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April 8, 2002

ICIS awards held April 3

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

 

In years past, outstanding achievement in language or area studies or other aspects of international education at Emory were recognized by individual programs or departments, often with little coordination.

No longer. The first Institute for Comparative and International Studies (ICIS) Awards, held Wednesday, April 3, in Winship Ballroom, recognized individuals for achievement in study abroad, community outreach, and language and area studies. Twenty-five students, one faculty and one staff member walked home with hardware, for work as varied as studying Latin to writing a 40-page paper in Spanish to working with immigrant children at Chamblee’s Cary Reynolds Elementary School.

ICIS Executive Director Gordon Newby hosted the event, along with Philip Wainwright, director of the Center for International Programs Abroad (CIPA), and Mahmoud Al-Batal, director of the Emory College Language Center (ECLC). In his opening remarks, Newby joked that if he wanted to honor all the people across Emory who have contributed to international education, he could just pull out the University phonebook and start reading the names.

“There are people who are doing tremendously accomplished and complicated activities all across this campus,” Newby said. “This is also a way to advertise and let the community know what we’re doing and about the range of international activity.”

Newby said this is the first year that student “internationalization awards” have been pulled together under the single ICIS umbrella. Dana Tottenham, study abroad advisor for ICIS, coordinated the event, which drew nearly 100 people.

Gail Scheu, academic services coordinator for CIPA, received the Service to Study Abroad Award for her work in helping make sure students get overseas in the first place. Wainwright called Scheu the “unsung hero” of study abroad.

“She is giving every student a gift—a summer they will never forget and an opportunity to change their life,” Wainwright said of Scheu.

Judy Raggi Moore, senior lecturer in French and Italian, took home the Excellence in Language Teaching Award. In presenting the award, Al-Batal said Raggi Moore was the first faculty member to receive a Crystal Apple award from the Student Government Association for excellence in teaching and service, and that her contributions to Emory go far beyond lecturing in a classroom.

“You would be hard-pressed to find a University committee on which Judy has not served [in her 16 years at Emory],” Al-Batal said.

In the student awards, Alex Henderson and Samit Shah took home awards for achievement in study abroad, and Michael Roche was honored for academic integration of study abroad. In area studies, the awards went to Viraj Patel (Asian studies), Jessica Clarke (Latin American and Caribbean studies) and Felipe Duque (Middle Eastern studies). Mary Ellen Mitchell received the honor for achievement in vernacular modernities, and three students were honored with Community Connections Initiative awards: Dale Epstein, Alyson Plotsky and Marta Rivera.

Finally, for excellence in language study, the following students were honored: Martyn Smith (Arabic), John Habib (Chinese), Jeong Woo Koo (ESL), Amelia Sitter (French), Nicolette Monaco (German), Jessica Paletsky (Greek), Yaniv Rofe (Hebrew), Antoinette DiNapoli (Hindi), Melissa Gossett (Italian), Kyeung-Min Kim (Japanese), Shaileen Stillmank (Latin), Pegah Moghaddam (Persian), Gabrielle Frega (Portuguese), Jamie Giganti (Russian) and Vanessa Lopes (Spanish).