Report on Survey of Portuguese Studies in the United States

t is fitting that at 1994 annual meeting, AATSP chose to honor Fred Ellison with an homenagem.* The year is significant for for at least two reasons. First and foremost, it is fiftieth anniversary of P in AATSP; however, significant also, and perhaps not emphasized enough, it that 1994 is twentieth anniversary of publication in Hispania (57 [1974]: 941-47) of recommendations of 'Task Force for Promotion of Studies in United approved by AATSP Executive Council in 1972, and headed by Fred Ellison. In connection with his work on Task Force, Professor Ellison conducted a survey of programs in United States by sending two questionnaires to 450 members of AATSP who indicated an interest in in their membership renewal forms. The results of his survey were presented at AATSP annual meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia on December 28, 1976 and published following year in Hispania. As part of fiftieth anniversary activities, and in connection with Newsletter, I employed Fred Ellison's survey to ascertain-twenty years later-the condition of studies in colleges and universities in United States. The results come from survey instrument published in Newsletter sent in fall of 1993 to colleagues who indicated an interest in or involvement in Portuguese, as well as from data found in university catalogues, descriptions of Title VI funded Centers for Latin American Studies, and surveys conducted by Modern Language Association of America. Responses (which numbered 134) also included a number of programs in colleges and universities where faculty did not belong to AATSP. Hispania has devoted many pages to language and Luso-Brazilian literatures. The annual meetings of AATSP show a more balanced representation of and Spanish. In 1990 Executive Council voted to include Phi Lambda Beta as an official auxiliary of AATSP and provide honor society with a modest stipend for its operation. As of this writing, Phi Lambda Beta has eight active chapters throughout country and several others are in process of organizing. Finally, Newsletter combined efforts with Phi Lambda Beta and appears regularly three times per year under auspices of AATSP. All of this is the good news. The bad news in general terms is fact that in spite all of these efforts, membership of LusoBrazilianists in AATSP remains low, some four hundred members indicate interest in Portuguese, and, of these, only a small percentage actually teach on a regular basis. Finally, it should be noted that although twothirds of respondents to Fred Ellison's Questionnaire B, question 13, Portuguese specialists would consider forming their own professional organization (separately from AATSP), were resoundingly negative toward this idea, today

Linguistics · Political science · Portuguese · Historical Education and Society · History, Culture, and Society · Linguistics and Language Studies · Philosophy

• Students’ Motivations for Choosing (or Not) to Study Portuguese

  Blair E Bateman, Desirée de Almeida Oliveira•Hispania•2014

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