The College of Humanities and Fine Arts extends a warm welcome to Mariana Ivanova, the new Academic Director of the DEFA Film Library. As a scholar of East German cinema, she brings a wealth of experience to continue the legacy of Founding Director Barton Byg and to lead new global initiatives and collaborations. Based in the German and Scandinavian Studies Program in the department of languages, literatures, and cultures, the DEFA Film Library is the only research center worldwide devoted to a broad spectrum of filmmaking from and related to the former German Democratic Republic. Since its founding in 1993, it has become internationally known for its innovative approaches to scholarship and programming.

The U.S. Department of Education recently funded a four-year, $1.18 million efficacy study of MathSpring, a research-­based, game-like intelligent math tutor developed by research professor Beverly Woolf in the College of Information and Computer Sciences and her long-time collaborator Ivon Arroyo, now an associate professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Stephanie Fetta, associate professor of Spanish, has earned the annual MLA Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies from the Modern Language Association (MLA). Fetta was honored for her book “Shaming into Brown: Somatic Transactions of Race in Latina/o Literature.” 

As part of an increasingly global focus on educational enrichment opportunities, the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management has entered into a multi-year educational partnership with the Global Institute of Sports Business, a program developed by the sport management agency India On Track.