Building Compassionate Systems of Accountability to Help Scholars and Institutions Thrive
One of my English department colleagues here at UNNES graciously invited me to attend the wedding reception for his niece a couple of weeks ago. What an amazing opportunity for another cultural experience here in Indonesia! On a hot Sunday afternoon, hundreds of us gathered under tents in the family’s neighborhood to celebrate the marriage…
There’s nothing better than working with a room full of educators trying to make connections between research and their practice! Saturday was the UNNES English Department’s free workshop for local teachers, an annual service project that connects the research and practice of the university with educators from around the area. Working together with the committee,…
Speaking with a group of future language teachers Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with a class of undergraduate language teaching students here at UNNES – they were in a class called “Teaching Indonesian to Foreigners.” I was invited by their teacher, and my language tutor, Ibu Wati, to talk with them about American…
Last week in Brisbane, Australia, I had the opportunity to participate in the Association of Internet Researchers Conference and the pre-conference gathering of the Young, Creative, Connected Network. We met on the beautiful urban Gardens Point campus of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), adjacent to the Botanical Gardens, in Brisbane city center. Both events created…
Just a week after arriving in Semarang, I had the pleasure of giving a keynote at the 8th International Conference on English Language Teaching, Literature, and Translation organized by the English department at UNNES. This is a big event for this department, drawing presenters from around the region, including from Malaysia, Bangladesh, Australia, India, and…
If you know me, you know that fruits and veggies are huge staples in my diet. Here in Indonesia, I’m exploring a whole new produce landscape. One of my new favorites is snake fruit, or salak. This fruit is native to the island I’m on, Java, and is readily available and delicious. Wikipedia tells me…
A visual review of how I was welcomed to Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES; “State University of Semarang”) Settling In Lulu (on right), from the International Office at UNNES, took me and my sister to a Super Indo Market to shop for food, cooking and cleaning supplies, and housewares. The store manager (on left) was so…
In late July, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with my long-time collaborator and dear friend, Alecia Magnifico, as we co-designed and co-facilitated a week-long, graduate credit course as part of the University of New Hampshire’s Literacy Institute. Our course, “Writing in the Wild: Fanfiction as a Classroom Practice,” was a brilliant opportunity to…
Earlier this year, I found out that I was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant for a research project titled, “The Digital Literacies of Indonesian Secondary Students: An Exploration to Inform Their Educators.” From September 2019 – February 2020, I will be hosted by Dr. Puji Astuti and her colleagues at State University of Semarang/Universitas…