The School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics will host a convocation ceremony for graduating students this May.
The school hosts the annual ceremony for students earning degrees in the following units:
- Classics
- Comparative and World Literature
- East Asian Languages and Cultures
- French and Italian
- Germanic Languages and Literatures
- Linguistics (CS + Linguistics, Teaching English as a Second Language)
- Religion
- Slavic Languages and Literatures
- Spanish and Portuguese
- Translation and Interpretation
The ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 16 at Foellinger Auditorium from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
This year's speaker is Jessica Nicholas (MA, '12; PhD, '18; French linguistics). Nicholas is the citizenship program manager and a Department of Justice Accredited Immigrant Representative at The Immigration Project in Normal, Illinois, where she helps low-income Illinois residents go through the U.S. naturalization process. As part of her role, she organizes in-person and virtual workshops and seminars for naturalization applicants from up to 86 countries, leads a team of outreach and legal staff, and trains and supervises high school, undergraduate, and legal interns.
Nicholas is also the founder of Translation Pour Vous [Translation for You] LLC, through which she provides low-cost translations of immigration and naturalization related documents, hosts podcasts, and delivers presentations to community groups, school districts, and university audiences.