Assistant Education Professor Janet Medina (below right) and Assistant History Professor Christian de Pee (above left) have received the College’s Distinguished Scholars’ Awards for spring 2006.

In the spring semester, they each will have the opportunity to work on research projects while teaching two classes instead of the usual course load of three.

De Pee plans to translate the Chinese story “I Dream of Spring” written in 1318. It tells the tale of a married man who is asked by a matchmaker to write a poem for a single woman. Upon reading the poem, the woman becomes enamored of the man, and the two begin writing back and forth. The letters are included in the story.

De Pee, who is interested in the relationship between language and culture, will create an annotated translation from the original Classical Chinese text. He admits it does present some challenges.

“The perfect translation is impossible because there is no exact word for many things,” de Pee said. “There is also something profoundly cultural in the rhythm of the sentence that contributes to the meaning, and that is hard to translate.”

De Pee plans to present his translation at the Early China Colloquium in Washington, D.C. this spring. The completed translation will also be added to his syllabus for the course “Gender and the Family in China.”

Assistant Professor of Education Janet Medina will use the time to write a guidebook for colleges, which will aid them in evaluating the educational needs of adolescents and adults with learning disabilities in order to provide reasonable academic accommodations.

“Part of my goal is to help people who interpret diagnostic tests find what is helpful,” Medina said. “Since there is no set way of testing for disabilities, there is a need for understanding the information better.”

Medina’s text, entitled “A Guide to Interpreting Diagnostic Assessments of Adolescents and Adults with Disabilities, Particulary Learning Disabilities,” examines the different kinds of tests available and the statistics behind them, and then provides a table for interpreting the results and suggesting accommodations for the student.

Medina says it fills a much-needed gap.

“To my knowledge, there is currently no such publication written for the adolescent/adult population that suggests how to interpret test results and how to apply them academically.”

Part of the guide will also focus on students with learning disabilities who learn English as a second language. The guide is an outgrowth of presentations Medina has given over the last decade. It is funded by a Focused Initiative Grant from The Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD).