Since 1991, the Critical Languages Institute at Arizona State University has been providing students with the opportunity to expand their world view through the study of less commonly taught languages.

However, in the fall of 2013, the center’s role as a crucial element of a well-rounded institution was threatened when it was announced that funding for the Title VIII program — which had supported language training and research on Eastern Europe and Eurasia since 1983 — would not be appropriated for the federal fiscal year 2013. Download Full Image

Kathleen Evans-Romaine, director of the Critical Languages Institute who manages the Title VIII Fellowship program at ASU, was dismayed at the news.

"Without Title VIII funding, the number of students equipped to speak the languages and navigate the cultures of some of the world’s most critical regions — Russia, the Balkans, the Caucasus and the countries immediately north of Afghanistan — dropped precipitously. The capacity of the United States and American businesses to work and communicate effectively in some of the most sensitive parts of the world suffered as a result,” she explained.

And she wasn't the only one with deep concerns regarding the matter.

“It was a shock,” said Lynda Park, chair of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, which advocates for federal funding to allow universities such as ASU to offer such courses.

“Title VIII funding has been so crucial for our field since it was established in 1983. I think you could probably talk to anyone of that generation, especially in the U.S., and they will all tell you they were impacted by that funding. I certainly was; I did my research on Title VIII funding.”

In response to the funding cut, Evans-Romaine, Park and others rallied for its restoration. An advocacy committee was formed and a letter-writing campaign was organized to address both Congress and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, urging them to restore funding to the Title VIII program. Even ASU President Michael Crow lent his support in the form of a letter.

Their efforts paid off and in April 2015, Park announced that Title VIII funding had been restored, although at only $1.5 million, less than half of the 2012 program budget.

“Still, we were delighted to have it back,” said Park. “Once [funding] gets completely zeroed out, it’s really difficult to get it back.”

Because of the smaller-than-usual amount, only four institutions were appropriated funds for the Title VIII program — and ASU was one of them.

“ASU has a great language program, which is highly regarded by everyone in the field, as well as the people who run the [Title VIII] program in the U.S. State Department,” Park said.

For a list of languages offered by the Critical Languages Institute for the 2016 academic year, click here.

The Critical Languages Institute is a project of the Melikian Center, an instructional and research unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

A recently completed memorial dedicated to those who gave their lives fighting fires in Arizona owes some of its visually striking elegance and structural stability to the construction and artistic talents of an Arizona State University graduate.

Joshua Marriott had studied art and architecture in college before coming to ASU and earning a degree in 2012 in construction management — with a concentration in concrete industry management — in the Del E. Webb School of Construction. The Arizona Fallen Firefighters & Emergency Paramedics Memorial features life-size sculptures depicting various firefighting-related professions. Photo by Nora Skrodenis/ASU

The school is part of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Marriott’s performance at the university helped him land a job with the Phoenix-based Southwest division of the McCarthy Building Companies, one of the largest building contractors in the country.

The company called on him to help with the contribution of its services to building the Arizona Fallen Firefighters & Emergency Paramedics Memorial on the Wesley Bolin Plaza on the Arizona State Capitol grounds in Phoenix.

The memorial was officially dedicated in October during an annual ceremony to honor Arizona firefighters.

Concrete artistry

Marriott helped with some of the design and cost estimating for the project, and took the lead on creating and crafting one of the key features of the memorial: a circular concrete slab about 25 feet in diameter with an engraved representation of the Maltese Cross, an international symbol of firefighters’ commitment to risk their lives to protect others from the dangers of fire.

The acid-etched engraving project gave Marriott the largest canvas he has yet had to display his expertise in both the technical and aesthetic aspects of concrete construction.

In what has become part hobby, part side-business, Marriott has for years been producing small works of “concrete art” — coasters, trophies, nameplates, award plaques and medallions.

James Ernzen, an associate professor in ASU’s construction school, “was the one who first who pushed me into doing some artistic stuff,” Marriott said.

Among things Ernzen had him produce was a three-foot concrete pitchfork representing the one carried by the ASU Sun Devil mascot, Sparky. It is now on display in the construction school’s concrete research lab.

Prize-winning ASU project

Ernzen also came up with the assignment that would prove to be valuable preparation for Marriott’s role in building the firefighters memorial.

About three years ago he had student teams compete to do concepts for the design of a decorative concrete slab to be installed on the plaza of the Engineering Center building on ASU’s Tempe campus.

The design by Marriott’s team won out — and later a mockup of the installation earned a prize in the Art of Concrete student competition at the 2012 American Concrete Institute convention.

He then led the team in producing a 200-square-foot circular concrete slab emblazoned with the ASU and Fulton Schools of Engineering logos.

Other images acid-etched into slab and stained in ASU’s school colors of maroon and gold depicted tools and technology used in construction engineering, along with an inspirational quote from the engineering schools’ namesake, Ira Fulton.

Marriott said at the time that he was especially excited to have had the opportunity to “create something beautiful that can have a long life here on the ASU campus.”

Joshua Marriott graduated from ASU in 2012 with a degree in construction management. He now works for McCarthy Building Companies, one of the largest building contractors in the country. Photo by Nora Skrodenis/ASU

Memorial construction a team endeavor

His involvement in the firefighter’s memorial project, he said, has been an even more exhilarating experience.

“It has taken a big group of people working together to overcome a lot of the complexities and challenges, from the planning and design and project management and construction, to lobbying the Legislature and raising corporate and private donations and coordinating events,” he said. “It’s been an education to see it all come together.”

Along with the McCarthy companies and the SmithGroupJJR architecture firm, about 30 other companies and subcontractors have contributed services.

Marriott is chairman of the Arizona Builders Alliance community service board. Through industry connections he has made in that role, he was able to help recruit some of the diverse types of construction subcontractors needed to handle various facets of the memorial project.

Joe Brunsman, a project director with McCarthy and a 1990 graduate of ASU’s Del E. Webb School of Construction, has been the memorial project’s director of operations.

“It has been exciting to watch the memorial being built. It is so unique compared to what we typically do that the construction process has been both challenging and educational,” Brunsman said. “It’s been a privilege to be a part of the team building something to honor the memories of these great men and women.”

Recognition of sacrifice

The large round decorative concrete slab featuring an engraved Maltese Cross designed and etched by Arizona State University alumnus Joshua Marriott is a centerpiece of a new memorial to fallen Arizona firefighters. Photo by Nora Skrodenis/ASU

Marriott said the project “has been an amazing leadership opportunity, and working with the firefighter groups has been awesome. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.”

Along with the decorative slab he fashioned, the memorial, which covers about 2,500 square feet, features a 30-foot-high bell tower with a custom-made brass bell.

A long, tapered circular solid concrete wall clad in a black granite veneer is engraved with the names of more than 100 Arizona wildland firefighters, paramedics, volunteers and professional firefighters who have died in the line of duty, dating back to 1902.

Ten life-size bronze sculptures placed atop the wall depict various firefighting-related professions.

Trees will be planted around the memorial structure to help give the site a peaceful and relatively secluded ambiance.

“I really liked being able to combine some artistry with such a creative, high-quality construction project,” Marriott said. “But what really makes me feel good about this is being able to do something for people who are very deserving of this recognition of their sacrifice.”

Learn more about the Arizona Fallen Firefighters & Emergency Paramedics Memorial.

Andrew Leckey, president of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, has been named a Fulbright Specialist to Uganda.

Leckey, who also is chair in business journalism at the Cronkite School, will travel to Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in March 2016, where for two weeks he will lecture on business journalism, consult on starting a business journalism major and meet with local media to discuss economic coverage. Andrew Leckey, president of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at ASU, has been named a Fulbright Specialist to Uganda. Download Full Image

Fulbright Specialist is a program of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.

“The main objective of the project is to nurture a generation of Ugandan journalists with an acute sense for business journalism,” William Tayeeba of Makerere University, wrote in his proposal to host Leckey that ultimately led to the grant. “Professor Leckey will be instrumental in sharing experience of creating and maintaining a chair in business journalism at Makerere University.”

Leckey was a Fulbright Scholar at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, in 2014 and is a member of the board of directors of the Arizona Chapter of the Fulbright Association.

He has a track record with outstanding Ugandan journalists at the Cronkite School. His former business journalism student Elvina Nawaguna in the Cronkite Master of Mass Communication degree received first place in the “Best in Business” student reporting competition of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

Serving as a mentor in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program for visiting foreign journalists at the Cronkite School, Leckey last year met fellow Tabu Butagira, chief news reporter for Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper. Butagira was instrumental in helping to bring Leckey to Makerere University, the country’s largest university, from which both he and Nawaguna graduated.

“I’m grateful to both the Fulbright Scholar Program and Makerere University for this opportunity,” said Leckey. “Uganda’s agriculture, mining and petroleum industries, as well as its citizens’ ongoing concerns about investment and inflation, make it an outstanding center for quality growth in business journalism.”

The grant states that Leckey will present lectures at graduate and undergraduate levels; take part in specialized academic programs and conferences; consult with administrators and instructors on faculty development; and advise on initiating a chair in business journalism. The grant also encourages a longer-term relationship between Markerere University and ASU's Cronkite School.

Other Cronkite School faculty members who have participated in the program include Steve Doig, Cronkite’s Knight Chair in Journalism, who spent four months in Portugal as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair; and Bill Silcock, a two-time Fulbright Scholar who has conducted research in Sweden and Ireland.