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Three UCLA Russian Flagship students win Critical Language Scholarships

UCLA International Institute/ UCLA Russian Flagship Program, May 13, 2021 — This year, three of UCLA’s Russian Flagship students were awarded the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). CLS is a fully-funded intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. With an acceptance rate of only 10%, the summer CLS program is very selective. Although the program will take place remotely this summer, the host sites for Russian language include Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir in Russia, and Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. Allison Verbil is a fourth-year linguistics major and Russian language minor who started learning Russian through the State…

NELC professor Domenico Ingenito speaks to KCRW about Persian literature

On Thursday, May 27, at 1:30pm PST,  Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Professor, Domenico Ingenito, will be appearing on the KCRW radio show, Bookworm, hosted by Michael Silverblatt, to talk about Persian literature and the opportunities that UCLA offers to study Persian language in Southern California. During the show, Michael Silverblatt will also present Prof. Ingenito’s book, “Beholding Beauty: Sa’di of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry.” Silverblatt, whom Normal Mailer defined as the “best reader in America.” Prof. Ingenito will also read some of his English translations from Sa’di’s lyric poems.

UCLA SNF Hellenic Center receives Olympios Family Endowed Graduate Research Fellowship

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture (UCLA SNF Hellenic Center) received a generous gift from Stavros Olympios in memory of his parents to create the George and Barbara Olympios Family Endowed Graduate Research Fellowship. The George and Barbara Olympios Family Endowed Graduate Research Fellowship will provide assistance to support graduate students in Hellenic Studies, helping emerging scholars to deepen their connection to Greece through research and study. “On behalf of the Center, we thank Stavros Olympios for the generous donation to support our graduate research program,” said Sharon Gerstel, Director of…

UCLA Announces New Digital Hub For Globalizing Japanese Studies

In 2013, the UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures faced a troubling possibility: its entire program in Japanese literature and culture might collapse. Both its faculty members in this popular field of study were being courted by an Ivy League institution, jeopardizing its efforts to hire a third faculty member. In the years since, however, the Japanese humanities have emerged as one of the greatest success stories in UCLA’s Division of Humanities. In 2017 and 2019, the department succeeded in recruiting two additional scholars of Japanese film and kabuki, respectively, transforming its program into one of the most robust in…

Ph.D. student Oriah Amit serves as consultant on HBO show “The Nevers”

Oriah Amit, graduate student in the Department of English, is serving as a historical consultant on the science fiction drama TV HBO series The Nevers. Set in Victorian London, the series follows a group of women with supernatural abilities; Oriah, whose dissertation focuses on late Victorian and Edwardian speculative fiction, used her expertise to advise on integrating aspects of London’s history at the turn of the twentieth century into the world of the show. Oriah’s work as a historical consultant informed the creation of the show’s characters: she created biographies for characters that the writers wanted to base as closely…

UCLA’s David Kipen Catalyzes Bill in Congress to Revive Federal Writers’ Project

On the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) 86th anniversary, an effort by journalist and UCLA lecturer David Kipen to revive a WPA program employing writers to preserve the country’s cultural history is on its way to succeeding, thanks to a bill introduced by Congressman Ted Lieu today. Today is the 86th anniversary of the Works Progress Administration, the federal Depression-era effort to get people employed again. Kipen, a UCLA Writing Programs lecturer, has been pushing for a year to revive the Federal Writers’ Project, part of the WPA that employed 6,600 writers at its peak and gave a lift or even a…

What Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French in Early L.A.

Professor of English and Chicano/a Studies, Marissa Lopez has published an article on KCET’s website called “What Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French in Early L.A.” The piece is part of Picturing Mexican America, a digital humanities project designed and run by Professor Marissa López that is committed to illuminating the long, Mexican history of Los Angeles that’s been systematically erased through centuries of white, cultural supremacy.

NELC Professor Michael Cooperson wins prestigious Sheikh Zayed Award for his latest book

The Division of Humanities is proud to announce that Near Eastern Languages and Culture Professor, Michael Cooperson, has just won the 2020/21 Sheikh Zayed Award Translation Prize for his Arabic to English translation of Impostures by Al-Hariri. The Sheikh Zayed Awards are the most prestigious and lucrative awards in Arabic literature: winners of the translation category each receive a gold medal, a certificate of merit, and a prize of AED 750,000. The award praises Impostures, published by Library of Arabic Literature in 2020, as “a bold, mature and innovative approach to translation [which] enabled Michael Cooperson to understand Maqamat Al-Hariri more intimately…

Classics Professor Adriana Vazquez Awarded 2021-22 Rome Prize

The Division of Humanities is delighted to announce that Professor Adriana Vazquez in the Department of Classics  has been awarded the prestigious Rome Prize next year for her project “Window Reception: Brazilian Neoclassical Poetry and Lusophone Classics Across the Atlantic.” The American Academy in Rome annually selects Rome Prize winners by independent juries of distinguished artists and scholars through a national competition. The eleven disciplines supported by the Academy include: ancient studies, architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, literature, medieval studies, modern Italian studies, music composition, Renaissance and early modern studies, and visual arts. These highly competitive fellowships support…

UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center Partners with US Embassy in Greece for “Makriyannis Unplugged”

The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture (UCLA SNF Center) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Greece to support the Athens’ performance of Makriyannis Unplugged, a contemporary retelling of the life and memoirs of Yannis Makriyannis, who played an essential role in the 1821 Greek War of Independence. Written and performed by actor and director Yorgos Karamihos (The Durrells in Corfu; Fugitive Pieces; Like Chef, Like God), the play premieres at UCLA on November 7, 2021. “The U.S. Embassy’s support for Makriyannis Unplugged helps to tell the compelling story of this…