Modern Languages at the University of Dallas

07/09/2026

Check out the latest updates from the faculty, students, and alumni of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Dallas!

https://udallas.edu/academics/programs/modern-languages/in-the-news.php

07/01/2026

06/19/2026

Interested in a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship? If so, the University of Dallas internal deadline is September, so it’s a great time to start your application.

Here is what Modern Languages Chair Anthony Nussmeier has learned as a member of the National Screening Committee for Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships (ETAs) in Italy:

1. Discuss not just what YOU will get out of the experience, but what you can BRING to the experience, as part of the reciprocal exchange motive of the ETAs. That is, what will your students learn? What kind of representative of the USA will you be? Does the application and/or do the letters comment on your ambassadorial potential?

2. Make sure your project proposal is VERY specific and not just “I will talk about American cinema.” Think about the fullness and uniqueness of proposal. Is there something concrete or do you speak in vagaries?

3. Do your research carefully so that your project proposal is calibrated to the realities of the country for which you are applying.

4. Demonstrate that you understand the area to which you would go (for example, in the Italian case, you have to be aware of North/South differences etc). Why Italy? It must not just be a random choice, or a choice among many.

5. Consider what sort of potential students you would have as a Fulbright recipient. WHAT are these students are studying?

6. Remember you are representing an entire country, so being too sectarian or niche in discussing how you represent the USA can be a negative.

7. Demonstrate ample teaching/mentoring/volunteering experience.

8. Think about audience. The screening committee of three often includes a country-specific member (professor of Italian, of German, etc), someone in the education or TEFL sphere, and a third member who himself has been a Fulbright recipient.

Fulbrights English Teaching Assistantship Awards here:
https://us.fulbrightonline.org/applicants/types-of-awards/english-teaching-assistant-awards

Info for UD students:
https://udallas.edu/.../prestigious-scholarships-and...

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed for U.S. graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists to

06/10/2026

I thought this might be interesting for some of y'all German Texans especially. I clipped this snippet from the Dec. 22, 1854 New Braunfels Zeitung newspaper. It's is a passenger list notice published in German. It has that Gothic typeface that always gives me problems at first. I've translated the first nine lines:

Passenger List

of the Bremen barque "Weser," Capt. W. Dewers, from Bremen, with 304 persons, who landed in Galveston on December 3, 1854.

Consigned to the firm of Kaufmann & Kläner.

C. A. Hartenstein with family, from Plauen;

F. Beitemeier from Galveston;

D. Matson from Quintana;

Louis Jünemann from Galveston;

August Engelke from Duderstadt (probably Duderstadt, Germany)

and so on and so forth. I'm not sure what "Bremer Barque" means. I think it's a type of ship from Bremen, Germany. It's pretty cool because a lot of the names on this list became prominent in Texas. Also, I should note that this paper was published by Ferdinand J. Lindheimer, who is most famous for being the Father of Texas Botany and a remarkable man.

EDIT: I thought I posted the link, but I failed to. You can view this newspaper --- and literally a million others ---- at The Portal to Texas History. The link to this specific page is here:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1799019/m1/3/?q=plumeyer

06/09/2026

🔥LAST CHANCE TO APPLY to 4 different opportunities at Notre Dame Rome:

🔹Preparing the Future Research Fellowship with Caritas Internationalis
🔸Deadline: June 10, 2026
https://careers.nd.edu/search-careers/3743990013049236-preparing-the-future-research-fellowship-with-caritas-internationalis-ci-rome-italy/

🔹Student Affairs Specialist work position
🔸 Deadline: June 15, 2026
https://careers.nd.edu/search-careers/3743990013194541-student-affairs-specialist-rome-italy/

🔹Villa Residence Rector work position
🔸Deadline: June 15, 2026
https://careers.nd.edu/search-careers/3743990013330426-villa-residence-rector-rome-italy/

🔹Call for Papers
🔸Deadline: June 30, 2026
https://rome.nd.edu/about/post-doctoral-fellows/crossing-boundaries-fostering-dialogue-humanities-academia-and-the-city-of-rome/

06/08/2026

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

Every academic year the Faculty Senate Officers, together with other faculty members, choose a book to be read for the Faculty Book Discussion. This event takes place the day after Faculty Day and before the start of the semester at the end of August.

The book this year will be G.K. Chesterton’s biography of St. Francis ("St. Francis of Assisi," first published in 1923). (As Faculty Senate Chair, I may or may not have had a role in picking this book. 😁)

One of the beautiful things about Faculty Book Discussion is that it brings together faculty from diverse disciplines to discuss a single work.

How does Chesterton's biography of the saint relate to The University of Dallas?

Not only is 2026 the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death (1226-2026), but both Assisi and San Francesco are a UD Core “experience,” and the book and topic provide natural links to many disciplines and entities at the university: from history, economics, theology, and modern languages, to politics, English, the Rome program, philosophy, business, psychology, and even art.

There is a brand-new edition of the book that checks in at an economical 116 pages:

https://lnkd.in/gWh9VuTK

More information to follow on the panels and participants.

06/05/2026

Chair of Modern Languages Dr. Anthony Nussmeier was recently in Italy, where he had the chance to visit old friends in the city of Bologna. His story is testimony to the enduring influence of a good study abroad experience!

06/05/2026

This year’s faculty book discussion at the University of Dallas will have a Modern Languages connection.

Every academic year the Faculty Senate Officers, together with other faculty members, choose a book to be read for the Faculty Book Discussion. This event takes place the day after Faculty Day and before the start of the semester at the end of August.

The book this year will be G.K. Chesterton’s biography of St. Francis ("St. Francis of Assisi," first published in 1923).

One of the beautiful things about Faculty Book Discussion is that it brings together faculty from diverse disciplines to discuss a single work.

How does Chesterton's biography of the saint relate to the University of Dallas?

Not only is 2026 the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death (1226-2026), but both Assisi and San Francesco are a UD Core “experience,” and the book and topic provide natural links to many disciplines and entities at the university: from history, economics, theology, and modern languages, to politics, English, the Rome program, philosophy, business, psychology, and even art.

There is a brand-new edition of the book that checks in at an economical 116 pages:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0FXQ6HJT7?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

More information to follow on the panels and participants.

06/05/2026

Happy to announce this forthcoming publication by Dr. Marisa Perez Bernardo, Associate Professor of Spanish! Her book on Spanish mystic Sor María de Jesús de Ágreda will be published by the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. Look for it later this year or in early 2027!

05/31/2026

Here's a handy map of German settlement in Texas. It's pretty interesting to look at. I guess I never realized that Dallas county and McClennan county were such huge German destinations. I'm surprised Comal county isn't solid green, being that New Braunfels is there.