Greetings! 

To those who are returning, welcome back, and to those who are joining the department officially this fall, welcome and best wishes as you launch an important new chapter of your life as a member of the UIUC linguistics family. 

We are joined by 43 new undergraduate majors (25 in CS+LING, 17 in Linguistics, and 1 in Ling-TESL), and 24 new graduate students (14 in MATESL and 10 in the Linguistics PhD program). While the undergraduate numbers are slightly down, the graduate numbers, as well as the yield, are up this year. 

Along with new students, we have 6 new faculty members who are joining us. They are: 

• Tatiana Kashina, Dorothy Maweu, Rebecca Sullivan (Lecturer, ESL program) 
• Scott Nelson (Instructor, Phonetics-Phonology) 
• Kevin Wamalwa (Lecturer and Director, Swahili) 
• Karina Tachihara (Assistant Professor, Psycholinguistics) 

Two of our emeriti faculty have been recalled to duty(!) as research professors. Numa Markee (Research Associate Professor) and Hans Hock (Research Professor) begin their tenure as research track faculty. They are available for independent studies and are willing t to serve on PhD and MA thesis committees. 

We celebrate the promotion of Krystal Smalls (Anthropology and Linguistics) to Associate Professor with tenure. Congratulations, Krystal! As shared earlier, Krystal’s promotion was recognized with the Campus Distinguished Promotion Award. 

In other faculty-related news, our long-time factor director of undergraduate studies, Ryan Shosted, has accepted the position of Director/Head of the Program in Translation and Interpreting Studies, starting this Fall. Congratulations to Ryan as he leads the TIS program for the next five years. Jonathan Dunn has agreed to serve as faculty director of undergraduate studies starting this semester. 

In terms of faculty searches, we have been authorized to search for a tenure-track assistant professor in Phonetics-Phonology this year. 

Among the events that are coming up soon, I would like to invite everyone to participate in the departmental Welcome Reception on Friday, August 30, 2024, starting at 4pm (Lucy Ellis Lounge, LCLB). This is the opportunity to (re)connect with friends and to welcome new students and faculty members. 

Another event that is coming up soon is the investiture of Silvina Montrul as the Marjorie Roberts Professor in the College of LAS. For those who are interested in attending, you can RSVP at go.las.illinois.edu/Montrul. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 10, 2024, at 4pm in the Pine Lounge of the Illini Union. 

I wish you all a productive semester and look forward to seeing you all at the reception.