Oxford’s Michaelmas Terms always have a speed of their own: it seems no time at all since the buzz of the Faculty welcome for the new graduate students, the first week of first year lectures, or the return of the final year students from their various adventures abroad. Yet the new colleagues whom we welcomed at the start of the academic year have by now embarked on term, teaching, and the admissions exercise like old hands: Rajendra Chitnis, Associate Professor in Czech, Emily Oliver, temporary Senior German Instructor, as well as new lectors in Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish, and Departmental Lecturers in French and German.
This edition of The Oxford Polyglot gives a taste of the many things going on within the faculty: we have an article on Simon Gilson’s inaugural lecture. Current undergraduates tell us about Oxford’s first Argentina week, about discovering a hidden gem of a library during a year abroad in Quebec and about winning the first New Books in German translation prize. We hear about a postdoctoral project researching Portugal’s national epic and the recently founded Queen’s College translation exchange. We look back on our 61st annual schools conference and forward to an event celebrating 50 years of Spanish and Portuguese in Oxford. 2020 will be a bumper year for Oxford Modern Languages since it also marks the centenary of the appointment of the first Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature.
It has been a privilege as well as a pleasure to take over from Ian Watson as Chair of the Faculty Board, and to see the many facets of Faculty life in the round. I hope that you will enjoy reading this snapshot, and look forward to receiving your comments and contributions!
With all good wishes for the festive season and the new year!
Best wishes,
Professor Almut Suerbaum
Chair of the Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty Board