UA Spanish and Latin American Studies Programs Awarded Grants Totaling $183,000 from Department of Education

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Two grants from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) totaling $183,000 awarded to James Horton, associate professor of Spanish, in collaboration with colleagues Steve Bell land Joan Turner, will strengthen both Spanish and Latin American programs in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

A $130,000 DOE grant will enable Horton and co-investigator Steve Bell, associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages, to develop Latin American Studies by reinstating language studies in Portuguese, adding new courses, and increasing the visibility of the program through the addition of a newsletter, listserv, website, and lecture series.

"One vital geographical area that has been missing from the program is Brazil, the largest country in Latin America with one of the most important economies," said Horton. "But now we'll be able to address that gap, by offering Portuguese and a new course in the history of Brazil."

Horton leaves May 31 for Brazil for four weeks of intensive study in Portuguese, in preparation for the new course in Portuguese to be offered this fall. The two-year DOE grant will allow faculty to develop courses in Afro-Hispanic culture and literature, the Latin American city, and new Latino writers, as well as sponsor Latin American Fulbright scholars for three-day visits to the UA campus. In addition, UA faculty will travel to Puebla, Mexico, to expand curriculum development work begun through a previous grant in conjunction with the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.

"Our overarching goals are to increase international study offerings across campus and to offer a wide array of outreach activities that will reinforce the ties between the university and the community," said Bell, who will become Director of the Latin American Studies Program on July 1.

The second grant of $53,000, funded through the DOE's Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program, will support a five-week workshop in collaboration with the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Horton and Joan Turner, co-investigator for the grant, will accompany 14 Arkansas high school Spanish teachers to Puebla for six weeks of language instruction.

"The heart of the program is crafting units on contemporary Mexican youth culture that teachers can take back and use in the classroom," said Horton. "Given the great influx of Hispanics into Arkansas and the general lack of cultural understanding, we felt this program was a good way to promote cross-cultural understanding not only between our group and people in Mexico, but also between the local Hispanic community and others living in northwest Arkansas."

Horton explained that this "Latino explosion" has made Spanish the language of choice in high schools and universities around the country, which in turn has resulted in a shortage of qualified Spanish instructors. .Led by UA faculty, teachers selected for the workshop will learn about local culture through taking field trips and through communicating in Spanish with the host families the teachers will live with in Puebla during their stay.

The Department of Foreign Languages will invite applications from teachers in fall 2000 for the spring 2001 seminar. Participants, who will receive 6 hours of graduate credit, will post the newly created culture units to a website for the benefit of all Spanish teachers in Arkansas schools.

"These grants bring much deserved recognition to our faculty, to our programs, and to Fulbright College and University," said Raymond Eichmann, chair of the foreign languages department. "In the past four years, our department has won five such national grants, totaling nearly half a million dollars. Since such grants for foreign language programs are highly competitive, I am justifiably proud of our faculty's success."