HF2: Language Program Vitality
About
This group creates alliances and brings together language instructors, coordinators, administrators, and others invested in strengthening language departments and programs to address national trends of declining enrollment in higher education.
Open to New People
Active since: 2020
- Syracuse University
- Cornell University
- University of Rochester
- Colgate University
- Hamilton College
- Skidmore College
Collaborative Goals
The Language Program Vitality Working Group provides a space for faculty and administrators to advance knowledge that strengthens university language programs. Our goals are to increase our understanding of national trends related to instructional practices, curricular requirements, and student enrollment and retention in the languages. Together, we build capacity by sharing diverse perspectives and high-impact practices provided by working group campuses.
Language programs increase their vitality through the ongoing work of improving teaching practices. The working group explores opportunities for innovative course design and delivery, better understanding of educational objectives across institutions, and new opportunities for instructor’ professional development.
The group analyzes and compares the impact of institutional language requirements to assess how best to meet institutional visions and goals. Simultaneously, the group fosters ways to raise understanding on how different institutions operate to facilitate dialogue with administrators, advisors, students, and parents on the relevance of language instruction.
By looking at national, regional, and institutional trends in language enrollments, we gain a better understanding of how and why students choose to study or avoid languages. Through shared collaboration, we can strengthen our language programs by finding new ways to promote course offerings to our students and create more effective outreach for our faculty and administrator colleagues.
Group Organizers
Franziska Merklin
Senior Lecturer of Italian and Research Affiliate in Romance Languages and Literatures, Colgate University
Maria Teresa Valdez
Director of the Language Center; Head, Portuguese Program; University of Rochester
Group Members
- Nady Abdal-Ghaffar, Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies and Coordinator of Arabic Language Instruction, Colgate University
- Amany Ahmed, Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, Colgate University
- Nick Albertson, Assistant Professor of Japanese, Colgate University
- Afrah Alfatli, Senior Lecturer in Arabic, University of Rochester
- Claire Baldwin, Associate Professor of German and Department of German Chair, Colgate University
- Diana Barnes, Senior Teaching Professor of Spanish, Skidmore College
- Emma Britton, LRC Academic Programs Manager, Cornell University
- Gail Bulman, Associate Professor of Spanish, Syracuse University
- John Crespi, Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Colgate University
- Martin Dawson, Visiting Assistant Professor of German, Colgate University
- Timothy Freiermuth, Senior Lecturer of French, Skidmore College
- Stefano Giannini, Associate Professor and Italian Program Coordinator, Syracuse University
- Charlene Grant, Senior Lecturer of Spanish, Skidmore College
- Rania Habib, Associate Professor and Arabic Program Coordinator, Syracuse University
- Masako Inamoto, Associate Professor of Japanese, Skidmore College
- María Lander, Professor of Spanish, Skidmore College
- Yuan-Jun Liao, Keck Center Chinese Intern, Colgate University
- Aurélie Matheron, Assistant Professor of French, Skidmore College
- Pilar Mejía-Barrera, Senior Lecturer in Spanish, Colgate University
- Monica Escudero Moro, Senior Lecturer in Spanish, Colgate University
- Oscar Pérez, Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of Latin American and Latinx Studies, Skidmore College
- Ping Pian, Associate Professor of Instruction in Chinese, University of Rochester
- Mahadevi Ramakrishnan, Senior Lecturer in French, Colgate University
- Viviana Rangil, Professor of Spanish and Department Chair, Skidmore College
- Catherine Talley, Teaching Professor of French, Skidmore College
- Masami Tamagawa, Senior Teaching Professor of Japanese, Skidmore College
- M. Emma Ticio Quesada, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Spanish and Linguistics, Syracuse University
- Juliane Wuensch, Assistant Professor of German, Skidmore College
- Bernd Estabrook, Professor of Global Studies - German, Illinois College
- Michelle Gravatt, Teaching Associate Professor and LAC Director & Language Exchange Manager, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Jean Janecki, Language Resource Center Coordinator and Liaison, Mount Holyoke College
- William Pavlovich, Director of Global Learning Initiatives, Binghamton University
- Deborah Reisinger, Associate Professor of the Practice of Romance Studies and Director of Duke's Language Outreach Initiatives, Duke University
- Kanishka Sen, Associate Professor of Spanish and Program Lead of Modern Languages, Ohio Northern University
- Dan Soneson, Director Emeritus of the Language Center, University of Minnesota
- H. Stephen Straight, Professor Emertius of Anthropology and of Linguistics, Binghamton University
- Veronica Vegna, Director of the Italian Language Program, Languages Across the Curriculum Coordinator, and Senior Instructional Professor, University of Chicago
- Blanca Yagüe, Associate Instructor in Anthropology, University of Utah
- JY Zhou, Director and Senior International Officer, Office of Global Engagement, Stockton University
Activities
Writing Retreat: Language Program Vitality in the United States
March 22, 2025, 9 a.m.
Language Program Vitality in the United States
March 21, 2025, 2:30 p.m.
University Students’ Perspectives on Language Learning
Feb. 21, 2025, 2:30 p.m.