July 1, 2011 -- Dartmouth, MA. The UMass Dartmouth Summer Program in Portuguese, now in its 18th year, has received a number of prestigious grants from both Portugal and the local Portuguese-American community for its yearly calendar of lectures and other cultural activities.
July 1, 2011 -- Dartmouth, MA. The UMass Dartmouth Summer Program in Portuguese, now in its 18th year, has received a number of prestigious grants from both Portugal and the local Portuguese-American community for its yearly calendar of lectures and other cultural activities.
Most notably, the Luso-American Foundation for Development (FLAD), based in Lisbon, has awarded the Summer Program a $10,000 grant for scholarships. Among this year's scholarship recipients are international students from Malaysia, Croatia and Mexico, as well as participants both from local South Coast communities and across the US.
"These funds allow us to sponsor more students to not only to learn the Portuguese language, but also to experience the unique Portuguese-American culture of our region. It also allows us to share this culture with the local community through the events that these funds make possible," Prof. Christopher Larkosh, director of the program, stated recently.
The Summer Program also received funds from the Instituto Camões, the Portuguese institution that promotes the teaching of the Portuguese language throughout the world, for a Portuguese and Lusophone Film Series, which will include a film viewing and a question and answer session with the internationally recognized Portuguese film director João Pedro Rodrigues.
Other activities open to the public include lectures by international scholars in Lusophone studies and translation studies, including Profs. Aileen El-Kadi from the University of Texas El Paso and Moira Inghilleri from University College London, and a concert by the award-winning Brazilian singer/songwriter Suely Mesquita. These activities were sponsored by an anonymous donor from the local Portuguese-American community, and are also open to the public.
For more information on course offerings or this summer's activities calendar, please contact the Center of Portuguese Studies and Culture at (508) 999-8255 or e-mail melissa.costa@umassd.edu.