Moving on up

Here's our new pad, assuming the deal doesn't go south:


The picture makes it look much bigger than it actually is.

Cincinnati

Another high level meeting was held at an undisclosed location in Cincinnati. We hope to see more of you there next year.

Things you find on Google

You know you've made it when you're cited on Wikipedia. Well, not cited exactly, but my diss is among the many entries listed on the bibliography for the Conde Lucanor. In English, Spanish and Portuguese, no less.

Fun With Hapsburgs

I just saw this online. It has a lovely graphic outlining just why Carlos II was called El Hechizado.

Utah safari

I have recently been backing up files just in case some hacker with a nefarious purpose sees fit to reach down from the ether and destroy my hard drive. I'm imagining that this hacker, of undisclosed age, religion, and gender, spends his or her days in the bowels of an office building (perhaps belonging to the Partido Popular) occasionally emerging, blinking, into the Madrid sun for a bocadillo.

In any case, I found this photo in my archives. Taken in very early 2006, when a certain medievalist visited me, it proves once again that Spanish professors do have lives.

New Cid Translation

Just found this link on Arts and Letters daily. I know I'm the only medievalist among us, but thought it might be of interest, nevertheless.

Mission Statement

I'm thinking of drawing up a mission statement for our program. I hate the term, but I've increasingly felt like even with the new blood in our program we're wandering far afield from what we should be doing. Some of our faculty have not yet come to grips with the idea that we are not a research 1 institution, and we do not necessarily need or want to remake ourselves in that image. We do want to raise our program's profile, and we do want to raise and maintain high expectations for our students. At the same time, our efforts so far to remake our program have yielded more upper division topics courses at the expense of language courses. As a lit person, that seems fine. Except, I was really swayed by the article that was posted recently about the future of Spanish programs. I think it's true that most students (at least my students) are in it for the language, and would benefit from language instruction that is better integrated into the program. I think that's an area where faculty where some of our newer faculty (especially native speakers, believe it or not) do not perceive the need. We're very much into the idea of remaking the program into something that WE want, but haven't thought so much about what students want, expect, or need.

Any thoughts? What would you include in a mission statement?