AATSP’s 99th Annual Conference Celebrates Hispania

The AATSP’s 99th annual meeting in Chicago (July 6-9, 2017) has come and gone with special events honoring the 100th year of publication of Hispania. The activities included a plenary session titled “Happy Birthday, Hispania (1917-2017)” that looked forward to the journal’s future as well as providing an opportunity to reflect back on Hispania’s long and distinguished record of publication. In order of presentation, the panelists explored the following topics.

Hispania’s Centenary Issue: Genesis and Development
       Frank Nuessel (University of Louisville)

Communities, Past and Future
       Ethel Jorge (Pitzer College)

The Changing Nature of Second Language Scholarship in Hispania
       Bill VanPatten (Michigan State University)

The Role of Hispania in the Re-examination of Foreign Language Teacaher Education
       Comfort Pratt (Texas Tech University)

The City as Organizing Principle in Twenty-First-Century Luso-Hispanic Studies
       Ben Fraser (East Carolina University)

Hispania, Hispania, Hispanic
       John T. Maddox (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

The Hidden and Changing Faces of Spanish: Addressing Global Diversity
       Boris Yelin (Purdue University)

Engaged Humanities and the Future of Spanish Programs
       Ann Abbott (University of Illinois)

Two other sessions highlighted the journal in Chicago. Presenters Megan Myers (Iowa State University), Anne Fountain (San José State University), and Linda Egnatz (Lincoln-Way West High School) demonstrated how to use Hispania articles and reviews to inspire high school teaching. Myers examined business Spanish techniques from “Entrepreneurial Literacy and the Second Language Curriculum” (Rauch and Slack; see Hispania 99.3). Fountain explored issues of social justice, literature, and culture from the review of her book José Martí, the United States, and Race (Persaud; see Hispania 99.4). Egnatz discussed “Expanding the Spanish Classroom: The ‘Art’ in Liberal Arts” (Díaz; see Hispania 99.3).

The third session was “Hispania: Publishing Your Work in Academic Journals.” Guest speaker Mark P. Del Mastro (College of Charleston), the founding director of www.hispanistas.com, addressed a wide variety of publishing venues. Domnita Dumitrescu, Hispania’s Book/Media Review Editor (California State University, Los Angeles) and Conxita Domènech, Hispania’s Assistant Managing Editor (University of Wyoming), and I provided information about the editorial and production processes for academic articles and reviews.

In the coming months, other sessions will be held concerning Hispania. In November 2017, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) will hold a session titled “Celebrating 100 Years of the AATSP’s Hispania” in Nashville. In January 2018, the Modern Language Association (MLA) will host a panel named “Celebrating 100 Years of Hispania” at the convention in New York City.

I invite you to celebrate Hispania’s 100th year of publication by anticipating our special Centenary Issue (100.5)! Hispania’s editorial staff is grateful to the AATSP’s leadership for its vision to publish an unprecedented fifth issue of the journal this year. The Centenary Issue marks the jubilee of both the journal and the professional association.

Issue 100.5 will appear in print and online. In December 2017, it will be fully available online to members and non-members on the AATSP website. Complete open access to the Centenary Issue will be downloadable by teachers, researchers, and members of the general public. The free issue is expected to result in the broadest dissemination and distribution of Hispania to date.

Over 300 pages of content in the Centenary Issue represents the collected work of more than 80 AATSP members at all instructional levels. The initiative focuses on visionary innovation for the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese. With a structure of four introductory columns and 31 short essays with more than 40 responses, issue 100.5 covers a wide variety of topics written by and for educators of Spanish and Portuguese. A limited number of essays were prereleased to coincide with the 99th Annual Conference of the AATSP and already appear on the association’s website.

Finally, I gratefully acknowledge Guest Editor Frank Nuessel for his substantial contributions, expertise and time that included reading, reviewing, and editing many essays and rejoinders for the Centenary Issue. It has always been an honor for me to edit the journal and, on this special anniversary...