In her honor
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I first met Erika Gilson in 1990 at the MESA conference which was being held in San Antonio, TX. I was a graduate student and I happened to be speaking Turkish and she overheard me and asked if they could record me for their proficiency project.
Much has happened since then. I finished my PhD and in 2000 found myself back in the United States working in a position that included both Turkish language and literature which brought me to the American Association of Teachers of Turkic languages. AATT provided wonderful resources and a helpful community for all novice and experienced instructors of Turkish. Under her stewardship AATT initiated and participated in important projects and institutions ranging from the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages to the National Middle East Language Resource Center. AATT hosted panels at MESA and an annual graduate student conference, AATT instructors were offered the opportunity to receive ACTFL proficiency testing training. Her contributions to the field of Turkish language instruction are too long to enumerate here but can be found in her C.V. Erika hoca was honored with two national awards for her service to the field: the ‘Jere L. Bacharach Service Award,‘ Middle East Studies Association [2012] and the ‘A. Ronald Walton Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of LCTLs,’ National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages [2008].
Erika Gilson’s professional achievements and contributions to the field of Turkish studies impressive as they are, are not what motivated us to contribute to this online festschrift. Erika Gilson is also a lovely person, and a supportive friend. It has been a pleasure to work with Erika hoca all these years. Although retired, she continues to be an active member of the field and who knows maybe we’ll have the chance to work together on another project before soon.
In the meanwhile we hope that she will accept this little token of our friendship and the esteem in which we hold her.
The contributions are divided into two sections one memories of old times and academic works. More contributions have been promised and will be added as they reach us.
With many thanks to Jessica and Kaya MenteÅŸoÄŸlu. Without their tech savvy and generous contribution of time and effort this would not have been possible.
Best,
Roberta Micallef
Boston University