About us

Dr Tiina Tuominen parted company with SMLC on 28th April to continue her professional career in Finland, her home country.  Her contributions to the School have gone far beyond her outstanding stewardship of the MSc Translation Studies, of which she was Programme Convener. We all commend and thank her for her professionalism, collegiality and kindness. She will be greatly missed by students and staff alike. We are grateful for the privilege of having worked with her and wish her all the best in the exciting research project that awaits her in Finland. 

In Italian, we were sorry to lose Daniela Sannino on 30th April. She joined us in 2018 on the first of two consecutive appointments, and since then we have come to know Daniela as a superb and totally reliable member of the team. She has made a huge contribution across all Italian teaching areas, including Study Abroad. SMLC and Italian are most grateful for everything she has done as a colleague and friend, and very sad that her appointment has come to an end. 

Dr Elena Simon of Hispanic Studies left SMLC to take up a new post at the University of Strathclyde. A key part of her role was to convene Spanish Beginners, where she developed  course materials and taught grammar lectures and was responsible for around 200 students. She attracted particular praise for her use of Moodle within the course and for her personalised, detailed and responsive feedback. Her clarity and guidance was also greatly appreciated by the Native Language Teachers working on the course. Colleagues across Spanish valued her professionalism and her willingness to share ideas and examples of good practice. While teaching at SMLC Elena also successfully completed her PhD thesis. 

Joe Russo's appointment as International Mobility Convenor came to an end in 2020. His colleagues and students have been exceedingly appreciative of Joe's work. He has been a very proactive and enthusiastic Convener, and has made valuable contributions to Learning & Teaching and to developing  teaching and assessment withinin International Mobility. While we are losing his hard work and dedication to the role, we are glad that Joe will not be leaving SMLC completely, as he will continue his PhD in German. 

Colleagues in French were saddened to say goodbye to Guillaume Lecomte, a valued member of the lecturing team who left us on 12th June. Since August 2019, Guillaume has done a fantastic job as Convenor of the French Level 1 Non-Beginners language course.  He has taught right across the French programme – with a particular emphasis on bande dessinée - and imparted his knowledge of his native language and culture with his trademark enthusiasm.  Guillaume also contributed to our research environment through his co-organisation of the Picturing Sound Conference with SMLC PG student Chris Vezza in December last year and his involvement in the University Comics Reading Group and the Stirling Maxwell Centre. 

On 30th May we bade farewell to Bill Guariento, a valued colleague within EAS (English for Academic Study) for over 20 years. He has been a driving force in delivering initial teacher training via CELTA courses, in developing and delivering the Socio-Linguistic option in the MSc/MEd TESOL programme, and also serving as Course Director for EAS Year-Round Pre-sessional courses. Bill also developed the innovative International Tele-Communication Project that became known as the EAST project that we have featured in previous newsletters. It gave our international students a unique opportunity to work with students from Chile, Palestine, and Malawi to investigate engineering problems in diverse contexts. Passionate about social justice and a great believer in the value of bringing people together, Bill was instrumental in opening up Pre-Sessional study to refugees in Glasgow. He made a lasting contribution to EAS, not just in terms of our provision but in how we see ourselves as agents for change in an international context 

After 11 years with EAS, Anna Rolinska has moved on to a full time position at the Glasgow School of Art.  Not only has she been an inspiring EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teacher committed to scholarship, but she also led the way in innovative and creative uses of technology for teaching, learning and course design.  We are pleased Anna will have the opportunity to further develop her many skills and talents in the creative context of GSA, but will miss her and her professional contributions greatly.  

Lise Tannahill from French has also left and deserves all our thanks for her valuable contribution to French from September 2019 to April 2020.  She did an excellent job in convening Level 2 French and teaching at all levels of the programme.  Colleagues and students were greatly appreciative of her work. Previously, Lise attained her Phd in SMLC and has been with us in one capacity or another for many years and she will be sorely missed.

Mavis Ho joined SMLC in Oct 2018 to teach both on the Glasgow MSc Translation Studies programme and the Glasgow-Nankai Joint Graduate School MSc Translation Studies programme. During her time at Glasgow she made significant contribution to the the running and development of the Glasgow-Nankai MSc Translation Studies programme, convening and teaching Translation Technology and Approaches to Translation and the Professional Environment. Mavis has taken up a position of lecturer in Translation Studies at University of Edinburgh in September 2020. We are of course glad that Mavis continues to progress in her career in Edinburgh but will miss her professionalism, collegiality and kindness greatly. We wish her every success in her new role!

 

It was with great sadness that we received news of the death of Peter Davies. Peter was a Senior Lecturer in French who, following his retirement, was a very generous benefactor to students in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, sponsoring two MPhils in his name. He had retained close links with the School and the Stirling Maxwell Centre. He was a lovely person and fine colleague, and will be missed by many of us. See also Alumni News. 

We were also very sad to learn of the passing of Dr Geoff Woollen in November. Geoff was Reader in French at the University of Glasgow, having arrived in 1972 following studies in Leicester. He is known for his work on the 19c, in particular on Emile Zola, and spent many years working closely with the Emile Zola Society and its Bulletin, as well as publishing on Hugo, Balzac and Rostand. He reached a widespread audience through his tireless editorship of the University of Glasgow French and German Publications series, many of whose volumes were to feature on syllabi worldwide.

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First published: 14 December 2020