The academic year of 2020-2021 was one of the most challenging in many ways. We reimagined what a classroom looked like when students and faculty were not physically together. We connected with others around the world for brown bag talks and round-table discussions. Our international area and global studies centers and thematic programs continued their teaching, research, and outreach to those in our community and those far away. When we look back at these highlights from this past year, we see how we continued our global conversations while adapting to the circumstances yet staying true to our mission and core beliefs.

We thank you for your support, and we look forward to continuing our global conversations to create the highlights for the coming year.

 

Faculty & Staff
CLACS Outreach Coordinator Alejandra Seufferheld

CLACS's Seufferheld honored with Paula Admetz Hays Award

Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CLACS) Outreach Coordinator, Alejandra Seufferheld was honored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with the Paula Admetz Hays Award. The award recognizes her work in CLACS that includes Latin American Storytime at local libraries, professional development workshops for educators, Latin American movie nights, and many others.

Initiatives
Professor emeritis Eyamba Georges Bokamba

Center for African Studies announces two new student scholarships

Center for African Studies (CAS) inaugurated two student scholarship funds, both firsts for the Center: the Professor Eyamba Bokamba Graduate Scholarship Fund, for students in the field of African linguistics; and the Ambassador Eric Whitaker Undergraduate Student Scholarship in African Studies. Awards were made from both funds in 2020-21. The gift from Amb. Witaker is the first gift dedicated to undergraduate African Studies scholarships and coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Center for African Studies. Ambassador Whitaker holds an M.S. in Biology and an M.S. in community health education from UIUC. The Prof. Eyamba Bokamba Graduate Scholarship Fund celebrates the commitment, rigor, tenacity, and visionary leadership of the gifted teacher. People and institutions worldwide have benefited from Professor Eyamba Georges Bokamba's insights and contributions to the fields of Linguistics, African Languages in particular and Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) in general.
dinosaur toy on globe

Center for Global Studies partners with College of Education for iGlobal

As study abroad courses are cancelled through the fall semester, the Center for Global Studies (CGS) partnered with the College of Education to fund iGlobal, a new strategic direction of their education abroad program. The College of Education invited middle school classrooms to collaborate globally with iGlobal, a club activity for middle school students that provides free online curricular materials and teaching support to supplement global education initiatives and to serve as a pipeline for challenging, globally focused secondary (high) school coursework and activities. The materials are designed to provide familiarity with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, opportunities for collaboration in global English, meaningful and engaging activities during which students meet and collaborate with their peers worldwide. This program allows pre-service teachers and other students interested in international educational experiences to connect virtually with classrooms abroad. IGlobal includes the following highlights: Materials supporting content areas such as STEAM, language/cultural exchange; content by university faculty and area studies experts targeted to various school schedules in all time zones; opportunity for students to develop and demonstrate increased global competency and familiarity with the UN SDGs; and Certificate and virtual or in-person recognition ceremony from the University of Illinois upon completion of a summative project.
Quechua Indian woman selling blankets

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies awards summer fellowship

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) announced their summer 2021 fellowship cohort, with six students being awarded fellowships from the Tinker, Whitten, and Love Fellowships. Four additional Global South Language Fellowships for the 2021-22 academic year were announced for students studying Quechua. All told, these students represent five different departments across campus. These fellowships were available thanks to the generous support of the Tinker Foundation, Norman Whitten, Joseph Love, and the family of Werner Baer, with the GSLF funding made in part through the Provost's office. These fellowships support graduate student research in Latin America. Due to the unpredictability of travel because of COVID-19, students were asked to propose projects based around virtual/remote methodologies. The summer 2021 fellows are Tinker: Margaret Giacalone (Anthropology) and Michelle Patino-Flores (Anthropology); Whitten: Carmen Gallegos (Spanish and Portuguese), Kutasha Bryan-Silva (Curriculum and Instruction), and Grazzia Grimaldi (Anthropology); and Love - Joe Coyle (Anthropology). The 2021-22 GSL fellows are Margaret Giacalone (Anthropology), Marcos Alacron Olivos (History), Thereza Lituma (Voice), and Caio Albernaz Siqueira (Spanish and Portuguese).

Events
members of the Center for African Studies

Center for African Studies Celebrates 50 years

Center for African Studies (CAS) celebrated its 50th Anniversary in October 2020 with a webinar featuring alumni, past directors, and friends of CAS. Speakers included CAS Directors, alumni, and faculty, past and present. During the celebration, the Prof. Eyamba Bokamba Graduate scholarship fund was launched with remarks by members of the Bokamba family, and the first scholarship was awarded to Fatou Jobe, a CAS MA student. Other speakers included Charles Stewart, Alex Winter-Nelson, Merle Bowen, Assata Zerai, Al Kagan, Jean Allman and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza. Alumni and friends included Batamaka Some, Nathaniel Moore, Anna Henry, and Maimouna Barro. Both Prof. and Mrs. Bokamba gave short remarks, and were introduced by their daughter, Eyenga Bokamba, and by James Yoon of UIUC Department of Linguistics. Because the celebration was virtual, supporters from around the world were able to participate in the festivities.

Poster for Adriana Calcanhotto

Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies hosts Music as Poetry

In April 2021, the Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies hosted a conversation, Music as Poetry, with one of the most internationally renowned Brazilian singers today. Adriana Calcanhotto is a multi-platinum performer and Latin American Grammy Award winner. She won the “Best Portuguese Language Song” for “Tua,” and the Best Children's Album with "Adriana Partimpim.” Her “songs have a force of their own, broadcast on radios and picked up by television shows and exported all over the world. Composing widely popular ballads to conceptual art inspired by the greats in Literature and poetry, largely influenced by Brazilian modernism, her original songs continue to be re-recorded by great musicians.” Currently, professor and ambassador at the University of Coimbra, Adriana reveals a great devotion for words, books and poetry. She not only wrote melodies for some of her favorite poems, but worked together with important voices of contemporary poetry, performing with Augusto de Campos, Antonio Cicero, Waly Salomão, and Ferreira Gullar.
Poster for WGGP 40th Anniversary event

Women and Gender in Global Perspectives celebrates 40 years

Women and Gender in Global Perspectives (WGGP) celebrated its 40th Anniversary in March 2021 with a virtual symposium featuring alumni, past directors, and friends of WGGP. WGGP, originally known as the Office of Women in Development (WID), was founded in 1980 and arose from the interdisciplinary efforts of the Committee on Women in Development. The Founding Director, Barbara A. Yates, would later bequest funds for a lasting legacy of the Barbara A. Yates Graduate Fellowship and the Barbara A. Yates Programming series. The symposium was rescheduled from its original in-person format due to COVID-19. The virtual symposium included panel discussions with alumni covering the first four decades of WGGP. The symposium also featured a reflection panel that included Earl Kellogg (Professor Emeritus and former Associate Provost for International Affairs), Brenda Eheart (WGGP formerly known as WID Associate Director, 1991-1997), Gale Summerfield (former WGGP Director, 1998-2013), Noreen Sugrue (former Assistant Professor and WGGP Research Associate, 2005-2017), and Colleen Murphy (WGGP Director). The symposium opening included remarks by LAS interim Dean Gene Robinson and IGI Executive Director Jerry Dávila. As part of the 40th Anniversary celebration, a photo gallery reflections page is now available. The symposium recording is available on the WGGP media space channel.