Department News

The first cohort of the Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish has been accepted and is already taking classes.

The Language Lab received new equipment over the summer: 11 brand-new, top of the line Dell computers have replaced the aging ones.

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Professor William Clark retired from Salem State at the end of the 2002 school year. He will be replaced by Dr. Elizabeth Blood, who was hired at the tenure-track assistant professor level. Dr. Blood received her Ph.D. in French and Comparative Literatures from Boston College in 1998.

The Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish (MAT-S) program was approved. Thanks to everyone for their effort to put the proposal together and specially to Dr. Sherf.

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There are major changes in the department to announce this year. Some happy and some less happy.

In the Spanish program, we are happy to announce the return of Dr. Ana Echevarría to her old job after the passing away last fall of who had been her replacement a year earlier, Dr. Victoria Cerrudo.

In addition, the permanent, full-time Applied Linguistics specialist has been hired, and the winner is Dr. Nicole Sherf, a person with much experience in the area of foreign language teaching in the schools.

The sad news this semester is that, due to diminishing enrollments and the budget crisis, the administration decided to cut the second French position in the department, which meant that Dr. Zhaoding Yang, who had been filling that position on a temporary basis for the last two years, will not be with us in the future. Dr. Yang has moved to North Carolina where he will be teaching at a private college.

Our temporary outside chair, Dr. Claire Keyes, who did a terrific job in leading the department throughout the year, went back to enjoy life in her retirement. Dr. Kristine Doll was unanimously elected chair one more time for a period of three years.

Another sad departure is that of our faithful secretary, Susan Dexter. She moved on to bigger and better things where her heart took her. Good luck to you, Susan.

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The second batch of Spanish majors graduated in May, under inclement weather. Actually, only two seniors graduated in May: Alexisse Hull and Catherine Frost (Kelly Morris will be graduating in December). Only one picture is available of the event, which you can access here.

In May, before the end of classes, the Undergratuate Research Symposium organized by the School of Arts and Sciences took place and there was a panel in Spanish with presentations by Spanish students. The photographer was more prolific that time and you may enjoy those pictures here.

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The Department of Foreign Languages is very sad to report the passing away of its newest member, Dr. Victoria Cerrudo. Dr. Cerrudo began the semester with her regular classes, but soon succumbed to a fatal illness. She will be sorely missed.

Dr. Doll will be taking a year off from chairing in order to have time to complete a book she has been working on. During that year, Dr. Claire Keyes, professor emerita from the English Department, will be acting chair.

Dr. McCabe decided not to take the tenure-track position in the department to go back to a high school near her home in New Hampshire. We will miss you, Maureen.

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In May 2001, the first batch of Spanish majors graduated. Congratulations to Kelley Buonopane, Judy Gould, and Joe Pata. Take a look at some of the pictures of graduation.

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During the last couple of years the Department of Foreign Languages, with the support of the SSC administration, worked on a Spanish major proposal. The proposal was approved in June of 1999 by the Board of Trustees of Salem State College and in March 2000 by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.

See the press Release, the Major Abstract. Go to the courses and degrees page for more information.

We are sad to report that Dr. Echevarría left us permanently during the Summer. She will be taking a job at the University of California, Irvine, where her husband Jean-Daniel Saphore was also recently hired. Good luck, Ana. We'll miss you.

Dr. Victoria Cerrudo, a native of Argentina, has joined the faculty. Dr. Cerrudo is also a terrific Spanish teacher and specialist of Latin American literature. A warm welcome to Dr. Cerrudo.

Dr. Zhaoding Yang has joined the Department this year for the position in French language and culture. He will be replacing Dr. Urbain. Dr. Yang is a native of China and will also be enriching the college's offerings on Asian language and culture courses.

During the Summer 2000 the Department of Foreign Languages sent its second group of students on the Summer Program in Spain. The program was an terrific success. Everybody had a great time and learned a great deal. We will be doing it again July 2001. Do check it out!.

Finally, a brand new language lab or, rather, a Language Resource Center, since we are ambitious about its future role, was inaugurated on September 2000. You can read all about it at the LRC's website.

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