Language Pod at COSI awarded Engagement Impact Grant

The Science of Language: Using Language Sciences to Promote Science Education at COSI‘ (PI Shari Speer) has been awarded a 2013 Engagement Impact Grant in the amount of $60,000. The College of Arts and Sciences will contribute an additional $30,000. The project has four goals: (1) to conduct research in the language sciences, (2) to educate the public about how human language works and about the scientific process more generally, (3) to encourage OSU students to participate in research programs and consider careers in science education, and (4) to inspire future scientists –perhaps even future scientists of language.

Locating Language at OSU

Locating Language: A Symposium on the Linguistics of Place is being hosted by OSU’s Department of Linguistics (with support from the BLN), April 20-21, in the Round Meeting Room, Ohio Union. The symposium explores the relationship between language, place, and identity. While region or geography is sometimes taken for granted in linguistic work, recent research has highlighted the complexity of the ways in which speakers use language to orient towards place, demonstrating that linguistic practice does not merely reflect place, but also constructs it. The plenary speakers are Barbara Johnstone (Carnegie Mellon University), Galey Modan (OSU), and Lauren Hall-Lew (University of Edinburg).

Keynote at OSU Mansfield Diversity Conference

On Saturday, April 13, 2013, The Ohio State University at Mansfield and the Office of Multicultural Affairs hosts its one-day conference “Empowering and Engaging Diverse Perspectives: A P-16 Approach” to encourage discussion and critical thinking on issues of diversity and inclusion in the P-16 educational pipeline. The morning keynote speaker is Dr. Bob Moses, founder of the Algebra Project. I am the afternoon keynote speaker, and my talk is ‘Expanding repertoires of practice: Educational experiences of children in the Somali Diaspora’.