Come Home to English 2011 | Homecoming

A Department of English Celebration of ASU Homecoming.

COME HOME TO ENGLISH EVENTS, OCTOBER 24-29, 2011

Art & Archives Gallery

Mon.-Fri., Oct. 24-28, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily | Language and Literature 316 (LL 316) ASU, Tempe campus

Display of original artwork by faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of the Department of English at ASU.

Vernissage: Meet the Artists

Tue., Oct. 25, 3:30-5 p.m. | Language and Literature 316 (LL 316) ASU, Tempe campus

Celebrates the opening of the Come Home to English Art and Archives Gallery. Meet the artists! Music provided by Clinical Professor Laura Turchi and other special guests. Refreshments served. Free of charge and open to the public.

"The Language of Prairie Dogs" lecture by Con Slobodchikoff

Weds., Oct. 26, 3:15 p.m. | Language and Literature 316 (LL 316) ASU, Tempe campus

The Department of English at ASU presents this interdisciplinary lecture by Con Slobodchikoff, Professor Emeritus in the Biology Department at Northern Arizona University. Slobodchikoff has most recently been working with the communication and social behavior of prairie dogs. He also has been doing consulting on pet behavior problems, and has offered dog training classes. :: Prairie dogs have the most sophisticated animal language that has been decoded so far. These social, colonial animals give alarm calls when a predator appears near their colony. The alarm calls provide a Rosetta Stone for decoding the meaning encoded in the calls, allowing an experimental approach that is sometimes not possible with other animal communication systems. The alarm calls encode information about the species of predator, such as coyote, domestic dog, human, or red-tailed hawk, and also encode information about the size, shape, and color of the intruding predator. The calls contain abstract semantic labels made up of phoneme-like structures. They also have a distinct syntax, suggesting an underlying grammatical structure. Such sophistication raises the possibility that other animal species have complex languages as well. :: Watch a BBC video featuring Slobodchikoff.

"The Language of Food" talk and demonstration by Viktorija Todorovska + McCraw Helms Writing Awards Presentation

Thurs., Oct. 27, 3 p.m. | Language and Literature 316 (LL 316) ASU, Tempe campus

Join us for a talk and demonstration--part of English's Alumni Lecture Series--by department alumna Viktorija Todorovska (MTESL 1996; PhD 2000), who is author of The Puglian Cookbook. Following the presentation, recipients of the Randel and Susan McCraw Helms Homecoming Writing Awards read from their winning entries. Refreshments served.

Homecoming Block Party

Sat., Oct. 29, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. | Alumni Lawn (in front of Old Main) ASU, Tempe campus

Part of the annual CLAS celebration, features a giant crossword puzzle (for kids of all ages) designed by Regents' Professor Alberto Ríos with prizes for correct answers, children's book giveaway (for kids ages 3-12) facilitated by Clinical Professor Laura Turchi and students, and other activities for kids exploring the "magic" of language (including a magician, an "Are You Smarter Than a Third Grader" contest run by Associate Professor Bryan Smith and daughter Nina, and a design-your-own tote bag station, all supplies provided). Information about Dept. of English and Piper Center programs and initiatives will be available.

→See also: CLAS Block Party website