APPLE Lecture Presents Dr. Walt Wolfram

APPLE Lecture Series 2023 Presents Dr. Walt Wolfram

Title: Linguistic Relevance in Higher Education: Opportunity and Obligation in the Diversity Canon

Abstract:

Notwithstanding the avowed commitment of higher education to diversity and inclusion, the issue of language has been excluded from or erased in diversity programs at most universities. This presentation empirically documents the basis of linguistic prejudice and discrimination in higher education through an extensive series of student and faculty studies in a large metropolitan university. Based on our research conclusions, we developed an innovative, campus-infusion model program for language diversity targeting students, faculty, and staff at the university. Activities include integrated classroom materials, videos highlighting linguistic diversity on campus, formal and informal workshops for diverse campus populations, the establishment of a university-ratified Linguistic Diversity Student Ambassadors program, and other activities and resources that have led to the creation of a national model for authentically including language in the diversity canon in higher education.

Biography:

Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the Language and Life Project. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s and published 23 books and more than 300 articles. Over the last two decades, he and his students have conducted more than 3,500 sociolinguistic interviews with residents of North Carolina and beyond. In addition to his research interests, Professor Wolfram is particularly interested in the application of sociolinguistic information to the public, including the production of television documentaries, the construction of museum exhibits, and the development of innovative formal and informal materials related to language diversity for different institutions. He has received numerous awards, including the North Carolina Award (the highest award given to a citizen of North Carolina), Caldwell Humanities Laureate from the NC Humanities Council, the Holladay Medal at NC State, the Board of Governor’s Holshouser Award for Excellence in Public Service, and the Linguistics, Language and the Public Award from the Linguistic Society of America. He has been inducted into the  American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and served as President of the Linguistic Society of America, the American Dialect Society, and the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics.