Introducing New EFLJ Faculty

The Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism is pleased to welcome new and visiting faculty this fall.

For one year we will have the pleasure of working with Jianhua Lian, Clara Del Rey, and Philipp Schmidt. Jianhua, along with her daughter Tongtong, are visiting us as part of our faculty exchange with Xidian University. Clara and Philipp are Fulbright Lecturers visiting us from Spain and Germany, respectively. Kara Bollinger and Mary Dockery join us as full-time instructors of English. James Carviou and Bob Nulph will join our journalism faculty. Susan Martens will assume leadership of Prairie Lands Writing Project and teach English Education courses. Miguel Rivera-Taupier is a new Spanish professor.

Ms. Kara Bollinger

Kara is a native of Southeast Missouri. She received her Bachelor's degree from Truman State University and her Master's in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Kansas. Most recently, she worked for a year in Moscow, Russia as the Assistant Director of the Writing & Communication Center at the New Economic School. Her chapbook "Attachment Theory" was released from Dancing Girl Press in May and she's also had nonfiction and poetry published in Midwestern Gothic, Prick of the Spindle, and Sleet Magazine. In addition to writing, she's an avid gardener and runner.

Dr. James Carviou

James Carviou is from Marinette, a small town in northern Wisconsin near the upper peninsula of Michigan. Ever since he started watching television news at the tender age of five (and later reading news), he has been intrigued by the role media plays in society which led him to pursue a lifelong career of research and teaching. His research focuses on social/new media, identity, and television. His primary interests lie in the negotiation that takes place between representations/expressions of identity in media and the social construction of identity in society. Carviou contributed two chapters to a book that was published in Fall 2012: The Iconic Obama, 2007-2009: Essays on Mediated Representations of the Candidate and New President. Carviou enjoys Wisconsin sports. As a matter of fact, he grew up about 45 minutes away from Lambeau Field and spent much of his childhood in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He can’t wait to see what Aaron Rodgers is going to do this year! Other hobbies include playing guitar, working out, and keeping up with the latest trends in popular culture.

Ms. Clara Del Rey

Born in La Mancha, in the middle south of Spain, Clara moved to Madrid to do her studies in Philosophy and Education. She started her career teaching philosophy in a secondary education center in Madrid, but discovered that her passion for languages after being awarded with a European scholarship to teach Spanish in Belgium. That experience encouraged Clara to apply for a Fulbright FLTA scholarship, which has meant her arrival at MWSU. “I hope this experience to be really enriching and let me discover a part of this great country along with their culture and educational system.”

Ms. Mary Dockery

Mary is a Missouri Western graduate, and she received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Kansas in 2012. Her first collection of poetry, Mythology of Touch, was published in 2012, and her second collection, One Last Cigarette, is forthcoming in November from Honest Publishing. Originally from Holt County, MO, Mary is the proud owner of a number of shirts that read "I survived the flood of '93." She currently lives in St. Joseph, with her husband Dustin and their dog, Rufio.

Ms. Jianhua Lian

Having obtained her Bachelor’s Degree of Art in Shaanxi Normal University in 2000, Jianhua went to Xidian University to teach College English (which is compulsory in every university in China) to the non-English majors. In 2009, she obtained her Master’s Degree at Xidian University. “Teaching English is demanding and difficult, especially for people like me who have never been to an English-speaking country. Although I have been trying my best to teach the least Chinglish, I always feel frustrated. That’s why I came to MWSU--- to promote Chinese culture and to polish my English.  Having been teaching English for 13 years, I didn’t expect teaching my mother tongue would be so hard! Those simple I-take–it-for-granted grammars and characters of it have made me go through the most difficult time.  Fortunately, all of my students are very active and cooperative, which is a real relief to me. And folks in EFLJ have tried every possible means to make my stay and teaching here a pleasant experience. “One year is very short. Therefore, I just want to make full use of every minute here to share my culture, to experience different things and to improve myself.”

Dr. Susan Martens, 

Susan, originally from Fremont, Nebraska, was a high school English teacher at a rural school in her home state for twelve years.  As a Co-Director of the Nebraska Writing Project, she began working

with local teachers and with faculty members at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she eventually began a doctoral program focused on secondary English teacher preparation and on place-based education.   Research for her dissertation, Writing into the World: Writing Marathons for Teaching Writing, Place, and Advocacy, has led to several forthcoming publications, including one in the next issue of Louisiana Literature, a vignette about the New Orleans Writing Marathon in College Composition and Communication (coming in late 2014). When she's not immersed in teaching, writing, and directing the Prairie Lands Writing Project, she is an avid traveler and an aspiring foodie who loves live music and Latin dancing. 

Dr. Bob Nulph

Graduating in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Education - Biology & General Science, Bob spent the next five years teaching biology at the high school level, supplementing his poor salary with work as a radio DJ and tech directing, set and light designing or directing over 30 theatrical productions. In 1987 he earned a Master of Science in Communication and began a new career as a college professor in Valdosta and Savannah, Georgia; St. Joseph, Missouri; Clarion, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois teaching broadcast, film and digital production as well as screenwriting and photography. In 2002, he earned a Ph.D. in Film and Theatre from the University of Kansas. While teaching college, Bob continues to work as an award-winning, independent producer/director. Bob was also a contributing editor for VideoMaker Magazine for ten years. While the majority of his work has been in the nonfiction world, Bob has also produced and directed a number of narrative shorts and has three screenplays registered with The Writer’s Guild and is currently working on two more.

Dr. Miguel Rivera-Taupier

A native of Lima (Peru), Miguel got his B.A. in Hispanic Literature at the Universidad Catolica del Peru. He recieved his M.A. from Tulane University and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, with a dissertation on Latin American detective fiction. His current research focuses on the representation of cities in Latin American fiction. He has published articles on writers from Argentina and Peru, but his interests include other countries. At MWSU he teaches Spanish language and Latin American culture and literature.  

Mr. Philipp Schmidt

Philipp received his BA and MA from Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany and describes himself as “one of the lucky German Fulbright Scholars.” Philip hoped to be placed in the Midwest, and was pleased to hear that he’d be going to Missouri. Philip writes that ours “is a very special part of the US. German media cover Boston to NYC and San Francisco to San Diego. I’ve never heard of St. Joseph before, so I am eager to learn new things, so I am very excited to learn about this region, its landmarks, and especially about the people, who without exception have been very nice and welcoming.”

And so we welcome our nine new colleagues

Fall Semester Foreign Film Series

Foreign Film Series Fall 2013

All films at 06:30 pm in Hearnes Hall 102 (Theater in the lower floor of  MWSU Library) sponsored by English, Foreign Languages and Journalism Department

Wed, Sept 11  Juana La Loca / Mad Love  (2001) In Spanish with English subtitles Presented by F.Eduardo Castilla O.	Tues, Sep 17  No (2012) In Spanish with English subtitles Presented by Miguel Rivera-Taupier
Mon, Sep 23  The Wave     In German Film with English subtitles presented by Philipp Schmidt	Thu, Oct 03  Volver   (2006)   In Spanish with English subtitles presented by Clara del Rey
Mon, Oct 07  The Intouchables (2012)  In French with English subtitles presented by Claudine Evans	Tues, Oct 15  Be there and be Square (1998)           In Chinese with English subtitles  presented by Jianhua Lian
Wed, Oct 23  BARAKA (1992) documentary international    presented by F.Eduardo Castilla O.	Wed, Oct 30,  Renoir    In  French with English subtitles presented by French Alliance
Tues, Nov 05  Babies  (2010),  French documentary international presented by Susie Hennessy	Tues, Nov 19  American dreams in China In Chinese with English subtitles) presented by Jianhua Lian

Episode 2 of "Kay and Zeph go to China"

First Day of School

Zephaniah doesn’t start school until September 1. It’s a Sunday. That doesn’t matter. School always begins on Sept. 1 for primary school children, no matter what day of the week it is. University,

Zeph in his new classroom

however, began this week on Monday and I taught my first six hours of classes yesterday.

My students think I am hilarious. They laugh and laugh. I should start a career as an American Stand-Up Comic in China. All I need to do is have people write down their names and then I can try to pronounce them. Hours of entertainment in the form of tear-inducing hilarity.

I can’t pronounce Chinese names. As I was plowing through the class list, I imagined what I must be saying to get my students to laugh so. For the uninitiated, Mandarin uses four different tones to distinguish meanings of words. The word “tang,” for example, can mean soup, candy, to tell a lie, a runny nose, or hot, depending tone. Yesterday I was certain, really, really certain, that I was standing in front of a class of Chinese students, and calling out in all seriousness, “Mr. Sparkle Bottom? Is Mr. Sparkle Bottom here?” 

Embarrassed student: “No, no. It isn’t Sparkle Bottom. It’s Noble Dragon. I’m Noble Dragon.”

Me: “Oh! . . . “ (trying again) “. . . Sparkle Bottom. Is that right?”

Student: “No. No.” (gentle shaking of the head) “No. No-ble Dra-gon.”

Me: “Spark-le Bott-om? Is that right?” (clearly it isn’t). “OK. I can get it. Spar-kle Dra-gon?”

Student (brightening): “Yes! Almost! No-ble Dra-gon.”

Me: “OK. Spark-le Bott-om.”

Student (hanging his head in dismay): “Never mind. Just call me Eric.”

Me: “No! No! I want to get it! Noble Bottom? Is that right?”

The once simple activity of calling roll turned into an epic affair full of much laughter (students) and much embarrassing frustration (me). Some students had pity on me and gave me an English name to use. Others were out for the kill. They insisted I keep trying. Tried, I did. Succeed, so certain I did not.

Readers may think I am exaggerating my inability to hear tones. I assure you I am not. Just this week, in complimenting a friend, I told her she was “grotesque” rather than “kindhearted.” That is quite a big difference to a Mandarin-speaking person. To me, both words sound exactly the same. So, names like “Gentle River” become “poopy udder” with my atonal speaking; “Big Soul” becomes “magnificent turnip.” Lest you think I am a dunderhead with languages, I pride myself on being fluent in Arabic and French and, on most days, English. Because of this, I keep telling myself I will eventually learn Mandarin. After today, I believe I am entirely self-deluded. Tones are the devil.

In China, winning friends every time I open my mouth.

Because it was the first day, I thought I would give a little introduction about myself to my students about who I am. I don’t think they have had an American professor before, so perhaps they might be interested. I talked about where I was from and how I had spent my life so far. I said I had a son, but had never been married. In each class, a curious, bold student would ask, “How did you get your son if you have never been married?”

Hmmm. “Well . . . In China do you have people who donate blood?” Yes. Good. “Well, in the United States, there are men . . . who donate . . . sperm.” Confused expressions. “Do you know what sperm is?” And even as I am asking the question I am thinking to myself, “Take that back! Take that back! Why are you even asking your students, who you just met moments ago, what sperm is, you idiot!” I wasn’t about to explain the word, even if they didn’t know. Especially on my first day. A couple heads in the room nodded and, grateful and relieved, I quickly moved on to other subjects.

Nice introduction to the American English professor. Welcome, all. Our first new vocabulary word of the day is . . .

Yes, indeed. My classes were off to a great start. After my first class ended, a slip of a girl came up to me. I expected her to ask for clarification on the assignment (and not a review of new vocab). Smiling, and in halting English, she said, “I think . . . American women are . . . FAT . . . and ugly . . . .” I was assuming her remark was payback for me having called her something horrible in the attempt to pronounce her name an hour earlier. She continued, “But you aren’t!” (whew!).  Then she asked for a hug. A hug? Alright-y. Why not? This classroom already bears no resemblance to any sort of college experience I know of. Here is a big American hug, little lady, from your favorite un-fat, not-so-ugly, crazy – truly, truly crazy -- American English professor.

On my first day of being an American English professor in China, I also melted my water bottle. It was a water bottle from the Lawrence Kansas Humane Society. I loved that green, plastic water bottle enough to drag it around the world so I would have it in China. At the university there is only hot (as in really, really, who-needs-acid-when-you-have-water-this-hot, way more than scaldingly-hot) water that comes out of spigots – generally there is at least one of these spigots on each floor. There are no drinking fountains because the water out of the tap is not safe to drink; thus the microbe-killing hot water tanks. I filled up my bottle with the hot water from the spigot, walked back to my classroom, and placed it on the desk. When I turned back less than a minute later, the bottle looked like the Wicked Witch of the West, mid-melt, with a puddle of water creeping disastrously close to the computer. The water was still so hot that I burned my hands getting the bottle to the sink in the hall. Luckily, students had not yet arrived in class, so I saved myself from further student-humiliation. The universe must have decided I had already maxed out my quota of embarrassing moments for one day.

The first day was a wild ride. We will see who shows up to class next time.

I was so tired after Day One that last night I put hair conditioner on my toothbrush and didn’t even realize I was doing so until I was about a minute into brushing my teeth.