Orange Alert

Syracuse University, College of Arts and Sciences

Conference Program

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, Bird Library

11:00 am - 12:30 pm – Welcome and Conference L(a)unch

Opening Remarks

  • Jamie Winders, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs
  • Lois Agnew, Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Language Matters Research Initiative Past, Present, and Future
  • Amanda Brown, Gail Bulman, Stefano Giannini, Rania Habib, & Emma Ticio

12:40 pm – Language Matters and the Humanities

  • Vivian May, Director Humanities Center

12:45 pm - 2:45 pm – Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC)

12:45 pm - 1:35 pm – Global Humanities and World Languages: Cross College Innovation

  • Abstract: Dr. Thomas will discuss how COVID-prompted institutional shifts led to expansions of CLAC. She will focus on resulting innovation and creative curricular opportunities for the study of world languages and cultures at the private military college Norwich University, and discuss obstacles and strategies to creating inter-departmental and cross-college partnerships.
  • Speaker: Kaitlin Thomas (Norwich University): https://www.norwich.edu/faculty-and-staff/modern-languages/302-kaitlin-e-thomas

1:35 pm - 2:05 pm – Exploring an Institutional Fit for CLAC at Syracuse University

2:05 pm - 2:45 pm – Panel Discussion on the Potential Futures for CLAC at SU

Tents, Shaw Quad

3:00 pm - 6:30 pm – Performing Identities Across Cultures PICS-ALACI-Original live performances reflecting on what it means to “Move Forward” (CNY Humanities Corridor 2023 Signature Event)

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm – performances

  • Juliette Wolpert, Teatrotaller, “E-Train Express”
  • Tara Sandlin, “ISmiled as I Died/ Thy Name Shall Live”
  • Amarachi Attamah, “N’IHU N’IHU: Staircase to Healing and Marching Ahead, A Chant Poetry”
  • Mona Eikel-Pohen, “Before, During, Still During, Not Yet After”

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm – performances

  • Jhon Lindarte, “Debate Extremo”
  • Aileen Nieto Martinez, Teatrotaller, “The Waiting Room”
  • Mmakgosi Anita Tau, “122 Rows”
  • Celine Ilioiu-Brad, “Original Songs”

7:00 pm - 8:00 pm – Talk-back and discussion with PICS writers, directors, and actors

(Refreshments provided, Kittredge Auditorium, HBC Building)

8:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Videos on Instagram and YouTube, also shown at 12:00 - 3:00 pm, Schine Atrium

  • Stefanos Schultz, “27”
  • Florencia Ulloa, “Pink Glitter”
  • Salomé Egas, “Reflejo”
  • Jacob Stives & Jeremy Shinder, "Wonder-full"
  • Alesandra (Sasha) Temerte, “Speak Forward”
Friday, April 14, 2023

Kittredge Auditorium

8:30 am – Breakfast & Opening remarks

  • Brice Nordquist, A&S Dean's Professor of Community Engagement

9:00 am - 11:00 am – Community Engagement

9:00 am - 10:00 am – Community Engagement Roundtable

10:00 am - 11:00 am – CUSE Speaks Initiatives

11:00 am - 11:15 am – Coffee break

11:15 am - 1:30 pm – Comfort Zones: Language and Human Security

  • Sandra Lane, Ph.D., MPH, Professor of Public Health and Anthropology, Syracuse University & Research Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Upstate Medical University
    • URL: https://falk.syr.edu/people/lane-sandra-d/
    • Bio: Sandra D. Lane, Ph.D., MPH is a professor of public health and anthropology at Syracuse University and a research professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Upstate Medical University. Lane has published 56 peer reviewed journal articles; 29 book chapters; 4 books, Why Are Our Babies Dying? Pregnancy, Birth and Death in America; The Public Health Impact of Needle Exchange Programs in the United States and Abroad; A framework for educating health professionals to address the social determinants of health; and the Sage handbook of social science studies in health and medicine. Her work has been funded 10 federal grants (NIMH, CDC, EPA, HRSA, and Office of Minority Health), as well as foundation, state and internal grants. Lane was the founding director of Syracuse Healthy Start, an infant mortality prevention program, in Syracuse, New York. Prior to joining Syracuse University, Lane was the founding director of Syracuse Healthy Start, an infant mortality prevention program, in Syracuse, New York. She was a Ford Foundation program officer for child survival and reproductive health in the Middle east and has also been a consultant to the World Health Organization for operational research on tuberculosis, UNFPA and UNICEF for Rapid Assessment Procedures, and the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for qualitative methods in hospital evaluation. Lane was also the 2015 recipient of the Henrik L. Blum Award for Excellence in Health Policy from the American Public Health Association and the 2020 George Foster Award for Practicing Medical Anthropology from the Society for Medical Anthropology. With Robert A Rubinstein, Lane has developed a model that links the community-participatory analysis of public policy with pedagogy, called CARE (Community Action Research and Education). Her CARE projects include food deserts in Syracuse, lead poisoning in rental property, health of the uninsured, and her current project on neighborhood trauma, gun violence, and lead poisoning. Her CARE publications since joining the Syracuse University faculty have included 72 students and trainees as co-authors.
    • Authors:
      • Leo Andrews, MPH student, Syracuse University
      • Nidaa Aljabbarin, BS, Syracuse University and pre-med
      • Christina Lupone, MPH, Upstate Medical University
      • Andrea Shaw, MD, Upstate Medical University
  • Tej Bhatia, Professor of Linguistics, Syracuse University
    • URL: https://thecollege.syr.edu/people/faculty/bhatia-tej/
    • Bio: Tej K. Bhatia is Professor of Linguistics and Director of South Asian languages at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. He has been Director of Linguistic Studies Program and Acting Director of Cognitive Sciences at his university. Currently, he is also a Faculty Fellow, Forensic Sciences and National Security Institute. He has published sixteen books and several articles and book chapters in Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, social and psychological information extraction, social media (advertising) discourse, Sociolinguistics, and the structure of English and South Asian languages (particularly, Hindi-Urdu and Punjabi). His notable publications include Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism (2013) and Advertising and marketing in rural India (2007) among others. He is a receipt of several prestigious grants—National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Japan Science Foundation, Fulbright/Hays, American Institute of Indian Studies among others.
  • Rima Elabdali, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee
    • URL: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F9z8CDQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
    • Bio: Rima Elabdali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her main area of research focuses on multilingualism and critical literacy. Her work appeared in top-tier journals such as the Journals of Second Language Writing, TESOL Quarterly, and Computer & Composition and in edited volumes by Routledge and Multilingual Matters. Rima’s most recent work explores issues around transnationalism, securitization, and racialized belonging among migrant and refugee youth and aims to deploy critical pedagogies to address these issues in educational settings.
  • Robert L. Marion M.A., Academic Outreach, Foreign Language Academic Liaison, National Security Agency
    • Email: rlmari2@uwe.nsa.gov
    • Bio: Mr. Marion is a native of Western New York and currently holds Masters Degrees from Syracuse University (1988) and Indiana University (1995). He has been employed by the National Security Agency in various foreign language capacities for a decade.

1:30 pm - 2:45 pm – Lunch

Life Sciences Building, Room 001

Language Matters Keynote Presentation

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm – “The Chatbot Problem Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Language”

  • Stephen Marche (http://www.stephenmarche.com/)
  • Abstract: We are moving towards a world in which machines will be intelligent enough to create language. But what are the consequences of such a leap? Journalist Stephen Marche is fascinated with the coming implications that natural language processing will have on our lives and work. “Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed,” he writes in the New Yorker. “The changes that are coming are fundamental to every method of speaking and writing that presently exists.” The ethics of AI are often debated: to what end will we allow technology to shift our lives? Or put another way, are we allowing technology to replace something distinctly human? Very soon, we will not be able to read a piece of text and assume a person has written it. In this rousing presentation, Marche explores the unease and anxiety around these innovations, as well as imagines a future in which they will be practically applied. Moving and original, this talk is a must-listen for anyone curious about how technology will intersect with our self-expression and communication.