Group of Students, Faculty Represent UC at Language Conference

Students and faculty from the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences will soon display their expert way with words among hundreds of national and international peers.

The formidable contingent of linguists will represent the University of Cincinnati at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC) held April 19-21 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. The 65th annual event draws hundreds of participants from around the world who present papers on a range of literatures in multiple languages. It’s an opportunity for foreign language scholars to exchange ideas, promote their research and network on an international level.

Nicasio Urbina, department head of

Romance Languages & Literatures

, says UC has always had a good presence at the well-respected conference.  

“In the past, we had entire panels organized and populated by UC faculty and students,” Urbina says.

Four UC students and three faculty members were invited to take part in this year’s conference: German Studies master’s degree student Matthew Bauman; German Studies doctoral student Vanessa Plumly; Romance Languages & Literatures doctoral students Maria Clemencia Sanchez and Aline Skrzeszewski; Romance Languages & Literatures associate professors Therese Migraine-George and Maria-Paz Moreno; and German Studies professor Richard Schade.

Katharina Gerstenberger, department head of

German Studies

, noted that UC’s traditional presence at the conference is a strong indicator of the mentoring given within the university’s language and literatures programs.  

“We encourage our students to establish themselves as researchers while they are still in graduate school, and we work with them on their papers to help them get ready for conference presentation. Our representation at KFLC shows that these efforts are paying off,” Gerstenberger says.

She also knows that student participation in esteemed conferences such as KFLC shows potential employers that UC students are highly competitive and desirable hires.  

“In order to present at a conference, a student needs a little bit of courage. It takes ambition, and he or she needs to be a skilled researcher,” Gerstenberger says. “And of course, a student needs to be fluent in a foreign language and culture. All of these qualities matter to prospective employers, be they universities hiring a new assistant professor or businesses who are looking for someone with excellent research, communication and language skills.”

For more information about KFLC, go to the conference

website

.