Mission
The Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (DWLLC) supports the study of languages, literatures, and cultures at the University of Iowa and strives to make them visible locally, nationally, and internationally. The Division fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among its constituent units, offering a forum where member units work together to (1) advance the study of languages, literatures, linguistics, societies, regions, and cultures; (2) develop interdisciplinary research and artistic creativity; and (3) promote global awareness and an appreciation of human diversity within the multilingual, multicultural realities of our contemporary global society. With its emphases on understanding and embracing linguistic and cultural diversity, on investigating and understanding language structure and usage, and on promoting critical global literacy, creative writing, and translation, the DWLLC is central to both the University’s mission of diversity, equity and inclusion, and to its status as the Writing University.

Vision
The greatest strengths of the DWLLC lie in its diversity of disciplines and methodologies and its large numbers of language majors and minors. Faculty are highly invested in student success, and in providing opportunities for rich cultural exploration through the co-curriculum, as well as through study abroad. We see great potential for further collaboration among departments and programs in the Division not only via our strategic emphasis on research, teaching, and community engagement that is focused on multilingualism, but also via other areas of commonality, such as digital humanities, writing systems, and translation. Additionally, we see opportunities to foster the University’s reputation as the Writing University through the continued development of our MFA in Spanish Creative Writing, our graduate and undergraduate programs in Translation (including our renowned MFA in Literary Translation and a new undergraduate major in Translation, to be launched in Fall 2022), and through continued emphasis, throughout our curricula, on effective writing and communication. We seek to address critical needs in the state of Iowa by working to develop the infrastructure that will support the eventual creation of an American Sign Language/English Interpreter Education program, as well as summer programming for K-12 world language educators. Indeed, the DWLLC has the potential to serve as a beacon in the state of Iowa for language instruction, whether via online language offerings in commonly or less commonly taught languages, or through research and training initiatives. Finally, the Center for Language and Culture Learning has the potential, as a reinvigorated learning commons, to help foster our collaborative and multidisciplinary approaches by providing support for both teaching (technology integration, materials creation) and student success (co-curriculum and peer tutoring).

Goals
We strive to increase collaboration across DWLLC departments and programs in order to highlight our shared commitment to multilingualism, intercultural competency, and internationalization in our research, teaching, and community engagement efforts. The diversity of our scholarly and pedagogical pursuits allows us to approach this shared commitment from multiple avenues—second language acquisition, translation and interpretation, cultural studies, to name just a few. There are four main facets of this plan: research, creative activity, and engagement; student success; branding and marketing; and infrastructure and governance. Through strategic action in each of these areas, we seek to promote the Division and its constituent departments and programs as a “destination” within the destination that is the University of Iowa, a place where graduate and undergraduate students can find exciting research and creative initiatives and opportunities to engage in humanities, and specifically multilingual humanities, for the public good; a place where undergraduates will feel fully supported and encouraged in their learning to achieve linguistic proficiency, intercultural competency, and to develop their second language writing skills; a place where all learners can have fun and learn by doing, whether through language practice, multi-cultural events, or cooking. We have used tags to indicate the ways in which the strategies below intersect with and promote cross- cutting themes and goals of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, supporting and promoting student success, elevating our profile as a destination for research, outreach, and engagement, and enhancing our role in the Writing University.

  • Research, creative activity, and engagement
    We seek to showcase and enhance the exciting research in the DWLLC, to create interdisciplinary synergies, and mechanisms to bring that research to wider audiences—the campus and Iowa City communities, the state, and beyond, through both traditional (symposia, workshops, publications) and innovative means (the creation of a multilingual humanities lab). The goal is to encourage research and engagement at all levels (faculty, graduate, undergraduate, and staff) in order to promote scholarship and creative work for the public good.
     
  • Student success
    We wish to develop multiple avenues for undergraduate and graduate students to succeed. We seek to improve academic and social support for our undergraduates and to help them become interculturally competent members of a global society, and to improve professional development opportunities that will help to prepare our graduate students for an array of careers both within and outside of the academy. And we seek, in this area, to truly create a destination by building a teaching kitchen to support language and culture learning. Our goal is that well-supported and engaged students will continue language study beyond World Language CLAS Core requirements.
     
  • Branding/Marketing
    We strive to substantially raise the profile of the Division, both in the eyes of prospective students and in the view of CLAS, the University, and the broader community –thereby increasing opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student success and for the creation and dissemination of scholarship and creative works that will enhance the public good.
     
  • Divisional Infrastructure and Governance
    Since its creation in 2008, DWLLC has evolved in both membership and focus. We seek to identify and implement the organizational and governance structures that will best facilitate achievement of Divisional goals and aspirations.

Strategic Plan

Goal 1

Foster interdisciplinary collaboration to encourage research and engagement at all levels (faculty, graduate, undergraduate, and staff).

Strategy 1

A Multilingual & Multicultural Humanities Lab
Create a series of focused, interdisciplinary hubs, each consisting of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates working together to research a problem, issue or concept and transform that research into action through meaningful collaboration with community partners.

Critical Tasks:

  • Convene an advisory committee consisting of faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and staff to develop (flexible) templates and infrastructure for carrying out labs.
  • Identify key projects to pursue in the short and long terms.
  • Solicit input from key constituents, including researchers both within and outside of
  • DWLLC, students, and community partners
  • For each lab: engage with community partners to determine the scope and scale of a
  • project; develop curriculum; develop a database of relevant internships and research
  • projects for students.
  • Develop marketing materials.

Indicators of Success:

  • Two labs launched by Spring 2022. Examples of potential projects developed through collaborative use of existing resources:
    • Mapping multilingualism/engaging with multilingual local communities
    • Exploring structures for launching a medical interpretation program
    • Working with families of newly deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the region
    • Developing a summer/institute workshop for K-12 language educators
    • Critical Global Literacy lab
  • Use participation and survey data to evaluate labs’ effectiveness.

Strategy 2

Biennial Symposium Series
Establish a biennial international symposium series dealing with multilingualism, intercultural competency, and/or internationalization, highlighting a different theme in each cycle (literature, language acquisition, translation, interpretation, DEI in language and literature education) and including tracks for showcasing both graduate and undergraduate research.

Critical Tasks:

  • With support of Stanley Major Project Award from International Programs, deliver symposium on Antiracist and Anti-discriminatory Teaching and Scholarship in World Languages, Literatures and Cultures in Spring 2022.
  • Convene an advisory committee to identify annual themes and potential speakers for future symposia.
  • Secure funding for either virtual or in-person future symposia (beginning in 2024).

Indicators of Success:

  • First symposium convened in Spring 2022, with subsequent offerings beginning in 2024.

Goal 2

Develop curricular programming that promotes student language and culture learning beyond the world language requirement.

Strategy 1

Launch and grow the B.A. in Translation.

Critical Tasks:

  • Deploy CLAS strategic initiative grant funds to support translation curriculum development in Arabic, Italian, Korean, and Portuguese.
  • Continue to build on interdisciplinary collaborations across DWLLC departments and programs by encouraging further curricular innovations and faculty development to support the Translation major.
  • Integrate translation as a principal area of community engagement in the Multilingual/Multicultural Humanities Collective.
  • Use the new major as a means to increase recruitment and retention of under-represented minorities, i.e., students with heritage languages.
  • Hire and train graduate students to assist with teaching and curricular development for Translation major.

Indicators of Success:

  • By 2026, we hope to see 10-20% growth in the number of students pursuing the Literary Translation major (from its inception).

Strategy 2

Work to develop the infrastructure necessary for a B.A. in Deaf Studies.

Critical Tasks:

  • Work with CLAS to stabilize faculty lines needed to both maintain existing levels of instruction and explore staffing initiatives that will allow us to respond to ongoing student demand for increased curricular offerings.
  • Develop advanced courses in Deaf culture, Deaf history, and ASL linguistics, along with introductory courses in ASL/English interpreting, that will recruit students to the major and serve as the foundation for an Interpreting Education program.
  • Explore initiatives to further enhance awareness of the Deaf community, both among students and within the broader University and regional contexts. Possible initiatives include helping to establish high school ASL programs, teaching a Deaf Studies DI CLAS Core course, and establishing programming aimed at teaching parents of deaf and hard of hearing children ASL.

Indicators of Success:

  • By 2026, launch the major in Deaf Studies.

Strategy 3

Reinvigorate the WLLC curriculum.
Consider electives that supplement current DWLLC unit majors and minors; courses that promote cross-discipline collaboration for undergraduates; courses that provide professional development/career preparation, etc.

Critical Tasks:

  • Develop a framework for what constitutes a Division-level WLLC course, how or if such courses count for majors and minors within DWLLC (and, if relevant, outside of DWLLC), and how or if they can be a part of the Lab structure.
  • Collaborate with other departments to cross-list WLLC courses, and to identify synergistic clusters of courses that will enhance student experience in Divisional programs.

Indicators of Success:

  • Framework development initiated in AY 2021-22 and completed by Fall 2022.
  • Building on this new rubric, more intentional and coordinated deployment of WLLC courses within and across DWLLC unit curricula.

Goal 3

Develop mechanisms to promote student success through undergraduate programs.

Strategy 1

Language Peer Tutoring Program
Grow the Language Peer tutoring program to provide supplemental instruction for all general education language courses as well as structured intercultural dialogues to help students develop intercultural communicative competence.

Critical Tasks:

  • Investigate models for the structure and funding of peer tutoring programs, both within CLAS and at other universities, including options for unpaid apprenticeships, course credit, and paid tutoring positions, and models for integrating peer tutors as curricular participants.
  • If paid model is called for, secure funding to pay student peer tutors by advocating in budget process and/or by identifying appropriate external funding sources.
  • Work with departments to recruit tutors and with Tutor Iowa for training and best practices.
  • Develop co-curriculum to create structured intercultural learning activities, potentially leading to intercultural portfolios that include artifacts of and personal reflections on intercultural learning (e.g., language study, study abroad).
  • Publicize the tutoring program (as well as the Directed Independent Language Study – DILS– program for less commonly taught languages).

Indicators of Success:

  • Track student participation through SWIPE and student effectiveness surveys.
  • Complete intercultural co-curriculum design? by Spring 2022 with goal of encouraging all majors and minors to complete a portfolio.

Strategy 2

Student Ambassador Program
Building on successful programs in Spanish & Portuguese and in German, develop an Ambassador program consisting of peer mentors who can help to encourage students to matriculate at higher levels, pursue study abroad and/or international internships, research, participation in the multilingual humanities lab [name update] and other community engagement initiatives.

Critical Tasks:

  • Analyze other similar programs on campus and at peer institutions, exploring credit- granting models and possible ties with peer tutoring programs.
  • Create student testimonials by upper-level students and alumni to give current students insights on the benefit of, and practical skills gained from, language study. (Post videos on websites and social media)
  • Hold a multi-departmental student intercultural fair spearheaded by ambassadors and tutors –a cultural showcase, a fashion show, a song contest, a food event?

Indicators of Success:

  • By end of Fall 2021, have videos for all languages on social media, websites, and ready to be used in digital marketing campaign to high schools.
  • Track engagement with digital marketing materials, and with high school programs/students.
  • Track course enrollment trends, comparing pre- and post-campaign figures.

Strategy 3

Multilingual Speaking and Writing Center
Explore expanding the services of the Spanish Speaking and Writing Center to be a Multilingual Speaking and Writing Center.

Critical Tasks:

  • Research multilingual writing centers and develop a “business plan” for how to expand services with limited resources.
  • Explore expanding creative writing opportunities in other languages.

Indicators of Success:

  • Track student participation through existing Writing Center platform and student surveys.

Strategy 4

Center for Language and Culture (CLCL) Teaching Kitchen
Create a teaching kitchen in the Center for Language and Culture Learning (CLCL) to be used for food-related courses and activities centered around food and culture.

Critical Tasks:

  • Develop an event series at an external test kitchen/lab in local Iowa City area to gauge feasibility/interest in the program and to serve as a springboard for funding applications.
    • Examples: Work with Catholic Workers House to create an outreach program in which we cook meals for those in need; cooking demonstrations in a particular language.
  • Develop a fundraising strategy through the Goldrush, Center for Advancement and other mechanisms.
  • Work with kitchen designer to create an architectural plan.
  • Work with faculty who teach food and culture courses to develop food-based curricula.

Indicators of Success:

  • By 2023, we will have developed the infrastructure of CLCL teaching kitchen. By 2024, we will have implemented our first food-based curricula. By 2026, we hope to see an increase of 5% in enrollment in courses featuring food-based cultural instruction.
  • By Spring 2024, we hope to see a 5% increase, and by 2026, a 10% increase, in student involvement in community-based projects.

Goal 4

Increase visibility of our undergraduate and graduate programs to increase student enrollment in courses and recruitment of majors/minors, etc. across Divisional units.

Strategy 1

Enhance the digital presence of our graduate programs locally, nationally, and internationally.

Critical Tasks:

  • Develop targeted recruitment brochures for all DWLLC unit graduate programs.
  • Foster relationships, through research and teaching networks, with regional college language programs to identify and recruit graduate students.
  • Work with professional advisors in the Academic Advising Center to develop effective communication strategies.

Indicators of Success:

  • Increase in number of students participating in DWLLC unit graduate programs.

Strategy 2

Increase marketing efforts to promote undergraduate programs to Iowa high school students and beyond.

Critical Tasks:

  • Develop undergraduate program brochures for all DWLLC unit major and minor programs.
  • Collaborate with University of Iowa Office of Admissions.
  • Develop a network with Iowa/Midwest regional high schools and community colleges.
  • Work with professional advisors in the Academic Advising Center to develop effective communication strategies.

Indicators of Success:

  • Increase in student declared DWLLC unit majors and minors from inception of marketing initiatives to 2026.

Strategy 3

Provide support at the Divisional level for departmental unit publications.

Critical Tasks:

  • Collaborate existing departmental publications on needs (e.g., Iowa Literaria (Spanish- Portuguese department); Exchanges (Literary Translation)).
  • Create publishing opportunities for graduate student creative work and research.

Indicators of Success:

  • Increase in amount of and frequency of departmental publications.

Goal 5

Investigate/Interrogate the structure of the Division to create an inclusive representative body for Division-level decision making.

Strategy 1

Develop ways for decisions to be made at a Divisional level with representation from all constituencies in a committee structure that enhances communication and collaboration.

Critical Tasks:

  • Evaluate effectiveness of current committees (interdisciplinary, curriculum, building and space, executive, pedagogy and instructional innovation)
  • Create or reconfigure committees in a way that makes sense at the Division level, with representation from all faculty ranks, with a three-to-five-year commitment and a cycling Chair (i.e., in year one/two a committee member learns the goals of the committee and can serve as Chair by year three; Committees could then comprise a Chair, two tenured or tenure track faculty, two instructional track faculty, two graduate students, with representation from as many programs as possible).
  • Determine tasks, concrete outcomes and deadlines, e.g.
    • The interdisciplinary committee could be tasked with developing the Lab and/or
    • mapping current interdisciplinary initiatives/brainstorming others.
    • The curriculum committee could be tasked with comparing curricula across departments, making recommendations for curricular innovation, and ways in
    • which courses can be cross-listed for interdisciplinary purposes.
    • A DEI committee could be charged with developing Division-wide initiatives,
    • including curriculum, interdisciplinary initiatives, symposia, teach-ins, etc.
    • ExecutiveCommitteecouldbetaskedwithmakingsurethattheothercommittees are on-task and communicating. Perhaps a member from EC can serve as either
    • Chair of the other committees or as an ad-hoc member.

Indicators of Success:

  • Determine necessary committees and tasks by the end of Fall 2021.
  • Each committee determines own tasks and metrics, but should report to the Executive Committee or to the entire DWLLC faculty periodically.

Strategy 2

Explore departmental/programmatic configurations within DWLLC.

Critical Tasks:

  • Evaluate the DWLLC Manual of Operating Procedure for currency and relevance.
  • Evaluate unit structures, seeking to identify strategies that will allow us to build on existing strengths and progress effectively and efficiently toward achievement of shared goals.

Indicators of Success:

  • Revision and updating of the MOP as needed.
  • Identification of appropriate strategies to assist in meeting shared goals.