UMM Admissions Blog

Wow...time sure does fly. I cannot believe it has been a month and a half since I last blogged!! Where does the time go?

In her blog, Claire wrote about how fast time passes. She is so right to cherish her time here at UMM, because being an undergraduate student is such a unique period in one's life. Never again will you have the chance to stretch your mind with a group of students who are all approximately your same age, living, laughing and studying together. It is a challenging time of life, but also very rewarding.

As I look at the faces of my students this week, however, I am not sure that they are feeling very rewarded at this point in time. It is mid-term at UMM, and everyone is taking exams and writing papers like crazy. The students look a bit tired and haggard, and everyone is eager for spring break in a week.

But I also know that once the crunch time has passed, most students will be very happy with the fact that they are being pushed and stretched. They know that they are learning and that the skills they are acquiring through these moments of stress will help them live their lives one day.

Ahhh, life is funny. We complain when things are hard, but we are also proud of ourselves for accomplishing difficult goals!

Keep on pushing, everyone!

~Sarah

Posted at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are now into the second week of classes. The dust is settling, as most everybody is starting to figure out their schedules and make progress in their readings and labs.

I'm teaching an African Cinema course right now, which is a lot of fun. We began with a brief history of Africa and are now looking at how Europeans portrayed Africans in early movies like "Voyage dans la lune" (Trip to the Moon) by Georges Melies (1902) and the old Tarzan films. Next we'll look at the origins of African movies in the 1960s and how the early filmmakers reacted against the European images and began to create films that represented African people and cultures in a more complex manner.

This is my first semester back after a year-long sabbatical, so I'm working hard to get myself organized again (the continual struggle!!). It's good to be back!

~Sarah

Posted at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday is the last day of classes for this semester, which means that final exams begin on Monday.

UMM hosts a pretty neat event at the end of each Fall Semester: the day before finals, there is "The Great Pancake Feed". It happens in the evening, and faculty and staff serve students pancakes to help them load up on their carbs to boost their energy levels for finals. Here's a link about this year's event: http://www.morris.umn.edu/events/View.php?itemID=4597.

Maybe next year I'll be serving YOU a pancake!

~Sarah

Posted at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bonjour tout le monde!

I am really excited to be included in this blog. Thanks, Ben, for inviting me!

Let me introduce myself. My official title is Associate Professor of French. The word "Associate" means that I am tenured and am working my way towards the ultimate goal of becoming a Full Professor. (To get tenure, professors must hold a terminal degree, which means a Ph.D. for most of us; we must publish quite a few articles or books to establish our reputation in scholarship; we must show a record of excellence in teaching; and we must engage in service to our disciplines by participating in national committees, helping to organize conferences, etc. To become a Full Professor, we need to engage in the same kinds of activities, but develop a much more detailed record.) I have traveled all over the world, especially in Europe and in Africa. This summer I went to South America for the first time, to the French Guyana, a French département! It was really wonderful, and I even got to spend a week in the rain forest! What else can I say about myself? My research focuses on feminism in African literature and film, and also on immigration in France. I am married and have two daughters, plus an exchange student son from Germany this year. We also have two cats and some fish. Feel free to check out my web site.

This coming summer, I'm the professor leading the "July in Paris" study abroad program with the help of my T.A., Caitlin Siefkes (a senior double majoring in French and Anthropology). She and I just returned from visiting our sister campuses in Minneapolis and Duluth to do some recruiting. It was fun to renew or make connections at those campuses! The early deadline for this year's May and Summer study abroad programs is December 14th, so a lot of our students are in the process of reading brochures and deciding where they'd like to travel this year. Do they want to go to Paris? Brazil? China? Scotland? England? Czechoslovakia? Italy, Austria and Bavaria? These are a few of the options through UMM. Of course, being part of the U of MN system, our students are also looking at programs offered through the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, because their programs are open to all U of MN students. Pretty cool! The July in Paris program is a lot of fun, and we always have a mix of students from Morris, Minneapolis, and Duluth. It is great to make connections with students on those other campuses.

Think croissants and cheese!

Sarah Buchanan

Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)