Several prominent international guests will join 300-400 alumni, parents and Anniversary Celebration board members Saturday evening at the 50th anniversary gala for Georgetown’s Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. The gala, which will be held at the Willard International Hotel, includes guests such as Honorary Gala Chair Placido Domingo, Venezuelan writer Isaac Chocron, Martiniquan playwright Julius-Amédée Laou and representatives from the Greek, Austrian, Slovenian and Venezuelan embassies.
According to FLL Dean Serafina Hager, the school’s 50th anniversary, culminating in this week’s celebration, marks an exciting time in FLL history.
Georgetown’s modern-day commitment to language studies began in 1949 with the establishment of the Institute of Languages and Linguistics. It was founded on the premise that it is “essential to have language competency to prepare young men and women for the diplomatic corps,” according to Hager.
In 1967, the institute became its own school, and in 1995, it joined Georgetown College as a faculty. As a faculty, the languages and linguistics program was funded as a part of the college, rather than an independent school.
“It’s a milestone in the life of teaching language, culture and literature,” Hager said.
Student volunteers will attend the gala to help with set-up, reception and the live and silent auctions that will be held.
Joe Lind (FLL ’03), one of the 25 volunteers, said he is happy to be a part of the celebration.
“It’s a good year to be in FLL,” Lind said. “People seem very energetic and it makes me want to get involved. I just hope it’s not a one-year thing.”
Hager said FLL plans to extend the enthusiasm into next year.
“This year we’re just showcasing what we have,” she said, adding that the money raised at the gala will help further Capital Campaign goals, the university initiative to raise $750 million by 2001. The money will also go for more endowed professorships, curriculum and faculty development, technology enhancement and scholarships for overseas studies.
One way Hager said the spirit of the FLL’s `golden’ anniversary will live on is through the Parker Distinguished Writers-In-Residence Program, a tradition inaugurated four years ago with funding from Robert Foster Parker, father of recent Georgetown graduate Hattie Parker (FLL ’97).
The program provides students the opportunity to work closely with renowned international writers who serve as visiting faculty members. One major writer is usually invited to teach per semester, but four writers are at Georgetown this year in honor of the 50th anniversary celebration. They are Julia Kristeva of France, Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru, Nélida Piñon of Brazil and Slavoj Zizek of Slovenia.
Hager said having four Distinguished Writers-in-Residence this year is a primary way the FLL is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“The presence of these great writers underlies the importance language studies plays in the academic life of the university,” Hager said.
But Zizek, who is teaching a course on the “Uses and Misuses of Lacan in Film and Literary Theory,” said the benefits of his visit to Georgetown are reciprocal.
“Where I come from, the university is used as an option to avoid unemployment,” Zizek said. According to Zizek, only one-fourth of his students in Slovenia had serious interest in their studies. “Here you get real interest in the subject. There is hope for my theory here,” she said.
The visiting writers, along with German novelist Peter Schneider, will be featured Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Gaston Hall in a panel discussion entitled “Literature in the Next Millennium.” Deborah Tannen of the linguistics department will moderate the event, which is free and open to the public.
Earlier celebratory events this week included Tuesday’s conference on Paris during the jazz age and a Spanish-language play entitled “Alfabeto para Analfabetos” on Thursday. A French-language play entitled “Madame Huguette de Français Souche de Souche” will be performed Friday night at the French Embassy.
