Linguistics 2020 Senior Profiles

Priya Bansal

Activities – Throughout my many, many years as an undergrad at UW Madison, I’ve explored a variety of activities.  From everywhere to Ballroom Dancing to Medieval Longsword Fighting to Tae Kwon Do (where I met some very valuable friends), I’ve experienced much of what UW Madison has to offer.

Classes – It’s hard to pick a favorite class.  I studied a lot at UW.  While I was originally majoring Computer Science and Linguistics, I dropped out after my junior year.  After obtaining a job as a software developer and realizing that wasn’t for me, I came back at age 24 to finish my degree in Linguistics and take science prerequisites for med school.  If I had to pick the most memorable class, though, it was Ballroom Dance I with the lovely Rena Kornblum.

Memory – My favorite memory on campus starts the day I moved in.  I wanted to get away from my parents so bad, I snuck away when they weren’t looking and found the most beautiful hidden garden in Lakeshore.  Throughout the years I kept coming back to it, and I will always remember that first moment.

The Future? – I’ve now finally figured out what I’m meant to get from life.  I’m attending a Naturopathic Doctorate program in the beautiful Seattle campus of Bastyr University.  I hope to use all the knowledge I gained from UW Madison to help people in more ways than I’ve ever got to experience.

Yige Chen

Activities – Apart from my Linguistics major, I’m also majoring in Economics, Applied Mathematics and East Asian Studies with a certificate in Computer Sciences. As for organizations I’m currently the vice president of the Mandarin Debate Team at UW-Madison, a senior advisor of Yuan-Shan Study Society, and a member of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at UW-Madison.

Classes – Within all those courses I’ve taken I really like Korean language courses, Japanese linguistics (Asian 434) and historical Chinese phonology (E Asian 631) offered by ALC department, as well as Ling 530, Syntactic Theories. Apart from those linguistics courses I also enjoyed taking History 335, Econ 455 and Math 421.

Campus Memory – Being a lab assistant at the SLA lab with Prof. Jacee Cho, Maggie, Glenn, Hyun and Jinman is one of the best memories here. I also like the weather here in summer.

The Future? – I will be attending UW Seattle as a Master’s student in Computational Linguistics in Fall 2020. I’m thinking about pursuing a PhD degree in Computational Linguistics or other disciplines.

Kira Cronin-Hennesy

Activities – I spent 3 out of my 4 years working in the Library System and learning about book binding and repair!

Classes – Field Methods where we studied Sundanese. It was so rewarding to use all of the skills I learned in other classes to work on a language I’d never known before.

Campus Memory – I miss the libraries and unions the most – studying around other people is valuable!

The Future? – I’ll be moving to the Twin Cities and working on applying to grad schools for psycholinguistics.

Allison Dorn

Activities – During my four years at UW I was involved in NSSLHA, the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association. I held the position as fundraising chair for a semester and really enjoyed taking part in all the activities throughout the years!

Classes – My favorite class that I took was Educational Psychology 301- How people learn with Julia Rutledge. The class itself wasn’t that interesting, but Julia made the class so fun and engaging that she made me really enjoy the class and what we were learning.

Campus Memory – My favorite memory was going to Lambeau Field my freshman year to watch the badgers beat LSU. I will never forget my first badger football game as a UW student.

The Future? – Next year I will be attending UW (can’t get rid of me yet!) for grad school.

Louisa Forrest

Activities – I worked as a House Fellow in Kronshage for two years, I worked as a Research Assistant in the Infant Learning Lab at the Waisman Center for 2.5 years, I was a Peer Mentor in Chadbourne for one year, and I was a Volunteer Leader at PAVE for 2 years!

Classes – My favorite class was a topics class in Spanish called Filming Spain, we watched and discussed movies and pictures in Spain! But my favorite linguistics class was Intro to Phonology- learning about the actual mechanisms of speech and the qualities of the sounds themselves was so cool! And we had really awesome lab assignments!

Campus Memory – I miss eating brats and listening to live music on the terrace with my friends!! And also the free movies at Union South on the weekends through WUD.

The Future? – I got accepted into the post-baccalaureate program at UW for communication sciences and disorders next fall, so I will be returning to campus to be a Badger for one more year☺️❤️

Amber Hsieh

Activities – Other than pursuing a degree in linguistics, I have also completed certificates in French and East Asian studies. Besides academics, I was also involved as member of the Taiwanese Undergraduate student organization.

Classes – A couple of my favorites classes were Chinese historical linguistics, Chinese linguistics, and Asian studies 375 which is the study of Asian films.

Campus Memory – I appreciate the beautiful lake and all the times I spent in the libraries. Studying at the college library till late nights seems like yesterday!

The Future? – I am currently hoping to find a job that allows me to use my skills in linguistics combined with programming.

Siyan Huang

The Future? – I will pursue a Master’s degree in technological linguistics in Europe next semester.

Thanks UW-Madison!

Jessie Ju

Activities – I wasn’t in any clubs/orgs, but I had a lot of fun working part-time at the student cafeteria as a coffee barista! I met most of my friends there too.

Classes – my absolute favourite class is Elementary Logic taught by Professor Titlebaum from the philosophy department. It was a summer class so the pace was super fast, but he made it so much fun by adding memes and pop culture references to his lectures.

Memory – I miss my friends the most. I made lots of friends while pursuing my minor studies in the field of computer science. We often gathered at the Computer Science building to discuss programming related questions.

The Future? – I am currently on the hunt for jobs! I am looking to work in the field of data analysis and/or graphic design. Hopefully in a year or two, I will be able to pursue a Master of Science degree at UW Madison.

Dana Kirkpatrick

Activities – I was involved in Kendo Club in Fall-Spring 2017-18, and then a Undergraduate Representative for LSO ’19-’20, as well as a member of the E-sports club ’19-’20.

Classes – My favourite class was Language Change at University of Leeds (and for UW it was Ling 427 with Rand this semester).

Memory – I remember going to ILC dinners in Dejope and spending Chinese New Years making dumplings with international students and setting fireworks off on the lake!

The Future? – Planning to attend Concordia University in Montreal in the Fall – or the earliest convenience. We all have to be patient with ourselves and one another right now. 🙂

Clai Schlichting

Activities – I’ve been involved on campus as Vice President of the Italian Club, a member of Italian Ambassadors, and as a member of French Ambassadors.

Classes – My favorite class was Linguistics 571 Structure of a Language

Memory – What I miss most about campus is hanging out with friends on the terrace and taking jogs down lakeshore path to picnic point!

The Future? – I’m hoping to spend some time teaching English abroad after graduation, as soon as it is safe to travel!

Maddie Urbanz

Activities – In the spring of 2018 I studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain for the semester and LOVED learning more about food, culture and language in Europe. I enjoyed my time in Residence Life as a House Fellow in Witte Residence Hall for a year and as an RLTA in Sellery Residence Hall for my final semester. I was a member of Mind. Body. Badger. – a female wellness, fitness and empowerment club! Also, last summer I participated in the Intramural Sand Volleyball league.

Classes – My favorite class was Linguistics 101 with Becky Shields! I took the class on a random suggestion from a friend and ended up loving it so much I changed my major to Linguistics! Of course my next favorite class was Language Change with Joe Salmons!

Memory – What I miss most about campus right now are the spring and summer season traditions- hammocking, walking, jogging and biking on Lakeshore Path in the beautiful weather; sunbathing (or more likely sunburning) on the Memorial Union docks with friends; sharing a drink and a Strada pizza at the Terrace (especially Wednesday night open mic!); and going to the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings to buy a loaf of Stella’s Spicy Cheese Bread.

The Future? – I am excited to begin pursuing my Master’s of Curriculum and Instruction: Secondary English Education this summer (online) at UW-Madison and get my teaching certification. I would love to return to Spain in the future, and possibly teach English there for a year or two! Until then, I am trying to teach myself German with the help of Duolingo! 😄

Elizabeth Vaala

Activities – I was involved primarily in the UW Women’s Rugby Club where I played for 3 years and served on the executive board as vice president and volunteer chair. In my last year I got involved in the Linguistics Student Organization where I served as co-president and undergraduate representative! Both were very fun and very different experiences.

Classes – My favorite class was Old Saxon with Rob Howell. It introduced me to historical linguistics and there was no turning back. That and choosing to study Dutch language were probably the best decisions I made.

Memory – I didn’t realize how much I would miss my walk to campus when classes moved online. I have never missed Bascom Hill so much.

The Future? – I am not entirely sure what my future holds for me. I would like to do graduate school but I have so many different interests I need to narrow down what sort of program I would like to do. It’s all very exciting!