Languages school will hold 3rd convocation

LAWRENCE — An event set for Friday, Sept. 1, will mark the second anniversary of the University of Kansas School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures.

The SLLC convocation will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Guest speakers include university leaders Neeli Bendapudi, provost and executive vice chancellor; Carl Lejuez, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and representatives of regional, national and international partnering organizations.

Dan Davidson, KU alumnus and president of American Councils of International Education, and Franco-Arabic language expert Susan Hanna-Wicht, chair of the Executive Board of the Global Language Project, will deliver this year’s keynote speeches.

“The beginning of the third year of the SLLC marks exciting new beginnings, including an NEH Connections grant to build a global medical humanities curriculum with the Community Toolbox/Center for Community Health & Development,” says Professor Marc Greenberg, SLLC director. “The convocation emphasizes the signature strengths that KU has in its breadth and depth of international education with a focus on languages, literature and cultural competence.”

The KU School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures was established in fall 2014 and emphasizes the central importance of language and culture for a 21st-century education in a globalized world. The SLLC represents five core departments (East Asian Languages & Cultures, French, Francophone & Italian Studies, Germanic Languages & Literatures, Slavic Languages & Literatures and Spanish & Portuguese) as well as 13 affiliated departments and centers (African & African-American Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Global & International Studies, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Center for Russian, East-European & Eurasian Studies, Classics, English, Humanities & Western Civilization, Kansas African Studies Center, Linguistics and Religious Studies).

At KU some 40 languages are taught on a regular basis, as well as courses on culture, literature, history and politics connected with many of those languages. This number makes KU unparalleled in the Great Plains and well beyond. KU is a national leader in the study of foreign languages, offering more languages than any other university in the Big 12 Conference.