OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Paweł Frelik, "Green New Worlds (or Not): Ecology and Energy in Planetary Colonization Games"
Photo by Blake Brown
"Green New Worlds (or Not): Ecology and Energy in Planetary Colonization Games"
On Wednesday afternoons this spring, I’ll often catch a glimpse inside the Moreland classroom at the top of the stairs. Shades are down. Students are rapt. Colored light flashes on the projector screen. At the front of the room stands Dr. Paweł Frelik, here for the term from the University of Warsaw in Poland. The course is English 265: Films for the Future, and there isn’t an empty seat to be had.
Paweł teaches courses in science fiction and audiovisual media, and is with us as part of a new faculty exchange program developed by SWLF associate professor Raymond Malewitz in collaboration with Tomasz Basiuk and Grzegorz Kosc of the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw. Paweł gave a talk this spring called "Green New Worlds (or Not): Ecology and Energy in Planetary Colonization Games" (featured in header image) to a packed house as part of the long-running Critical Questions Lecture Series.
Paweł Frelik, "Green New Worlds (or Not): Ecology and Energy in Planetary Colonization Games"
Photo by Blake Brown
Living in Poland now and teaching at the University of Warsaw is Karen Holmberg, associate professor of poetry and overseer of our letterpress printer, featured in a previous newsletter. She has been sharing photos from her adventures across the city, from art exhibitions to strolls through public parks, and we’re all looking forward to hearing more about her experience in the classroom when she returns to OSU in the fall. The exchange is an exciting new partnership for SWLF, one that aligns with our ongoing goals to internationalize as a school, a college, and a university.
In that vein, we also welcomed Dr. Wang Lei (who goes by Sandy) to SWLF this year as a Visiting Research Scholar. She’s working on a grant-funded research project about corrective feedback in teaching English writing, and is being mentored by associate professor Ehren Pflugfelder. She’s been sitting in on his graduate seminar on contemporary rhetoric theory, and joins us from Chengdu, where she teaches in the School of Foreign Languages at the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
I asked Sandy about her experience in Corvallis so far, and wanted to share some of her thoughts in her own words: “This is my first visit to the U.S., and SWLF has given me the warmest welcome I can ever imagine. Everybody is super nice to me, which is awesome. I got the opportunity of visiting some classes that I’m interested in, and have been constantly impressed by the amiability and erudition of teachers, the enthusiasm and preoccupation of students, and the vivacity of the classrooms. The campus is such an attraction, too. I enjoy spending a day in the library and taking casual pictures when I walk on campus. The environment is gorgeous and the spring here is divine. This is going to be a great experience. Even if there are still 8 months for me to stay, I already can imagine how I’m going to miss this place when I go back.”
Yes, they will leave us eventually to return to their home countries, but, for now, Paweł and Sandy are still here, and everything is the better for it.
