LINGUISTIC MINORITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The UC LMRI Visiting Scholars program was supported through research, sabbatical or fellowship monies and were affiliated with UC LMRI after review. Their support from UC LMRI varied, but generally included a shared office, telephone and email account, and general but limited office support. They were formally affiliated with the University of California and had use of the library and other resources of the University.

In 2006-07 UC LMRI was pleased to host a new Visiting Scholar, Jeff MacSwan of Arizona State University.

Ranier Enrique Hamel, Professor of Linguistics, in the Department of Anthropology, from the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Iztapalapa, México, is on a sabbatical research leave from his home institution for a year. He is spending it in California as a visiting research scholar with the Institute. The duration of his stay is from September 1993 until June of 1994. 

Dr. Hamel is working with colleagues affiliated with the UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute on both the Santa Barbara and the Santa Cruz campuses. He is also working with colleagues at Stanford University. During this appointment, he has been invited to participate in the ongoing research activities of Professors Judith Green (Education, Santa Barbara), John Gumperz (Emeritus, Santa Barbara), Jenny Cook-Gumperz (Education, Santa Barbara), and Richard P. Durán (Education, Santa Barbara). 

His research and publications focus on the language rights of indigenous populations as well as the relationships between language use and social structures. He is the author of four books, and has co-authored 29 research articles or book-chapters within the last five years. Dr. Hamel was made a member of the Mexican Academy of Scientific Research in 1991. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Campinas (Brazil). The Institute welcomes Enrique not only to the state of California but to the UC system to share his experiences and expertise. 

1994-1995

Four scholars visited the LMRI this summer and fall 1994. Professor Mohammad Oraif (Arabic, King AbdulAziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) visited during the summer of 1994. He worked on several projects, including one on learning Arabic as a foreign language, and visited at USC and other universities in Southern California. 

Professor Ali Abu-Ghararah (English as a Foreign Language, King Abdulaziz University, Madinah Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia) was expected this past summer, but due to family illness deferred his visit until summer of 1995. He will be working on the acquisition of oral English fluency amongst native Arabic speakers, and their learning strategies to improve their oral proficiency. 

Two scholars also visited during the fall of 1994. Professor Luis Ortíz-Franco (Computer Science/Applied Mathematics, Chapman University) worked on completing a book manuscript profiling the lives, work and professional contributions of Chicano and Latino mathematicians, and continued his research into ethnomathematics. 

Professor Terrence Wiley (Education & Applied Linguistics, CSU Long Beach), completed research on the fate of German in the United States between the two world wars. He presented some of his findings during February on the Santa Barbara campus. 

1995-1996

A visiting scholar, Kwok-leung Lam (Hong Kong Dept. of Education) arrived at UCSB this winter 1995 to research and monitor the use of native languages in bilingual programs in the U.S. 

Henry Trueba (Education, University of Houston) has been appointed a UC LMRI Visiting Research Scholar thru June 1996. On leave from the University of Houston, he is undertaking an ethnography of a nearby town called Guadalupe, focussing on immigrants, especially Mexicanos, and the secondary school setting. He will be making two public lectures on his work during the academic year. 

Trueba is the author or editor of over a dozen books and a former Director of the UC Linguistic Minority Research Project, Dean of Education at UC Davis and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Welcome back Henry! 

José Cintrón (Education, CSU Sacramento) is a Visiting Scholar during the 1995-1996 academic year. He is working on research in the community of Guadalupe, with colleague and fellow Visiting Scholar Henry Trueba. 

1997-1998

Professor Otto Santa Ana (Cesar Chávez Center for Chicana/Chicano Studies, UC Los Angeles) is 1997-1998 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient who began his fellowship tenure here at UC Santa Barbara in September. His area of research is language use of and about ethnic populations.

Dr. Elaine W. Vine (Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) will be a visiting scholar of the UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute through June 30, 1998. Dr. Vine will colaborativly be working with Professor Judith Green and Professor Reynaldo F. Macías both of the Graduate School of Education, UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Vine can be reached through June via email at vine@education.ucsb.edu.

Dr. Phillip Matthew (Senior Policy Analyst, Ministry of Maori Development, New Zealand) was a visiting scholar of the Insitute through January and explored minority language policy in California during his visit. His area of research includes education policy (primary, secondary tertiary, vocational and special education) and language policy (education, broadcasting, government services, etc). While at the Institute Dr. Matthew gave a discussion on "Language Policy & Planning in New Zealand, with Particular Referance to the Maori Language."