Fall 2009

left to right: Chairil Anwar, Wulan Tri Astuti, Shansi Return Fellow Ellis Ballard, Jingjing Zhang, and J. Deborah Christina

Wulan Tri Astuti is a Lecturer in the French Department at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where she teaches courses in French public interaction and creative writing. Wulan’s fields of interest include French film, media discourse, and semiotics. She is a recipient of a DIKTI research grant and has published numerous book reviews and articles. Currently, she is working on a research report entitled “Teenage Lives in French and Indonesian Cinema in the 1980s,” as well as her ongoing master’s thesis, “Representation of Multicultural Life in French Films: L’Auberge Espagnol and Les Poupees Rusees.” At Oberlin Wulan is exploring the curriculum and pedagogy of American foreign language departments, and observing classes in College’s French Department, as well as working with Nelson de Jesus and other Oberlin faculty.

J. Deborah Christina is a Lecturer in the English department at Lady Doak College in Madurai, India. At LDC she teaches courses in journalism and mass communication, classical literature in translation, human rights education, prose, and poetry, and serves as a member of the college’s counseling unit and Christian studies committee. In Oberlin she is working with Thomas Van Nortwick to prepare a booklet on classical literature in translation for her students back in Madurai, and with Anuradha Needham, conducting research in Anglophone literature. She has been attending a number of courses offered by Kim Faber, as well as Professors Van Nortwick and Needham, and says she “loves the way students slog” here at Oberlin. As this is her first time in the United States, she looks forward to visiting new places, tasting American cuisine, and participating in campus life at Oberlin.

Jingjing Zhang is a graduate student at the Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China where she is studying for her masters in International Chinese as a Foreign Language Teaching. Over this academic year at Oberlin she will be teaching students in Chinese 101 and 201 in the East Asia Studies program under the guidance of Liu Fang and Li Kai to better develop her foreign language teaching methods. Jingjing finds Oberlin relaxing and calm, especially compared to the bustle of Beijing. In her free time, she enjoys Tai Chi, dancing and singing, and hopes to host a variety of events where students can learn about Chinese culture.

Chairil Anwar is a lecturer in the Economics department at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where he teaches courses in operations management, quality management, and performance management. In Oberlin he will be working with Oberlin faculty, conducting preliminary research for his dissertation in management Economics. He also hopes to observe American teaching methods through attending courses in the Oberlin economics and politics departments. During his two months here in Oberlin, Chairil looks forward to participating in our academic community and campus life, as well as to traveling to new cities and meeting new people.