Students hold forum on language housing options

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

Ph.D. student Ignacio Rodeño (left) moderates a panel of undergraduate presentations on residential language programs during an April 27 exchange at Dartmouth College. (Jim Scott photo)

small group of students from Thatcher Language House's Spanish corridor found some kindred souls at Dartmouth College last month during a weekend exchange organized by two doctoral candidates from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

     During the daylong program on April 27, undergraduate panels from Dartmouth's La Casa, a residential Spanish-language option, and Thatcher House compared their experiences and discussed the benefits of their respective programs.

     "Living On-Campus: an International Experience" was the brainchild of Ignacio Rodeño, a doctoral candidate who serves as a teaching associate to the Spanish language corridor, and Ana Maria Diaz-Marcos, a UMass Ph.D. student who's also the head of La Casa.

     Without any faculty assistance, the two friends put together the exchange, according to professor Nina Scott, who attended the program with Therese Pasquale, associate director of Residential Academic Programs, which operates the Thatcher Language House. Dartmouth provided most of the funding for the exchange program.

     Scott was particularly impressed with the two-minute presentations by the undergraduates about various aspects of life on the Spanish floor in Thatcher.

     In her presentation, "The Romance Connection: From Italian to Spanish," first-year student Katherine Falbo demonstrated her language skills by starting her talk in Italian and then switching to Spanish at the halfway point. Falbo is majoring in Italian.

     Maida Jarrell, a sophomore exchange student from the University of Northern Arizona, compared her experiences at UMass with those at her home institution.

     Juniors Holly Courtney and Katie Sinkoski offered comments about being "companeras," or roommates who help each other, according to Scott.

     Other speakers included sophomore Daniel Blanchard and first-year student Irene Urmeneta.

     Students from La Casa and two other Dartmouth programs, Latino House and Brewster House, also shared their insights into international life on campus.

     The day concluded with a poetry performance by a third UMass Ph.D. student, Dèborah González.

     Rodeño said the exchange program demonstrated that while Thatcher House lacks the financial resources of La Casa, the two programs match up pretty well.

     "The level of Spanish skills and comprehension was basically the same," he said.

     While La Casa has about 12 students, Rodeño said there are almost twice as many students enrolled in the Thatcher program.

     Rodeño said the participants were excited by the success of the program. "They're eager to help keep the exchange going from year to year. We may host it next spring."

     The exchange was also a perfect send-off for Rodeño, who recently accepted a tenure-track faculty job at Xavier University in Cincinnati.