The CGLC promotes intercultural understanding and interdisciplinary collaboration by advancing the following strategic goals related to student success and faculty support furthering both the strategic goals of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages as well as the mission of John Carroll University.
To support students, the CGLC will
- Provide and support educational technologies that enhance students’ language proficiency, cultural knowledge, and developing intercultural competence in different modalities.
- Facilitate student academic and professional achievement by organizing professional development workshops, career readiness workshops, tutoring services and student assistantships.
- Advance cura personalis and intercultural understanding by making the CGLC a safe and brave space for all students to co-mingle and collaborate.
To support faculty and staff, the CGLC will
- Provide support to faculty in the Department of Classical Languages and Cultures in course design and emerging educational technologies.
- Provide spaces for inclusive teaching and learning.
- Deliver services for the assessment, measurement and evaluation of language teaching such as administering placement exams and offering one-on-one consultations.
- Unite educators across disciplines by organizing professional development opportunities that allow them to leverage the wisdom and experience of colleagues and also reflect on evidence based best practices.
In this spirit, the CGLC fulfills the following broader University strategic priorities and goals:
- Strategic Priority 1 Goal 3: Integrate the transformative power of experiential learning, including service-learning, community-based research, and project-based learning, across academic programs to deepen real world learning and promote the development of 21st century skills as a hallmark of Jesuit education.
- Strategic Priority 1, Goal 4: Inspired by cura personalis (care for the whole person), facilitate academic program success by reorganizing the academic enterprise to be more effective, efficient, and supportive.
- Strategic Priority 2, Goal 3: Improve campus facilities and maximize their use with enhanced technology and the resources necessary to deliver services that support student engagement and success.
The Center for Global Languages and Cultures consists of three spaces all on the second floor of the O’Malley Center which are all reservable on CourseDog. All three spaces are open during standard University business hours (8:00 AM to 5:00 PM) and are reservable on CourseDog. If you would like to reserve these spaces outside of those hours, please contact cglc@jcu.edu.
OC 101 is primarily a space to complete academic work. It houses a computer lab with 24 computer workstations and a Solstice Pod ideal for instructors who want to use the space to teach their classes. It also contains flexible furniture which can be arranged in different ways for collaborative work. Moreover, there are also tables where students can bring their own devices to complete projects and print from our new campus printing station. As this space contains educational technology central to student learning, food is not permitted in this space.
OC 139 is an informal social space which can be reserved by instructors and campus student organizations. It contains an extensive humanities library as well as a theater space where students can view movies related to their coursework or where student organizations can host events. In contrast to OC 101, OC 139 is a smaller space that is food friendly and one that can safely seat 12 people and is a food friendly space.
OC 112 is both a classroom which can seat 24 people but also serves as a Cultural Activities Center where the CGLC can host guest speakers and coordinate experiential language learning.
James Nemiroff: Coordinator of the Center for Global Languages and Cultures
Office: O’Malley Center 104
E-mail: jnemiroff@jcu.edu
Phone: 216-397-4729
James Nemiroff received his Ph.D from the University of Chicago in Romance Languages and Literatures with a specialty in 16th and 17th century Spanish literature and culture. He also holds masters degrees in Spanish literature from the University of Chicago and the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid. He is also a proud liberal arts graduate holding a B.A in Spanish from Reed College.
As coordinator of the Center for Global Languages and Cultures (CGLC), he strives to provide support for faculty and students in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures by promoting technology-supported teaching and learning, maintaining a computer lab for classroom use, and overseeing a large inventory of books, movies and audio-visual resources. In the future, the CGLC will also seek to promote intercultural understanding and interdisciplinary collaboration by providing a space for student club meetings and organizing professional development workshops for students, faculty and staff. He also served as one of the project managers for the renovation of the CGLC as a collaborative hub for all campus constituencies. The re-opening of the newly renovated CGLC is scheduled for Fall Semester 2023. Furthering both the CGLC’s mission to teach intercultural competence and the University’s mission to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, Dr. Nemiroff also serves the University mission on a number of committees and task forces including the Cultural Programming Council and the Hillel Campus Climate Initiative Task Force.
In addition to serving as the coordinator of the CGLC, Dr. Nemiroff also teaches courses in the Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures Department in both Spanish literature and culture but also courses in English that complement the mission of the CGLC. In Fall 2023, he will be teaching a course in Business Spanish and he is currently designing a course in English focused on intercultural competence which will be offered in the coming years. In all of his classes, he tries to promote animo, or the ability to make mistakes in a brave and collaborative space. One of the ways in which he achieves this goal in his classroom is by assigning collaborative projects that employ educational technologies ranging from augmented reality posters to virtual reality technologies to collaborative essays written as Wikipedia entries.
Student Assistants
Ciara Daugherty
cdaugherty25@jcu.edu
Hi everyone!! My name is Cici Daugherty. I’m a junior at JCU majoring in International Business Languages and Cultures and minoring in French. I am excited to be a part of the Student Assistant team for The Center for Global Languages and Cultures (CGLC). I am from Akron, Ohio and aside from working at the CGLC I also am the Vice President of French Club and have a passion for learning new languages and learning about new cultures.
I’m excited to be working with the CGLC team to help develop additional programming for the CGLC. I am going to be organizing meetings and events to help others gain interest in the French and Spanish languages and cultures. My responsibilities as an assistant for the CGLC program is moderating the French conversation tables as well as organizing mixers to help connect more student clubs with our center.
Rafaella Di Cesaro
rdicesaro27@jcu.edu
Hello everyone! My name is Rafaella Di Cesaro. I’m a second year student majoring in Political Science in the Pre Law track, and I’m part of the Student Assistant team for The Center for Global Languages and Cultures (CGLC). I was born and raised in Lima, Peru and arrived in the country about a year ago. Aside from working at the CGLC, you can generally find me at a nearby coffee shop sipping some chai, listening to music, painting, playing video games or watching horror movies. Ever since arriving in the country I’ve been very excited to share my love for my culture and languages with everyone I know. I’llbe in charge of planning all the activities and space management of the CGLC. I’m very excited to participate in everything we have planned for the semester!
Quincy Heinzmann
qheinzmann27@jcu.edu
My name is Quincy Heinzmann. I am a first year student studying chemistry and Spanish. I am from Avon, Ohio and I've lived in the Cleveland area my whole life. I am passionate about working in the Center for Global Languages and Cultures because I see the importance of exposure to other cultures to make people more well-rounded individuals. I want to be able to help people use the Center to be more social and to grow in their language learning. I hope that studying Spanish and working in the CGLC will help prepare me to someday live in Spain.
Sophia Mera
smera27@jcu.edu
Hello, I am Sophia Mera, a new Student Assistant for the Center for Global Languages and Cultures. I am a freshman planning on double majoring in Sociology and Political Science with a minor in Spanish. I am also currently a member of the Latin American Student association (LASA). My father being from Ecuador, where the rest of his side of our family still lives, has created a deep love importance of the Spanish language and the Latinx culture in my life. Having visited my family in Ecuador many times, I have gained a deep appreciation for the people and culture. Being able to watch my father maintain aspects of his Ecuadorian culture while living in the U.S. has made me strive to do the same by continuing to expand my knowledge of different cultures. I also have a strong desire to continue expanding on my knowledge of the Spanish language because I have found that being bilingual offers many great opportunitiesI have been lucky enough to be raised in a household that spoke both languages that was a fundamental role in my learning of the two. As a part of the Center for Global Languages and Cultures, I hope to use educational technologies and the other resources we provide to help students with their language proficiency as well as gain more cultural knowledge.
The CGLC Media Library includes more than 700 videos (digital and hard copy) and the library is always growing. The media titles cover a wide range of topics applicable to language and culture courses taught in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures.
Here is a link to our searchable media catalog. Students, faculty and staff are more than welcome to check out materials for events or for the classroom. Please consult with CGLC staff if you wish to check out an item for these purposes.
The CGLC hosts a series of co-curricular events that support language learning and intercultural competence at JCU. For questions regarding these events, please contact the CGLC staff.
October 31: Visit the CGLC as part of the Campus Wide Trick or Treat from 2 PM-5 PM in OC 101.
November 1: CGLC's Dia de los Muertos Celebration from 2 PM to 4 PM in OC 112
November 1: Classics Social Hour from 3:30-5:00 PM in OC 139
November 3: Staff Council First Friday Coffee Hour 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM in OC 112
November 8: CGLC Game Day from 2 PM to 3 PM in OC 112 (Theme: Kahoot Trivia)
November 15: CGLC French and Spanish Conversation Table (Theme: My Routine) from 2 PM to 3 PM in OC 112
November 15: Mask-Making with Dr. Gwendolyn Compton Engle from 3:30 PM to 5 PM in OC 112
November 29: CGLC Game Day from 2 PM to 3 PM in OC 112 (Theme: Bingo)
November 29: Classics Social Hour from 3:30 PM to 5 PM in OC 139
December 6: Spanish and French Conversation Table from 2 PM to 3 PM in OC 112 (The Future)
Currently, the CGLC is not accepting applications for the Fall 2023 semester. Please feel free to check this website again in case new positions open up.
It is our pleasure to announce the publication of our quarterly newsletter. Please check back to this section of the website for future newsletters.
JCU currently offers placement testing in French, German Italian Latin and Spanish. It is customary for students to take these tests the summer before their first semester at JCU either remotely or during New Student or Transfer Student Orientation.
Once the test is completed, it will be scored to determine an appropriate placement. This placement will then be added to the student's Banner profile at JCU. Your advisor will have access to your language placement when you register for courses.
Answers to many frequently-asked questions regarding placement are on JCU's webpage on the Core Language Requirement:
In addition to the pedagogical and cultural services we offer, the CGLC also offers training in intercultural competence. If you or your office is interested in our intercultural competence training, please feel free to reach out to Dr. James Nemiroff, Coordinator of the CGLC at jnemiroff@jcu.edu
During Academic Year 2022-2023 we offered training to the following offices on campus.
The Office of Student Engagement
The Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion
The Division of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
Of particular note is the ongoing intercultural competence training we are offering to students traveling to Spain as part of the GYP-NEXTGEN program, a program financed by the National Science Foundation’s International Experiences for Students Program. This grant opportunity allows students from John Carroll University, Oberlin College and New Mexico State University to engage in science projects abroad in Spain.
Faculty Resources
Student Resources
