lakehead University in order to continue her research on Ojibwe culture. She is presently teaching Oral French at the first and second year levels.

Sylvie received her Teaching Certificate in Music in 1987 studying Pedagogy, Musicology and the Esthetics of Music. She has composed and directed works for students in a French high school as well as an incidental monologue for the theatre. She is a researcher in Musicology, completing her doctorate at the Université de Montreal. She has considerable teaching experience in France and an extensive background in Ethnomusicology.

Her interests involve music and the arts, particularly the art of speech and movement. Her other fields of interest are anthropology, philosophy, the science of religions and mythologies.

On a sad note...

 

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