Moeser
tackles Ehringhaus
decision head on
Carolina
faculty and staff leaders appear ready to move on following Chancellor
James Moeser's apology for how he handled a contract with Susan
Ehringhaus, outgoing vice chancellor and general counsel.
"It
takes a big person to admit they're wrong," Tommy Griffin, chair
of the Employee Forum, said in an interview after that body's
Dec. 4 meeting. "We need to move on now. We've got business to
take care of."
At a Faculty Council meeting two days later, Faculty Chair Sue
Estroff told members that their future and that of the chancellor
were "happily entangled."
"I
think all of us want to be successful, " she said.
Moeser initiated a structural change in the University's legal
office, resulting in a separation-from-employment agreement under
which Ehringhaus will leave her current post Dec. 31 to take an
off-campus assignment with the Association of American Universities
and the American Association of Medical Colleges in Washington,
D.C. She will return to the University in August 2003 to teach
in the law school.
While working in Washington, Ehringhaus will receive her Carolina
salary for about 18 months and reimbursement for some travel expenses.
The money will come from private UNC-CH Foundation Inc. sources,
but the agreement has drawn criticism in light of lean budget
times.
Moeser addressed the issue at the Employee Forum and Faculty Council
meetings earlier this month, as well as in a Dec. 2 e-mail message
to all faculty and staff.
At the meetings, the chancellor said the experience had been humbling
and one of the most difficult of his professional life.
"It's
not an easy thing to admit mistakes, and it's especially not an
easy thing to admit a mistake in such a public forum and to be
the subject of news articles and editorials," Moeser told Faculty
Council members.
The key now, Moeser said, is to learn from the experience and
not repeat it.
In his e-mail message to faculty and staff, the chancellor said
he realized "that I have some fence mending to do in my relationships
with faculty, staff, and students at Carolina, and, indeed, with
the people of the state."
He said the episode also "reminded me of how much the university
is loved by its people, here on campus, and everywhere around
the state.
"I
too love this University, and I earnestly want your confidence
and support to continue to lead it in these difficult times,"
he wrote. "My hope is that we can continue with the important
business of making this University the very best it can be. I
pledge to you to stay focused on that goal. It is important for
Carolina, and even more important for the state, for the people
who own this University."
At both the Employee Forum and Faculty Council meetings, Moeser
said improving staff as well as faculty salaries will be among
his top priorities in moving ahead with the University's business.
"This
has got to be a key issue and not just for faculty alone," he
told forum members.
In his e-mail message, Moeser called the arrangement with Ehringaus
an "error in judgment" but also praised her service to the University.
"I
want to make it clear that there is not -- and never was -- any
question about Vice Chancellor Ehringhaus' high level of competence,"
his message said. "She is an excellent attorney, and she has served
this University with honor and distinction for 32 years."
Some Faculty Council members voiced concern about how the agreement
might hurt the University's relationship with the state legislature
on issues such as keeping overhead-receipt revenue at Carolina.
But Bill Smith, a math professor, said he supported Moeser's move
to restructure the legal office in an effort to focus its role
more on legal issues.
"I
think there are matters of policy that are strictly matters of
academic affairs, where historically and traditionally -- and
I think for the good of the order -- faculty should be the primary
voice," Smith said.
Moeser told council members that he would like to consult more
with faculty on making decisions to the extent that circumstances
allow.
That gesture was welcomed by Estroff, who urged her colleagues
to take Moeser up on his offer.
"What
you can give back to the chancellor is your candor and your opinions
and your thoughts in this forum and in other forums, and I have
a feeling from listening to him that he will listen," Estroff
said.
ATN
can help filter out spam e-mail
E-mail
can be a great communication tool.
It also can be an annoying distraction from the work at hand.
Along with reminder messages about next Monday's staff meeting,
many Carolina employees find solicitations for everything from
low-interest home mortgage rates to Asian herbs when they sign
into their e-mail in-box at work.
That leaves employees the task of sifting out the junk as well
as reading what's pertinent to their jobs.
And it could be worse.
According to Chris Colomb, manager of messaging systems with Academic
Technology and Networks (ATN), he and his staff managed to block
some 580,000 junk messages from reaching campus e-mail accounts
from Nov. 17 to Nov. 24. ATN's e-mail servers handled a total
of 1.8 million messages
during that stretch, and Colomb said that figure probably would
have been about 30 percent higher had it included messages that
go to multiple recipients.
The preponderance of junk e-mail -- also known as spam -- poses
a difficult challenge for a university campus like Carolina. While
managers of business e-mail servers may be able to block all messages
from a particular country, Carolina doesn't have that option because
there are people in those countries who have legitimate reasons
to contact people here.
Carolina faculty members, for instance, may be carrying out research
with foreign colleagues who need to send electronic correspondence.
And the parents of international students may rely on e-mail to
stay in touch with their sons and daughters.
Colomb said the most problematic spam comes from South Korea,
China and Brazil.
Blocking messages based on so-called "keywords" also can be difficult.
"You
have to be careful on a research campus like ours -- we have people
who may be doing research on Viagra," Colomb said.
Or students who may want to know about getting discounted airfares,
another common subject of spam.
"One
person's trash is another person's treasure," Colomb said.
Still, ATN blocks as much of the junk as it can "with the campus
community in mind," he said. That means updating the filter list
for ATN's e-mail servers several times a day and making as many
as 70 changes.
Employees can help ATN in its battle against spam by forwarding
junk messages to spam@unc.edu. Colomb said they should be forwarded
with a "bounce" or "with all headers" option so that the messages
will include information that ATN needs to block similar messages
in the future.
And if employees think legitimate messages aren't getting through
to them, they should contact postmaster@unc.edu
or call 962-HELP and ask for the postmaster staff.
Griffin
re-elected Employee Forum chair
The
Employee Forum has elected Tommy Griffin, maintenance mechanic
in the Division of Facilities Services, to serve as its chair
for another year.
Griffin, who ran unopposed for the post, earned the seat by acclamation
at the forum's Dec. 4 meeting.
"I
promise to try to do more, if I can," he said. And, he told forum
members, "always, always think about each other."
Griffin said his agenda for 2003 will include starting a letter-writing
campaign to legislators and organizing a presentation to the University
Board of Trustees making the case that the forum should have representation
on that body.
Topping his list of goals for next year is to continue efforts
aimed at uniting faculty, staff and students behind the University's
mission.
"I
want to continue to build unity, trust and support for the people
of this University and to let people know that we really care
about each other," he said.
As for his past year as forum chair, Griffin said the highlights
included the many resolutions passed by the forum. Those resolutions
ranged from defending academic freedom in light of the Summer
Reading Program controversy to calling for a portion of campus-based
student tuition revenue to be used to bolster staff salaries.
"(The
resolutions) were all very important points for this body and
the folks on this campus," he said.
Griffin also said he was privileged to have been invited to a
UNC Board of Governors orientation session as well as a legislative
reception in Raleigh. Attending Board of Trustees meetings here
was helpful, too, he said, as he was able to see and better understand
how the business side of the University works.
In his remarks to the forum before Griffin's election, Chancellor
James Moeser said that while he couldn't endorse a particular
candidate, he would "love" to see Griffin serve another year as
chair.
"You
have a big heart and it shows and I thank you for it," he told
Griffin.
The forum also elected its vice chancellor and secretary for 2003.
Jim Bennett, project supervisor in Administrative Information
Services, will be vice chair, replacing Gary Lloyd. Joanne Kucharski,
assistant registrar for administrative systems and networks in
the Registrar's Office, will be secretary, replacing Kay Teague.
In other business, the forum heard from Robert Dowling of the
Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, who described his organization's
program to offer relatively affordable housing in the local area.
Depending on their income, some Carolina employees may qualify
to buy the homes. See www.ochlt.org
for more information.
Trustees
continue to seek ways to measure 'leading'
As Carolina aims to become the nation's leading public university,
the question that remains is how best to measure progress. How
can the University look at itself and know it is getting better?
On Sept. 26, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert Shelton
walked the University Board of Trustees through an exhaustive
array of statistical yardsticks that the University could use
to grade itself on how well it is doing.
Trustees, at their latest meeting Nov. 21, resumed this discussion.
At the meeting, Shelton walked them through a report containing
a refined, shortened version of such yardsticks that could be
used effectively to measure meaningful changes on campus in key
areas.
The three central aims that define and direct the overarching
goal, the report said, are "excellence in areas of centrality
to our mission; responsiveness to state, national and global communities;
and diversity of faculty, staff and students."
Nine broad areas were targeted as areas of focus. They are: undergraduate
education, graduate and professional education, intellectual capital
of faculty, intellectual capital in research, staff development
and performance, engagement and public service, internationalization,
finance and facilities, and athletics.
The Board of Trustees is expected to review again and possibly
take formal action on the measures of excellence at its March
meeting.
The Finance Committee, meanwhile, presented and reviewed with
trustees a report that took a graphic look at the University's
financial structure. The report, which was prepared by Vice Chancellor
for Finance and Administration Nancy Suttenfield, presented an
array of financial data and trends based on a snapshot of the
University's financial situation as of June 30, which marked the
end of the 2001-02 fiscal year.
On that date, total assets of the University stood at $2.88 billion,
which included $1.02 billion in capital assets, $759 million in
endowment investments, $300 million in other long-term investments
and $202 million in short-term investments. Cash and cash equivalents
stood at $382 million.
On the flip side of the equation, liabilities stood at $925.1
million, including $446.8 million in long-term liabilities.
Net assets, then, totaled $1.96 billion.
The operating budget for 2001-02 was $1.47 billion -- with $497
million, or 34 percent, going to instruction and $237 million,
or 16 percent, going to research. About $76.9 million was spent
on public service and $67.6 million was used for academic support.
The budget was supported by both operating revenues and non-operating
revenues from outside sources.
Of the $1 billion worth of operating revenues, $479.2 million
was generated through grants and contracts, $376.7 million was
raised through sales and services and $124.7 million was generated
through student tuition and fees.
Of the $483.9 million in non-operating revenues, $368.5 million
was made available through state appropriations, $62.4 million
from non-capital gifts and $53 million from investment income.
The report also included a 10-year graph from 1993 to 2002 that
shows how state appropriations have steadily declined as a percentage
of total operating revenues even as the actual dollar amount from
the state steadily rose through most of the decade.
Consider: In 1993, state appropriations stood at just more than
$250 million yet represented more than 30 percent of total revenues.
In 2002, state appropriations had climbed to more than $350 million,
yet represented just more than 25 percent of the total budget.
A major influence in this changing budget picture has been the
steady and dramatic rise of revenues generated from federal, state
and nongovernmental grants and contracts over the same period.
In 1993, revenues generated from these grants were less than $250
million; by 2002, revenues from contracts and grants were approaching
$500 million.
Another snapshot, based on fall figures supplied by the Office
of Institutional Research, broke down the University's total employment.
The University had 10,518 employees earlier this fall, with 5,925
(56 percent) full-time SPA staff; 2,702 (26 percent) full-time
faculty; 1,176 (11 percent) full-time EPA staff; 308 (3 percent)
part-time faculty; 298 (3 percent) part-time SPA staff; and 109
(1 percent) part-time EPA staff.
Study
abroad program is sixth largest nationwide
The
University ranks sixth among all research universities nationwide
for the total number of students receiving academic credit for
studying abroad during the 2000-01 academic year, according to
Open Doors 2002, an annual report published by the Institute of
International Education (IIE). When measuring the percentage of
students going abroad, IIE ranks Carolina third among major public
research universities and 13th among all major research universities
nationwide.
Carolina sent 1,286 students to foreign lands during 2000-01,
representing about 21 percent of the number of students getting
undergraduate and graduate degrees (6,123), according to the report.
"A
well educated university graduate in the 21st century simply must
have an understanding of other societies, cultures, economies
and places," said Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,
which oversees the University's undergraduate study abroad programs.
"This
is why we are committed to providing meaningful international
experiences to as many students as possible. To this end, we have
expanded our study abroad programs, partnerships and scholarship
opportunities, and developed a major in international and area
studies."
The Office of Study Abroad, which operates within the College
of Arts and Sciences, administers more than 230 programs in 64
countries, including many led by Carolina faculty. For example,
Studio Art Professor elin o'Hara slavick will lead a program in
Florence next summer, where she will teach a course on "Conceptual
Photography" at Studio Art Centers International.
Many innovative study abroad opportunities are sponsored by the
Honors Program and the Burch Field Research Program in the College
of Arts and Sciences, such as the following examples:
Last summer, a group of 17 undergraduates received an insider's
view of culture, politics, national security and international
relations in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. Robert Jenkins' field
research seminar on the role of international organizations in
central Europe began at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, and
involved meetings with high-level officials and excursions to
Budapest, Sarajevo, Banja Luca and Mostar. A similar program will
occur this summer.
Another group of 17 Tar Heels spent this fall semester in South
Africa with Julius Nyang'oro studying the country's conflicts,
culture and politics, and working in internships at agencies involved
in democratization, education, healthcare and social welfare.
During the upcoming spring semester, 40 top music students from
Carolina and the Prague Conservatory will study in the Czech Republic
with Carolina and Czech faculty and perform in the concert capitals
of central Europe in an unprecedented United States-Czech wind
ensemble.
In the spring of 2004, students will conduct scientific research
in Chile on the ground-breaking SOAR telescope built by Carolina
and other collaborators atop the Andes mountains.
In the fall of 2004, the Honors Program will launch new Honors
Study Abroad programs in Sydney and Cape Town.
Carolina also has a new program designed to interest first-year
students in international studies and to make it possible for
them to go abroad the summer following their freshman year. Under
the new Summer Immersion Program in Singapore, 25 rising sophomores
will study at the National University of Singapore (NUS) next
summer. Students will take classes with faculty from Carolina
and NUS and participate in excursions to Malaysia, Indonesia and
Thailand.
Even after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent
U.S. war in Afghanistan, the number of Carolina students going
abroad increased by 4 percent over the previous year, according
to the Office of Study Abroad.
"Students
see that study abroad is more important than ever in light of
the rapidly changing international situation," said Robert Miles,
director of the Office of Study Abroad. "We offer diverse programs
to meet a wide range of student needs. Students can study abroad
for a summer, a semester or an entire academic year. Some programs
require fluency in a foreign language, others enhance the student's
foreign language capabilities and still others are offered in
English. We are especially committed to assisting more students
to study abroad in South America, Asia and Africa and to increasing
the number of science majors who study abroad."
Scholarships are available for some study abroad programs, thanks
to private funds. For example, the Singapore program provides
scholarships to support the costs for 25 students per year, thanks
to major funding from Carolina alumnus Alston Gardner, and the
Burch Programs support independent studies and faculty-led seminars
abroad with funding from alumnus Lucius Burch III.
In addition, the Study Abroad Office is collaborating with the
School for International Training to increase the diversity of
students participating in study abroad programs sponsored by the
school through the provision of $25,000 in scholarships for Carolina
students in 2003.
Still, additional private funds are critical in order to expand
study abroad opportunities to more Carolina students.
The most popular destinations for Carolina students in 2000-01
were, in descending order: Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, France,
Australia, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Mexico. Carolina
students also have studied in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cameroon,
China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, India, Ireland,
Japan, Madagascar, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Switzerland,
Tanzania and Thailand.
The Curriculum in International and Area Studies, now in its third
year and chaired by James Hevia, is the 10th most popular undergraduate
program in the College, with 300 majors and double majors. The
curriculum is designed to prepare students for leadership in global
business, diplomacy, human rights, international aid and economic
development. The academic program draws on courses throughout
the humanities and social sciences and provides an academic framework
for integrating study abroad experiences into students' overall
undergraduate studies.
Students give Summer Reading Program overall positive
evaluations
The official verdict is in: This year's selection for the Summer
Reading Program, at least based on student evaluations rather
than media hoopla, was no better or worse than previous selections.
On a scale of one to five, the average score freshmen gave to
"Approaching the Qu'rán: The Early Revelations" was 3.3
-- about the same score that previous books had received.
The book, written by Michael Sells, generated a firestorm of national
media attention in the weeks leading up to the discussions groups
that met on the afternoon of Aug. 19. The controversy was triggered
in part by a lawsuit that a conservative religious group filed
to challenge the book's selection. Four months after the discussion
groups were held, the case remains unresolved.
The estimated number of students attending the sessions was 2,260.
The average group size was 14.
In terms of participation levels, 65 percent of all freshmen participated
in the 160 different sessions that were held, along with 11 percent
of transfer students.
As for all that hyperbolic attention in the national media, many
students indicated that they tried to tune it out during their
group discussions.
A connecting thread that ran through many of students' written
responses could best be summed up as, "What's the big deal?" said
Cynthia Wolf Johnson, associate vice chancellor for student learning.
"Many
of them talked about how they wanted the controversy over and
were more interested in the content of the book."
Sells, a religion professor at Haverford College, has said his
book seeks to offer accurate English translations of some of the
oldest and more poetic verses in the Quran. Sells also offers
a short analysis of the religion in the introduction of the book.
The comments from students indicated that reading the book had
not only influenced their thinking -- but also prodded them into
thinking more on what for most of them started out as an arcane
subject, Wolf Johnson said.
What did students like best about the book? You name it.
"The
appreciation and beauty of language," wrote one student.
"The
CD," said another.
"I
didn't like any of it but I didn't hate it," wrote another.
"It
gave me a chance to view another religion and see what it was
like without feeling like I was being converted," wrote another.
"The
introduction gave me a strong historical background about Islam."
"Presented
a side of Islam not often seen or heard in the U.S."
"It
had very beautiful context even as a translation."
When asked about what questions or issues the books raised for
them, students' responses also ran the gamut.
"Tolerance,"
said one student.
"Why
was it so one-sided, only referring to the positive aspects of
the religion?"
"It
made me realize that all Muslims are not terrible."
"The
lack of knowledge of other cultures."
"Discussing
religion in schools."
"The
difference between culture and religion and how to discern between
the two."
"How
people can be against reading a book."
"How
did billions of people come to put so much trust in the words
of one man?"
"How
do radical Muslims get their beliefs? It would have been insightful
to read some of the more violent suras."
The questionnaire also asked students to comment on what was most
meaningful to them about the discussion group.
"To
see both sides of the controversy," said one.
"It's
always great to hear other people's perspectives; it helps to
broaden your own."
"Hearing
the similarities between Christianity and Islam," one student
said.
"The
correlation between the Bible and the Quran," wrote another student
in the same vein.
This year was the first time the reading program included a writing
assignment. When asked how much the assignment helped them formulate
their thoughts about the book, 17 percent said the assignment
helped them "very much," 65 percent said it helped "somewhat"
and 18 percent said it helped "not at all."
"It's
always good to write. It helps you think things out," said one
student.
Students also were asked what question they would ask Michael
Sells if they had the chance.
Some students said they would ask Sells how and why he became
interested in Islam.
Committee members who picked the book did so with the idea that
it was a summer reading, not a comprehensive textbook to be used
for a full semester. Their intent was to open a window into Islam
that would promote further study.
Some students asked him why he had written a book that seemed
to "sugarcoat" this particular religion by leaving out suras in
the Quran that seem to promote violence against non-believers.
"Do
you have another book about the more radical Muslims?" asked one.
"What
happened to the more controversial suras? Are they not important
to you."
A total of 177 people served as discussion leaders. Among them
were 78 faculty members, 33 teaching assistants, 53 staff members
and 13 others. They combined to lead a total of 160 teaching sessions,
with some discussion leaders choosing to team up.
Discussion leaders were asked to rate their experience with the
book and the discussion groups in their evaluations. On a scale
of one to five, with "wish I hadn't done it" being one to "I enjoyed
it very much" being five, 44 percent gave the experience a five,
and 37 percent gave it a four. Nobody said they wished they hadn't
done it.
When asked what worked well in their sessions, many discussion
leaders talked about the diversity of the students themselves
contributing to the talks. Said one, "We had a very diverse group
-- a Muslim who had converted to Christianity, Jewish students,
a Buddhist and several Christians. I let the students be the experts
about their religions."
Some discussion leaders gave students a chance to talk about the
controversy along with their discussion of the suras. One discussion
leader said what worked well was "turning the tables with the
question: `Which book or film or song would you recommend to introduce
aliens to our culture?'"
Wolf Johnson said she does not believe the program was more successful
because of the controversy. Students' participation and evaluations
seem to have been little different than in previous years.
"One
thing I could say with certainty is that the controversy highlighted
our Summer Reading Program and brought attention to the University,"
Wolf Johnson said. "In the end result, the University looked extraordinar-ily
strong in standing behind
its decision to select the book.
"Numerous
people, in and out of the University, have said: `The University
has handled this so well.' I think that is a tribute to our chancellor."
The best evidence of heightened interest as the result of the
controversy could be found on the program's web site, Wolf Johnson
said.
A year ago, the site generated a total of 2,411 hits through the
middle of September.
This year, it had more than 25,000 hits through September.
ACT proposal: extend paid hours for visitors in
two lots
A panel advising Carolina administrators on transportation and
parking issues at the University has endorsed extending the hours
during which visitors would pay to park in two north campus parking
lots.
Under the Advisory Committee on Transportation (ACT) recommendation,
visitors would pay to park in the Morehead and Swain lots during
these additional hours:
Monday - Thursday, 5 p.m. - 12 a.m.;
Friday, 5 p.m. - 2 a.m.; and
Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Carolina parking officials see the move as generating revenue
from people who now park in these lots in the evenings and weekends
to frequent Franklin Street businesses.
The following exceptions would be made for Carolina faculty, staff
and students:
Faculty and staff with daytime permits in the (N2) Morehead and
(NG1) Swain lots would be honored in lots after 5 p.m. and on
weekends.
Graduate students teaching in adjacent buildings to the Swain
and Morehead lots at night would be able to apply for credentials
to park in these lots at no charge.
Faculty, staff and students presenting their UNC One Card upon
exiting the Morehead or Swain pay lot would pay 75 cents per hour
for parking as opposed to $1 per hour for non-affiliated patrons.
Also, the NG3 lots (Steele and Caldwell) would be designated as
reserved north campus lots for faculty and staff. Faculty and
staff with daytime permits would be honored after 5 p.m., and
faculty and staff without daytime permits for the NG3 lot could
apply for the appropriate credentials to park in these lots after
5 p.m.
There would be no charge for night parking in these lots for employees
without daytime permits. Graduate students teaching in adjacent
buildings would be able to apply for credentials to park in these
lots after 5 p.m. and would not be charged a fee.
The ACT recommendation will be part of a five-year parking and
transportation proposal that will go to University vice chancellors.
The University Board of Trustees will have final approval over
what emerges from the vice chancellors' deliberations.
ACT is a campus panel of faculty, staff and students charged with
advising administrators on strategies for achieving convenient,
safe and easy-to-use transportation to campus. ACT is also helping
the Department of Public Safety craft the five-year transportation
and parking plan.
Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., a Raleigh-based transportation
consulting firm, also is helping develop the five-year plan, which
officials will present to the Board of Trustees for adoption in
January 2003.
Janda clarifies Slavic grammar with unusual props
Laura
Janda was nervous about attending a conference in Russia to discuss
her new methods of teaching Slavic grammar. Although she speaks
Russian and Czech, she's not a native speaker of any of the Slavic
languages, and it's tough to present a paper in Russia. The presentations
can last an hour and a half, and if the audience doesn't like
what you're saying, they let you know right in the middle of your
talk. Then when you finish, you drink tea and discuss your ideas
-- for hours. "The conversations are epic," Janda said.
Janda's method includes using rocks, sand, blocks of wood and
ping pong balls to explain the complexities of Slavic grammatical
categories such as case and aspect, which require adding a marking
to every noun, pronoun and verb in a sentence based on relationships
among objects and ideas in the sentence. "A lot of the categories
have never been described even by theoreticians very well," Janda
said. "And it's hard to teach them to students. It's painful,
actually." According to Janda, it's possible to spend several
years learning a Slavic language and still not know the meaning
of a sentence.
"It's
a myth that the divisions of grammatical categories are infinite
and chaotic. They are actually quite finite and well ordered,"
she said. But no one has ever explained that to students. "The
textbooks only give about five percent, and they give you random
little bits of it," Janda said. Her students react in one of two
ways to her comprehensive methods -- wild enthusiasm that they
can actually learn the language, and anger that they've been struggling
with it needlessly for so long.
Janda works on aspect, a grammatical category that has to do with
how people conceptualize time. There are just two types of aspect,
perfective and imperfective, but it's complicated. "You can go
through entire books of lists explaining when to use different
aspect endings, and it looks grotesque because they seem totally
unmotivated, just this random horror," Janda said. But with her
rocks and sand, aspect begins to make sense. For example, two
rocks can never occupy the same space, but two piles of sand can
easily be mixed. The two rocks represent sequencing -- when two
things happen one after the other, requiring the perfective aspect.
The two piles of sand mixed together represent simultaneity, which
uses the imperfective aspect. Or say you embed a rock in a pile
of sand -- one thing happens (perfective) as another is going
on in the background (imperfective). Students of the Slavic languages
get it, and it's fun.
Janda needs to test her methods further. It works for native English
speakers, but does it make sense to, say, native Russian speakers?
She is conducting a study using a 31-question survey to find out.
The questions ask native Russian speakers to identify which configurations
of blocks of wood and sand best represent the use of verbs in
a sentence. "I think either it's going to be completely worthless
data or it will be dead on," Janda said. Either way, she's excited
about doing the work because to her, the ability to speak other
languages is a gift, and many of the world's languages are endangered.
"It's like watching the rainforest being destroyed. Languages
are incredibly rich, and the fact that we're losing this richness
is a great tragedy in my eyes. The variety of language is part
of the genius of what it means to be a human being."
Janda, professor of Slavic linguistics, received a Johnston Center
Fellowship to continue her work developing books to teach about
grammatical properties in several Slavic languages. To view the
books, visit the Slavic and East European Language Resource Center
at www.seelrc.org. Her trip
to Russia was funded by the Ford Foundation.
Provided by Research and Graduate Studies
Editor:
Neil Caudle
Writer:
Mary Alice Scott
