Languages Summit

Arthur Verhoogt is LSA Associate Dean for the Humanities and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Professor of Papyrology and Greek in the Department of Classical Studies. He is widely recognized for his work on the social and economic history of Graeco-Roman Egypt, often reconstructing the daily lives of ancient people through the texts they left behind.

Johannes von Moltke is Interim Director of the International Institute and Rudolf Arnheim Collegiate Professor of German Studies and Film, Media & Television. Johannes’ research and teaching focuses are film and German cultural history of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Julie Evershed is the Director of the Language Resource Center (LRC) within the College of LSA. Julie has over two decades of experience working at the LRC and she is an advocate for multilingualism and inclusive practices.

Barbara Alvarez is Librarian for Romance Languages & Literatures, French, Italian & Iberian Studies, and Comparative Literature. She is also Director of the Library's International Studies department that manages collections and provides support for research and teaching in various scholarly disciplines focused on regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Australia, and the Pacifi

Liangyu Fu is Director of the Asia Library, where she formerly served as the Chinese Studies Librarian for almost eleven years. She currently oversees the library's development of collection, services and programming, and leads the library’s partnerships with U-M’s East Asian Studies community, including the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, the Center for Japanese Studies, and the Nam Center for Korean Studies. 

Monika Dressler is Director of Academic Technology Services, part of the larger umbrella of LSA Technology Services. She leads a large instructional support unit responsible for overseeing campus resources, including 239 classrooms, over 100 conference rooms, computer labs, and media centers.

Philomena Meechan is the Instructional Learning Lead at the Language Resource Center, where she works with faculty to integrate instructional technology into foreign language, literature, and culture courses. She co-directs the University of Michigan's Virtual Exchange Initiative, a program that connects U-M students virtually with students at partner universities abroad for discussion and joint projects.

Todd Austin is the Instructional Technologist, Videoconferencing Lead at LSA Technology Services. Todd leads the team that supports live video connections for teaching, research, and administration across LSA and has played a key role in building up the university's videoconferencing capabilities across multiple decades.

Tim McKay is LSA Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education where he works with the entire LSA community to design and deliver a dynamic, rich, contemporary, and well-rounded liberal arts curriculum. Tim is also the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the College of LSA, and Professor of Education in the Marsal School of Education.

Adi Raz is a Lecturer in Middle East Studies and Director of the Modern Hebrew Language Program. Adi teaches all levels of Hebrew language, including creating and teaching advanced content courses in Hebrew, and she also teaches courses in English on Israeli culture.

Magdalyne Akiding is Lecturer IV in Swahili in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies. She is involved in promoting African languages and disseminating knowledge about Africa through projects like the African Storytelling Project, which brings Swahili and Yoruba instructors into local elementary schools.

Juhn Ahn is the Director of the Nam Center for Korean Studies and Associate Professor of Buddhist and Korean Studies in the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures. In ALC, he also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies where he oversees the Asian language programs. 

Gavin Arnall is Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature, specializing in Latin American and Francophone Caribbean thought and culture. He has studied Quechua and coordinates both the Quechua and Nahuatl programs.

Sanjana Ramanathan is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature. Her research focuses on intersections of ancient Greek classics and contemporary South Asian literature, critical adaptations of the ancient world, and relationships between postcoloniality & antiquity.

Christi Merrill is Chair of the Department of Comparative Literature with a research specialization in South Asian Literature and Postcolonial Theory. Christi’s work uniquely combines the theory and practice of translation, focusing primarily on contemporary Indian literature and its role in transnational conversations about justice and human rights.