Who What Where

The Department of Philosophy held a round-table discussion on “Approaches of Buddhism to Contemporary Biomedical Issues”on September 9, 2009.  The event was designed as a forum for Thai students and students from Waseda University, Japan, to exchange ideas and views. Feedback from participants was very positive and all said they found it a rich and rewarding experience.

Dr Brett Farmer is leaving the English Department after two years to take up the inaugural professorial position in the Faculty's international BALAC Program. Dr Farmer is an experienced and widely published scholar in the areas of cultural and media studies. While he is sad to be leaving the English Department, he is looking forward to continuing his contributions to the Faculty and in particular to developing the BALAC program to its fullest potential as an internationally-benchmarked provider of global arts education.

Dr.Reiko Ishibashi of the Japanese Section will present a poster "The Effectiveness of the Teacher's Implicit Feedback on L2 Writing" at the 2009 International Conference on Japanese Language Education organized by the Society of Teaching Japanese at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan on October 11, 2009.

The Russian Section will also give a warm welcome to Ms. Raisa Dzanaeva, an experienced teacher of both Russian language and literature, as well as a specialist in linguistics.

Professor Dr. Roger T. Ames, University of Hawaii, U.S.A. was invited by the Department of Philosophy to present a special lecture on “Post-Marxist New Confucianism in 21St Century China: A Response to Western Philosophy” on August 19, 2009. Those who attended were treated to a stimulating presentation.

The Spanish Section is delighted to welcome a new instructor, Ms. Catalina Del Rosario Inazunta Marca, who will help teach Spanish to our students. Apart from her language skills in Spanish and English, she is also a specialist in education.

Ajarn Sara Raquel Andre who joined us under a one-year contract with the Portuguese Embassy will complete her term in late September. She has been teaching Portuguese at our Faculty for two semesters. The students will miss her as she says goodbye to them. Bon voyage!

Ajarn Scott Humphries is the resident top swimmer of the English  Department. His passion for swimming takes him to the CU 500-metre swimming pool every day, rain or shine.

Ajarn Dr. Ingo Peters, Department of English, had his article “A Sea of Stories: Islands as Shima in Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s Sightseeing”—presenting the first results from his research project on Thai American literature—accepted for publication by ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, a reputable Canadian academic journal with a broadly postcolonial remit.

Professor Dr. Dorothy Hale, Director of Graduate Studies, University of California at Berkley, and former President of the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature was invited by the Thai Studies Center and the English Department to give a lecture entitled “On Beauty as Beautiful?: The Problem of Novelistic Aesthetics, By Way of Zadie Smith” on June 17, 2009 from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. in Room 707 Boromrachakumari Building.

Assist. Prof. Fan Ying, Assist. Prof. Ji Hongfang and Ajarn Fan Chunming teamworked to train Miss Thanasri Sutirapak, a senior student majoring in Chinese, for the 8th Chinese Bridge-Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, which took place on June 6, 2009 at Rachada City Hotel. Thanks to their assiduous guidance, Miss Thanasri won the Second Runner-up Award in the competition.

From 11 to 13 May 2009 CICU cooperated with the CU Chinese Section to organize a project entitled “Chinese Language Training for College Teachers in Thailand for the year 2009,” which aimed to develop teaching methods for college teachers in Thailand. For this project, two experts from Peking University were invited to give lectures. Approximately 50 teachers from 34 universities in Thailand joined this training session. An academic seminar on the topic of “H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Her Royal Highness’s Contribution to Chinese Language Educational Development in Thailand” was also held in conjunction with this project in Room 212, Maha Chulalongkorn Building. The purpose of this seminar was two-fold: to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of H.R.H. the Princess’s inscription in Chinese characters stating “Before us is a heavy responsibility and a long path to go” and to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the stablishment of the Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University.

Ajarn Claudio Kasperl, German Section, Department of Western Languages took part in a meeting of lecturers and representatives of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) at Hanoi, Vietnam, from 3 April to 6 April, 2009. The German lecturers and experts for academic exchanges from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines came together to discuss recent developments in their fields, particularly with relevance to the region of Southeast Asia. In this meeting Ajarn Claudio presented a paper on the educational background of German majors at Chulalongkorn University.

On March 29, 2009, the Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University (CICU), in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, organized an academic seminar on the topic of “The Economic Development and Cultural Prosperity in China” in Room 212, Maha Chulalongkorn Building. This seminar aimed to celebrate the 54th birthday anniversary of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Approximately 160 Thai and Chinese participants attended this seminar.

Ajarn Dr. Brett Farmer, Department of English, conducted a two-day workshop on teaching film and literature hosted by the Department of English for Thai ajarns of English on March 18-19. The workshop attracted over fifty participants from universities as far afield as Chiang Mai and was deemed a success by all concerned. Dr Farmer has also had two recent research publications come out: a chapter on celebrity media reception in a new collection of cultural theory essays from
Oxford University Press, and an article on the Edison Chen internet scandal in the latest issue of "The Journal of Chinese Cinemas".