Alumni News

The Online Newsletter Committee urges the Department’s alumni to send us any news and digital photographs they wish to share with the Department. If you send digital photos, please do not imbed them in a document file (send them separately).

Dr. Francie Cate-Arries, who wrote her M.A. thesis under the direction of Dr. José Luis Gómez Martínez, Distinguished Research Professor of Spanish, was given an honorable mention by the MLA’s Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize committee for her book Spanish Culture behind Barbed Wire: Memory and Representation of the French Concentration Camps, 1939-1945, published by Bucknell University Press. The committee’s citation for the book reads: “A remarkable research project on an important and neglected topic, Francie Cate-Arries’s book makes public the record of Spanish refugees who had crossed the border following the Civil War, only to find themselves interned in concentration camps during World War II. It is impressive as a historical document, but it is also the work of a sensitive, analytical, and theoretically informed reader of literature. The combination of these elements and the diverse gifts of the author make the study spellbinding and moving, in short, an impeccable work of scholarship. Its historical and literary gap-filling merits close attention and acclaim."
Dr. Cate-Arries is Professor of Hispanic Studies at the College of William and Mary. She has won two awards for excellence in teaching and scholarship from that college, the Phi Beta Kappa Award for the Advancement of Scholarship, and an Alumni Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching. She is also the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, among other grants and fellowships.

Siri Carlisle, who has an M.A. from our department and is currently on Sabbatical leave from Columbia-Greene Community College in the Hudson Valley, New York, writes from Cameroon:

"Life at Sanaga-Yong Sanctuary is busy, hot, and very, very fulfilling. I am enjoying working with all of the volunteers--we are quite an international group: Liz (South Africa), Marie Eve (Quebec), Nicky (England), Juliette (Holland), Agnes (Camp Manager--France), and Sheri (Director--USA)--and, of course, the chimps (52 total).

Actually, I have only just recently been allowed to have physical contact with the latter because I was in quarantine my first week to make sure that I hadn't picked up anything infectious (especially a cold or any kind of respiratory ailment) on the trip out to the project. I can't tell you how hard it was to not grasp those little out-stretched hands when I'd go up to the cages or outside the enclosures. With very few exceptions, all the chimps are extremely interested in new faces and in making your acquaintance. There are four groups of chimps--eight in the nursery (all about three years old--and very, very cheeky), and then three groups with a dominant adult male presiding over each of them. All the adult males are unpredictable and potentially dangerous so none of the volunteers are allowed to interact with them unaccompanied (through the fence/cage), and no one would ever enter their cages or enclosures with them. Finally, there are four baby chimps in quarantine at the moment (three months for every new chimp). Of these, I have spent most time with Baati, which means "teeny weeny" or "itty bitty" in the local patois, who is approximately six months old.

He is just a delight, although when he first arrived almost two months ago he was completely traumatized and petrified of humans, especially by their hands. Most baby chimps are in shock when they arrive having witnessed their mother's violent death (babies never leave their mother's arms before about six months of age). Every time anyone tried to touch Baati for the first couple of weeks, he would scream and put his little arms over his head. Since being at the project, he has learned to walk and is now making his first very cute attempts at climbing. This involves grabbing something about eighteen inches off the ground and lifting his feet up into a lotus position for a second or two and then looking at whoever is with him to make sure that they are as proud of him as he is of himself. When we take him into the forest, he checks out everything within a five or six foot radius of you and makes repeated trips back to touch your leg/arm or sit in your lap to reassure himself that you are still there and are not going to leave him.
Anyway, I am going to try to attach a couple of photos now, and will write more next time I am in town. Hope you are all well!”

Katie Griffith, a junior in Romance languages from Marietta, was one of seven UGA Honors students who had the opportunity to experience other cultures with grants they received from the Foundation for Sustainable Development in summer 2005. According to Columns, their outreach projects were among forty-three chosen nationally to receive grants from FSD, a nonprofit organization committed to grassroots development initiatives in Asia, East Africa and Latin America. Ms. Griffith used her teaching experiences at the Instituto Juan José Rodríguez in Nicaragua, as the basis for two research projects she conducted as a summer fellow through UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO). Her biggest contribution to the school was creating an English language-laboratory where students can improve their fluency and comprehension. The article in Columns that features Ms. Griffith may be accessed at: http://www.uga.edu/columns/060327/news-horizons.html
More recently, Ms. Griffith became the recipient of the William Moore Crane Leadership Scholarship. William (“Bill”) Crane graduated cum laude from UGA in 1921 and Harvard Law School in 1923. He was instrumental in founding the UGA Alumni society. During his undergraduate studies, Mr. Crane was elected to membership in Phi Kappa Society, Sphinx and Blue Key honorary societies. He placed a high value on student excellence, in both scholarship and leadership. His daughter established this scholarship in his memory. Scholarships are awarded annually to Honors students in their 3rd year at the University. Recipients are awarded $1,000.

Matthew Bouillon, a Summa Cum Laude graduate in Romance Languages (2004), writes “I was selected to be the Carter Center Human Rights Committee's graduate assistant, which means I'll also be compensated for my efforts. I'm elated to be able to continue what I've begun in Senegal.” After spending the summer and fall of 2004 teaching in Trujillo, Peru, and 2005 on a Rotary Scholarship earning a Master’s degree at the University of Siena in Italy, Mr. Bouillon has spent the 2005-2006 academic year working in Senegal and traveling to other parts of western Africa. After completing his internship at the Carter Center in Atlanta this summer, he plans to attend law school. More information about Mr. Bouillon’s African experience is available on his blog: http://petergrimm.blogspot.com

Jeffrey Jordan, a 1999 graduate in Linguistics and Romances Languages, French and Italian, writes that he has been living in Tampa, FL for the last 5 years, working for an International Cargo Steamship line. He excelled the ranks, and became a trainer on systems and US Imports. “I have been quite blessed to be able to travel from Long Beach to Chicago to Charleston to Chennai, India. I enjoy the job, but, my educational aspirations still take a priority. At present, my company has been acquired by another steamship line, which may require relocation to Atlanta, Houston, New Jersey, or possibly internationally (there is an office in Genoa which handles S. Europe, maybe I can go there!). I have been truly blessed in many ways professionally, but, I think I'm being led to another vocation. As concerns graduate studies, it is definitely a possibility given I'm at a crux in my professional career. I did get certified to teach high school Mathematics, grades 6-12, but, I prefer to pursue other studies.”