Antonia Schleicher
OXFORD, Miss. – Indiana University Professor Antonia Schleicher will discuss “The Growing Impact of African Languages in the United States” Oct. 27 at the University of Mississippi for the Department of Modern Languages‘ 54th annual Christopher Longest Lecture.
The lecture is slated for 5:30 p.m. in Bondurant Hall Auditorium, preceded by a 4:30 reception at Paris-Yates Chapel. Admission to both events is free to the public. Donald Dyer, UM chair of modern languages, said the department is looking forward to yet another great Longest Lecture.
“This year’s speaker will deliver the first talk on African languages in the 54-year history of the endowed series, a talk which will be particularly relevant for our community given the university’s initiation this year of basic language instruction in Swahili,” Dyer said. “Dr. Schleicher is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar and pedagogue who works tirelessly to advance the field of African-language study in the United States. We will be extremely proud to welcome her to Oxford.”
Schleicher, professor of African Studies at Indiana University, is also the founding executive director of IU’s Center for Language Excellence and the director of the U.S. National African Language Resource Center. Before assuming her new position at IU in 2012, she was a professor of African linguistics for 23 years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In 2012, she was inducted into the Nigerian Academy of Letter. In 2010, she received the UW-Madison Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages Walton Award for a Lifetime Distinguished Career in support of less commonly taught languages.
Schleicher has authored eight textbooks and four multimedia CD-ROMs for the learning of Yoruba and has co-authored numerous textbooks for other African languages such as Swahili, Shona and Pulaar. She co-authored “African Language Pedagogy: An Emerging Field.” She has edited more than 20 other books and six journals and has authored nearly two dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals.
She has degrees from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and the University of Kansas, both in general linguistics, and much of her work deals with pedagogical issues in foreign and second language acquisition. She is president of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association, which publishes the Modern Language Journal. She also serves as executive director of NCOLCTL and the African Language Teachers Association.
Schleicher was awarded the U.S. President’s Gold Level Volunteer Service Award for more than 500 hours a year of devoted and unpaid service to the cause of promoting less-commonly taught languages and cultures in the United States. She served a three-year term on the board of directors of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
“After reading about the amazing career of Christopher Longest and the caliber of outstanding speakers that have been selected to speak each year, I felt truly humbled and at the same time greatly honored to be a part of this series,” Schleicher said. “More so that I will be the first to present on African languages. I am really looking forward to being a part of the celebration of the life of this great scholar and administrator.”
The Christopher Longest Series was created by Ann Waller Reins Longest to honor her husband and also enrich the university. The series, which began in 1961, is named for the former UM chair and professor of modern languages.
Christopher Longest, a native of Pontotoc County, graduated from UM in 1900. He first taught English at Johns Hopkins University, where he completed his graduate degree in 1908. He earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1915 and a doctor of law degree from Mississippi College in 1950.
Longest held several Spanish and Latin teaching positions from 1908 until he became the chairman of the Department of Modern Languages in 1947, serving until 1951. He also served as acting chancellor in 1930, registrar in 1929 and 1930 and also director of the university’s summer session from 1920 to 1934. He managed the alumni fund from 1912 to 1951. After retiring from teaching, Longest became president of First National Bank of Oxford.