Four Chinese Majors Win National Scholarships

Eight University of Pittsburgh students will study abroad as award recipients in two prestigious national scholarship programs designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language skills. Four of them are EALL's Chinese majors.

Patrick Farrell will study Mandarin in China during the next year. He is planning to eventually work in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. “My classes will give me the necessary training and vocabulary to engage in more complex discussions of the Chinese economy,” he says. “The rapid growth of China’s economy and the expansion of China’s political influence are quickly changing the balance of power in Asia and the world.”

Abigail Majane, a junior majoring in political science and Chinese and minoring in economics, will study Mandarin in China during the next academic year.She would like to pursue a career with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, where she has already completed an internship. “I can use my knowledge and experience to help streamline the bilateral discussion process between the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and its Chinese counterparts in order to help better defend both American and Chinese consumers from unsafe products,” she says.

Cody Dickerson will study Turkish in Turkey. Last year he studied Mandarin in China as a Boren Scholar, and now he is studying Turkish because he would like to pursue a career that involves studying and interacting with the Uyghur, a Turkic minority group living in western China. “I started taking Turkish last summer through the Slavic languages program at Pitt, and I’m excited for the opportunity to go over there and speak Turkish,” he says.

Audrey-Marie Winn will study Mandarin in China. She is aiming to become a lawyer for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. “In August of 2008, I injured my wrist during a volleyball scrimmage and was permanently benched. My mother started bringing me magazines and books to distract me from losing volleyball. A New York Times article titled ‘Dynamic Young Engines Driving China’s Epic Boom’ changed my life. Soon, the Chinese labor force was my new passion,” she says.

The above information was culled from a University of Pittsburgh press release. Read the full press release here.

Graduation Celebration Held on April 28

Four of the Chinese graduates pose for a picture

To honor the 2013 Chinese and Japanese graduates, a graduation celebration was held on Sunday April 28, 2013 in the Pittsburgh Athletic Association ballroom. This departmental event was attended by more than 120 guests and faculty members. A total of thirty undergraduate students graduated from EALL in 2012, making this graduating class the largest ever in the histroy of the Department.

Dr. James Cook, Associate Director of the Asian Studies Center (pictured), gave a keynote speech. In addition, a musical performance by Mimi Jong on erhu and zhonghu and dance and shamisen performances by Yuko Eguchi added much merriment to the occasion.

During this event, guests and the faculty were treated to two short inhouse movies featuring the graduates and the EALL faculty.

We wish the graduates much success in the future!

Departmental Awards Winners Announced

During the Graduation Celebration on April 28, the following 2013 Departmental award winners were announced. Each award comes with a certificate and a gift card.

Chinese Language Achievement Award

Nicholas Vettese

Chinese Academics Prize

Cody Dickerson

Japanese Language Achievement Award

Russell Ottalini

Japanese Academics Prize

Amy L. Svodoba

Korean Academics Prize

Ashley Nancy Flynn

The Department established these awards to recognize students with exceptional performance in the area of language study and general academics. Congratulations!

Seniors Present their Research

Graduating Chinese and Japanese majors presented their final capstone projects to the public in the past two weeks. They have been working on their final projects for the last 14 weeks. The presentation topics ranged the entire gamut—the kakarimusubi construction of Old Japanese, noo theater, history of Christianity in China and its impact on education, Chinese music, mental healthcare in Japan, to name just a few.

EALL prepares to offer summer intensive Chinese and Japanese courses

Plans are being made to offer Summer East Asian Language Studies (SEALS) courses for two languages—Chinese and Japanese. Chinese courses, Intensive First Year Chinese 1 and 2 (each 5 credits), will begin on May 20 and end on August 3, 2013. Classes are small and high pressure

Japanese courses—Intensive First Year Japanese (10 credits) and Intensive Second Year Japanese (10 credits)— will begin on May 28 and end on August 3, 2013. Intensive Third Year Japanese 1 will get underway on June 10 and Intensive Third Japanese 2 on July 8, 2013. Taking these language course during the summer is a good way to get ahead and put under your belt one year of language study in one summer.

More than 60 students in the region compete in a Japanese speech contest

An Allderdice student, Joshua Zak (12th grade), placed First Place at the Advaned Plus level, winning the grand prize—an electronic dictionary—from the Japanese Consulate in New York represented by Consul Mr. Kigure.

Students wait for award announcements

Second Place went to Corrie Brazell (12^th grade) form Shaler Area HS. Comgratulations to these and other winners (click here to see the complete list of winners). EALL faculty served as judges.