0876. Dro Humphrey Tonkin, president of
Esperantic Studies Foundation (ESF)

Anouncement      

ESF Directors To Participate In      
NASK 40-Year Anniversary Symposium      

June 26, 2009 -- The President and Vice-President of the Esperantic Studies Foundation, Dr. Humphrey Tonkin and Dr. Mark Fettes, will contribute to a special symposium to mark the 40th anniversary of the North American Summer Esperanto Institute, to be held July 11, 2009 at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

The Institute, commonly known by its Esperanto acronym NASK (Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro), is an intensive three-week, three-credit immersion program in the international language, at levels from beginner to advanced. Begun at San Francisco State University in 1969, the program moved to the School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 2002, and to UCSD in 2007. Each year the Institute attracts a range of students and language teachers from across North America and internationally.

The Symposium program will also include talks by former ESF Director Dr. David Jordan (UCSD) and Ms. Spomenka Štimec, a leading Esperanto author, teacher, and cultural activist from Croatia.

To learn more about NASK, visit the program’s website http://www.esperanto.org/nask/ and Facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36856403225

Events      

NASK 40th Anniversary Symposium
July 11, 2009, University of California, San Diego

ESF directors and advisory board members recently participated in a symposium marking the 40th anniversary of the NASK program held at the University of California, San Diego. NASK is an intensive three-week, university-credit immersion program in the international language. ESF directors included Dr. Humphrey Tonkin (President) and Dr. Mark Fettes (Vice-President). Presentations were also made by ESF advisory board member, Dr. David Jordan and Ms. Spomenka Štimec, a leading Esperanto author, teacher, and cultural activist from Croatia.

The events were hosted by the Board of Directors of the Esperantic Studies Foundation to coincide with their annual planning retreat.

On the evening of Friday, July 10, there was a dinner at the Estancia La Jolla in honor of their founding (and current) president, Dr. Humphrey Tonkin, a scholar of Renaissance English literature and former university president, who has made truly remarkable contributions to the Esperanto movement and to the study of language problems, over the course of a long and successful career as a university teacher and administrator. In an intimate setting, we had the opportunity of celebrating some of Dr. Tonkin's accomplishments and sharing both memories and thoughts about the future.

On the afternoon of Saturday, July 11, we had a second celebration. Forty years have passed since the inaugural Esperanto program at San Francisco State University, which eventually grew into the North American Summer Esperanto Institute or Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro (NASK).

To commemorate this milestone, there was a three-hour symposium at the University of California San Diego, featuring Humphrey Tonkin, David Jordan, Spomenca Stimec, and Mark Fettes as guest speakers and panelists. The symposium did look both backwards at the last forty years and forward at the next forty, taking stock of the immense technological and cultural changes that are transforming the world, and considering the ways in which Esperanto has adapted and will continue to adapt to them.

The symposium was followed by a reception and ceremony recognizing many of those who have made key contributions to NASK over the years.

* * * * *    
Group singing with Ŝajo at the language laboratory.
Friday July 10, 2009, 2:30 PM.


0865. Language Laboratory.


0866.


0869. Going to dinner at the Estancia La Jolla.


0870.


* * * * *