Bringing expertise across French & Francophone, German, Korean and Russian studies, online language learning, translation, poetry and Black European studies, these appointments strengthen LCAL’s interdisciplinary programs and expand opportunities for research, teaching and cultural engagement.

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Gerdine Ulysse, assistant instructional professor in French and Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) at the University of Chicago, launched a new minor in Creole and Haitian Studies. The program, which Dr. Ulysse designed from scratch, is one of only a few in the U.S.

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Tatyana Gershkovich’s monograph Art in Doubt: Tolstoy, Nabokov and the Problem of Other Minds (Northwestern UP, 2022) received the Jane Grayson Prize for best first book on Vladimir Nabokov from the International Vladimir Nabokov Society.

Haixia Wang organized and presented the panel “Artistic Imagination: Teaching Chinese Language and Culture through Creative Expression” online at the 20th International Conference on the Arts in Society at Carnegie Mellon University. Panelists included Gang Liu, Haixia Wang and LCAL alumni Ran Zhao (DC 2000), Yan Liu (DC 2013), Feng Xiao (DC 2015) and Zheng Gu (DC 2015).

In June, Mame-Fatou Niang delivered the keynote "Global French Studies for Our Times" at the Society for French Studies' annual conference in the United Kingdom. Dr. Niang also presented Neoblast at Metro54's Global Black Spatial Practice and Its Histories in Amsterdam.

This summer, Sébastien Dubreil presented “By Students for Students: Game Design as Social Pedagogy for Language Learning” with Stephan Caspar at the Playful Learning 2025 Conference in Brighton, U.K. Dr. Dubreil also presented “Judging a Book by Its Cover: Simulation, Bias and Intercultural Learning” with Korryn Mozisek at the ISAGA Conference 2025 in Stuttgart, Germany.

In July, Katharine Burns and Tracy Quan (University of Colorado Boulder) presented “The ideological positioning of heritage language learners in world language teacher preparation textbooks” at the British Association for Applied Linguistics Conference at the University of Glasgow.

Nevine Abraham published a book review of Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of U.S. Empire by Candace Lukasik in the International Journal of Middle East Studies. doi.org/10.1017/S0020743825100937

Uju Anya and Esther Airemionkhale, published “The AfroMetaverse Online Virtual Reality Platform as Black Placemaking for Racial Justice in Multilingual Education” in the inaugural issue of Racial Justice in Multilingual Education. doi.org/10.58117/m35n-rh12

Sébastien Dubreil, with Julie Sykes and Stephanie Knight, published “Embrace the Unknown: Interlanguage Pragmatics through Games and Play” in The Handbook of Research in World Education.

José Estrada published “Spanish Baroque Theater and the Transatlantic: Bartolomé de Alva’s Nahuatl Transcription of El animal profeta y dichoso patricida” in Latinx Literature in Transition: 1444-1886, edited by Kenya C. Dworkin y Méndez and Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela. doi.org/10.1017/9781009314008.018

Sanghee Kang and colleagues published “Examining the Effects of Synchronous Written Corrective Feedback During Computer-Mediated Collaborative Writing: Feedback Type and Learner Perceptions” in the International Journal of Applied Linguistics. doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12836

Michael McEachrane co-edited Decolonial Sweden with Louis Faye.

Devon Renfroe and Katharine Burns published “A discourse analysis of L2 Korean learners’ language socialization into the informal ‘banmal’ speech style: Affective and pedagogical implications” in Languages. doi.org/10.3390/languages10090222

Devon Renfroe and Rémi van Compernolle published “Language Learning Affordances and Constraints Among English Teachers in Japan and Korea” in UC Berkeley’s L2 Journal. doi.org/10.5070/L2.38400

CBESA co-funded Black | France | Noire, a collective of five scholars from Columbia, Yale, Boston University, La Sorbonne and CMU. Over the summer, the collective launched in Paris with an inaugural conference that brought together 40 researchers from around the world.

Newly renamed, The Kenner Room continues to be a hub for exploring language and culture through emerging technologies. Students and faculty are invited to upcoming open house events (details coming soon) to see, try and experience all the innovative tools and activities the space has to offer!

• Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition
• M.A. in Applied Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition
• M.A. in Applied Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition — Advanced Study
• M.A. in Global Communication & Applied Translation
• 4+1 GCAT Program (for current undergraduate students)

Visit our website for more details!

The call for submissions for SONA 2026 is now open. Following the success of the first festival, the second edition will showcase immersive technology in language and culture and bring creators from the immersive storytelling community to CMU. To discuss inviting artists or supporting new projects through the Immersive Cultural Innovation Fund, please email Stephan Caspar.

Social Media Manager — This position will support the department’s outreach and engagement efforts, with a primary focus on maintaining and growing our Instagram presence. LCAL majors and minors preferred. Apply via Google Forms by September 22!

The Kenner Room and LCAL Studio Workers — These positions support both project development – i.e., game development and experience design, and operational functions within the department. Apply via Handshake by September 22!