- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ýLR offers new certificate in professional Spanish

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 18:18:38 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is offering a new interdisciplinary certificate in professional Spanish this fall that will help students develop a strong working foundation in the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. The certificate is designed for students in academic programs that do not have enough flexible hours to complete a second major or minor in Spanish. However, students who are majoring or minoring in Spanish are eligible to complete the certificate. Upon completing the certificate, students will be able to converse and communicate at a basic level in Spanish and will have the practical skills, knowledge, and resources to use Spanish effectively and ethically in the workplace. In order to finish the certificate, students must complete Intermediate Spanish 1 and II, Translation Studies, an interdisciplinary area studies course at the 3000 or 4000 level, along with a choice between Conversation and Presentation for Spanish or Writing for Spanish. The 15-hour certificate in the Department of World Languages can be taken completely online. Students who can demonstrate a proficiency in Spanish can enter the certificate program without taking Intermediate Spanish 1 and II. For more information, contact Dr. Erin Finzer, chair of the Department of World Languages, at 569-3272 or esfinzer@ualr.edu.

��Vlog��ýLR offers Free Turkish classes

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:42:51 +0000

��Vlog��ýLR’s Turkic Cultural Student Association now offers free Turkish language classes, providing students with an opportunity to learn a critical and widely used foreign language. The class is considered an extracurricular activity and is focused on business and personal travel skills. It meets from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays in Stabler Hall Room 202. Though the class began on Feb. 24, anyone interested in joining is welcome. The course is designed to teach participants basic conversation skills. In-class activities combine grammar instruction and cultural exchanges in a warm atmosphere. Over Turkish tea and snacks, class attendants learn to introduce themselves, understand and have daily dialogues, and succeed in business and tourist trips to Turkish-speaking regions without needing to speak English. As Turkey expands its participation in the global community, the need for skilled speakers is bound to rise as well. Corporations, governments, and other organizations promoting cooperation in the Middle East work more and more with Turkey and Turkish businesses. Turkish belongs to a family of languages spoken in eastern Europe, central Asia, and Siberia. Each language in this family is closely similar to Turkish, opening up Turkish speakers to a wider realm of geopolitical significance. For more information, contact ��Vlog��ýLRTurkishCourse@gmail.com or visit the Department of International and Second Language Studies in Stabler Hall Room 301.

Playing first (and second) fiddle: ��Vlog��ýLR home to state’s best old-time fiddlers

Shanna Fitzgerald — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 20:24:58 +0000

This was going to be a special night for Everett Elam. He was set to perform during an open mic event at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s East Hall. Even more important: Elam was ready to impress a teenaged state fiddle champion he heard was in the audience. Then Elam dropped his fiddle bow onstage. Then his newly fitted glass eye fell out. “Please do not let this girl see this,” he thought, as he frantically searched for the errant orb. The fiddle champion, Emily Phillips, now a 19-year-old ��Vlog��ýLR student from Mountain View, didn’t observe that scene, but she had taken note of Elam. In fact, she wondered why he kept staring at her. She didn’t realize he was blind. That fall 2014 night, the two ��Vlog��ýLR students began a relationship that went from mentorship, to friendship, to courtship. This year, their association led to a second consecutive in old-time music for Phillips and a second-place finish for Elam, a 27-year-old ��Vlog��ýLR student studying ethnomusicology and Spanish. In less than a year, Elam was getting accolades on a statewide stage for a style of music he never attempted to play before he was introduced to Phillips.

When Everett met Emily

During the open mic night, one of Elam’s friends challenged Phillips to compete with Elam in a fiddle contest on stage. Phillips readily agreed, but Elam was a little hesitant, worried Phillips would “crush” him — “which she did, in some ways,” Elam recalled. Elam consented to the competition, but he had a condition: He got to set the rules. Each fiddler would play one song to make the listeners dance, one to make them sad, and one to make them feel like they were in love. After announcing his melancholy tune, Elam joked, “It’s always night-time for me.” The joke set Phillips at ease. Before that evening, she had never met a blind musician, and she initially wasn’t sure how to interact with him. In keeping with the light mood, Phillips started calling out the names of Elam’s songs as well as hers, impressing audience members and her fellow fiddler with her depth of knowledge. “He was good, but he didn’t play old-time,” said Phillips, who is studying anthropology and Spanish at ��Vlog��ýLR. Old-time music just happens to be Phillips’ passion. Audience members chose Elam as the winner — but he knew better. He quickly handed the victor’s flower to Phillips and delivered a message: “I have to have a lesson from you. I have to learn how to play from you.” Phillips was intrigued. She could tell Elam had talent, “and it was really cool to me that he was interested in old-time.”

Everett Elam

Classically trained Elam, originally from Benton, started playing the violin when he was 10, but he got off to a slow start. “I absolutely hated it,” he recalled. As a child, Elam attempted to tune the instrument and ending up breaking it. Although he stuck with the violin and eventually learned to love it, he often rebelled against the classic-method training he was receiving. He wanted to do his own thing. Two years ago, he joined the , a Little Rock-based band that performs everything from funk to classic rock. He also felt the urge, and the confidence, to compete in a fiddle contest. Elam planned to play, “,” a popular and often-performed showpiece in the bluegrass and contemporary fiddle style. Elam and Phillips laugh about that plan now. A fiddler performing “Orange Blossom Special” in front of judges is a little like a guitarist expecting everyone to be dazzled when he steps into a guitar store and starts playing “Stairway to Heaven,” Elam said. The discerning audience has heard that tune before, and they’re not likely to be impressed. Phillips could play but she won’t. Ever. It’s not that she doesn’t like contemporary and bluegrass music; she just prefers a different style.

Emily Phillips

Connecting with the past Phillips’ passion for old-time fiddle music extends beyond the melodies; she loves the stories about people who played the style and the way the tunes were passed through generations. She mentioned, as an example, a musician who created his own unique method of fiddling because he had to adjust for a missing finger. Years later, others began emulating his technique. “Almost every tune has some personal story,” said Phillips, a ��Vlog��ýLR Donaghey Scholar. “It’s cool to preserve that little tidbit of history.” Phillips’ talent for traditional styles extends beyond the fiddle. In addition to winning back-to-back state fiddle titles, this year she also took first place in the open division of the Developing relationship One of the ways Phillips is preserving old-time music traditions is by giving lessons. She found a willing student in Elam. Even after the two started dating, he kept learning from Phillips. During the summer, Phillips was back home in Mountain View, and Elam stayed in Little Rock. He sent recordings; she critiqued them. The sessions sometimes got intense — they both are talented artists who take their craft seriously — but the progress was tangible. Phillips strives to get things just right. She’ll spend hours listening to a song until she masters every note and nuance. she sometimes repeats the same tune for the entire 2.5-hour drive from her hometown to Little Rock. She takes a similarly thorough approach with Elam. With Phillips’ help, Elam was ready to give one of the best performances of his life by the time he entered the August . Even with that success, the lessons continue — and Phillips isn’t the only teacher. Phillips never considered herself a runner before she met Elam, but in April, she participated in her first half marathon, serving as a guide for her more experienced boyfriend, who was running in his second. Now, jogging is part of their routine. Phillips introduced Elam to old-time music; he introduced her to running. “I’m not sure who got the better end of the deal, but I think he did,” Phillips said.

‘Human rights crisis’ community discussions open to public

Shanna Fitzgerald — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 14:16:38 +0000

Little Rock-area residents have the opportunity to hear from one of the founders of an organization working to stop migrant suffering and death on the U.S.-Mexico border. Chelsea Halstead, who heads the family advocacy program, will lead two community discussions as part of “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History,” a special project of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Halstead has worked with families searching for missing loved ones and forensic scientists to identify migrant remains. In 2012, she participated in a Department of Justice research study on the practices, protocols, and procedures for investigating the deaths of migrants. She will lead two community discussion sessions themed: “The human rights crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border”:

12:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the ��Vlog��ýLR Stella Boyle-Smith Auditorium
Noon Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Sturgis Hall,

Members of the public can register for the community discussions or other Latino Americans: 500 Years of History programming by clicking here. Other Latino Americans: 500 Years of History programming available at no charge to the public includes community discussions and screenings of — a six-episode award-winning documentary that chronicles Latinos in the U.S. from the 16th century to the present day.

6 p.m. Oct. 1 at ��Vlog��ýLR Student Services Center Auditorium: Film screening of ��“”
2 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Community discussion and screening of “Foreigners in their Own Land (1565-1880),” the first episode from the documentary “Latino Americans”; Dr. Kristin Dutcher Mann, ��Vlog��ýLR associate professor of history and social studies education coordinator will lead the discussion
2 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “Empire of Dreams (1880-1942),” the second episode from the “Latino Americans” documentary
2 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “War and Peace (1942-1954),” the third installment in the six-part “Latino Americans” documentary
2 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “The New Latinos (1946-1965),” the fourth episode of “Latino Americans”
2 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening and community conversation, including the presentation of the fifth episode of “Latino Americans,” “Prejudice and Pride (1965-1980)”; community discussion will be led by doctoral candidate and visiting assistant professor Edma Delgado-Solórzano of the ��Vlog��ýLR Department of International and Second Language Studies
2 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “Peril and Promise (1980-2000),” the sixth and final installment of “Latino Americans”

Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, a public programming initiative produced by the (NEH) and the (ALA), is part of an NEH initiative, “The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square.” ��Vlog��ýLR’s Department of International and Second Language Studies and its Office of Campus Life, as well as the and the , also partnered with the Center for Arkansas History and Culture.

Spanish major hones skills in Costa Rica

Taylor Aldana — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 21:02:40 +0000

When University of Arkansas at Little Rock junior Forrest Goss received a substantial tax return in 2014, he decided to take a trip somewhere he’d never been. He chose Costa Rica — a place where he could practice and build confidence in his second language. A Spanish major and legal studies minor, Goss obtained a passport and booked a round-trip flight from Dallas, following a recommendation from his cousin, who had visited the Central American country while in the Peace Corps. During his eight days in Costa Rica, Goss spoke mostly Spanish. From the first day, his intermediate Spanish-speaking skills were extremely helpful, he said. “A few tourist-oriented towns have a lot of English speakers, but in the capital and the smaller towns, it was nearly all Spanish,” he said. “I was meeting some new friends for dinner and had to navigate my way through town by asking directions,” Goss said. “My Spanish skills were not as good as I had thought, but I also got good at speaking a lot quicker than I expected.” He knew he was making progress when he took a two-hour bus ride to a town called Quepos and conversed with the woman next to him. She did not speak a word of English. “By the time I got off the bus, we had talked about our families, our work lives, and the places we lived,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I learned all that without a word of English!’ That was one of the most memorable parts of my trip.” Goss’ mentor and Spanish professor, Dr. Erin Finzer, has been an incredible resource for him not only in learning Spanish, but also advising, applying for scholarships and in providing letters of recommendation, Goss said. He met Finzer his first semester at ��Vlog��ýLR while taking her Spanish 1 course. “I have had a great relationship with her ever since,” he said. Goss, a data quality manager at the ��Vlog��ýLR Survey Research Center, has had about half a dozen courses with Finzer. “Being a full-time employee and student can be very taxing, and it feels good to have someone like her in my corner,” he said. “I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am without her help.” Besides the Spanish language, Goss also is interested in human rights. He takes particular interest in the legal system in the U.S. and its accessibility to minorities, low-income citizens and undocumented immigrants, many of whom do not speak English. “These groups are at an extreme disadvantage in our legal system and oftentimes do not get the legal assistance and fair treatment under the law to which they are entitled,” Goss said. “Furthermore, I suspect many people are not even aware of their legal options and thus are vulnerable to unfair treatment in the criminal justice system.” After Goss graduates with his bachelor’s degree, he plans to go to the ��Vlog��ýLR Bowen School of Law and combine his Spanish-speaking skills with legal knowledge to become a resource to those who need it. In the long run, he would like to become involved in local and state politics and policymaking.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ýLR offers new certificate in professional Spanish