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Outstanding Community Service Award: Kathleen Moore

Kathleen Moore

Inspiration can strike at unexpected times. Kathleen Moore discovered this while cycling on the American River Bike Trail seven years ago.

“While biking, I started to think about how I could bring language and culture together to a broad audience,” says Moore, a professor in Foreign Languages and an avid cyclist who once rode from Minnesota to Massachusetts. “By the end of the ride, World Language Day was born.”

Moore received the 2005-06 Outstanding Community Service Award for the College of Arts and Letters for her work on World Language Day, which takes place on campus each spring. The Outstanding Community Service Awards program recognizes faculty members who apply their knowledge and skills in the community to enhance the public good rather than for personal income or corporate profit.

“My idea was to bring the regional community together to explore linguistic and cultural diversity,” explains Moore, “but I wasn’t sure where to begin. So I opened the phone book and went from there.”

Her initial calls to Slavic, Hispanic and Russian organizations and the Mexican Consulate were met with enthusiasm. “The response was overwhelming,” says Moore, who says all the organizations she contacted were eager to showcase their languages and culture.

Moore also reached out to other sections of the population by inviting high school and community college students and faculty to participate and display exhibits in the event. “Their participation had a great effect on World Language Day, because they provide a fresh perspective that youth can offer,” says Moore. And as the event grew over the years and word spread about the array of educational opportunities, high school students lobbied for and began receiving class credit for participating in the day’s sessions.

The event is known for its wide variety of presentations and exhibits. Presenters showcase their languages through brief language lessons, instructing attendees on the proper way to pronounce common expressions and sentences. Other activities include folk dancing, plays, martial arts demonstrations, origami lessons, lectures and short films. “We’ve had Arabic, Japanese and Chinese presenters teach attendees how to write characters unique to their languages,” says Moore. And both the Sacramento State Career Center and the FBI have booths with information about careers in foreign languages.

The event has evolved over the years, with each year bringing something new and engaging. Last year was no exception. “It occurred to me that it might be fun to do an ‘International Idol’ contest to wrap up the day’s activities,” says Moore. “We had a panel of judges and an audience watch various singing, dancing and juggling acts, among others. It was a big hit. After it was over, we all sang, ‘We Are the World.’ There was a real sense of community.”

This year marks the fifth anniversary of World Language Day, which is held every spring in Mariposa Hall, Eureka Hall and the Library Quad. “It’s a popular event,” Moore says. “Last year more than 1,200 people were in attendance.” It’s a gratifying number to Moore, who says World Language Day activities help to inspire the community to think about not only about language and culture in their own neighborhood, but around the world.