Gloria Kuzmenko-Latimer, Ukrainian GISP and Language Learning as Advocacy

At Brown, students choose to learn another language for a variety of motivations — familial heritage, global affairs, cultural interest, to name a few. For Gloria Kuzmenko-Latimer ’27, organizer of the Ukrainian language GISP this semester, choosing to learn a language is also a form of resistance and advocacy. 

Yes, you read that right. Gloria is a freshman in her second semester, organizing and participating in a language independent study. When she arrived at Brown in the fall, she started investigating the possibilities of studying Ukrainian, motivated by the current Russia-Ukraine crisis and her own Ukrainian heritage. Brown doesn’t currently offer a course in Ukrainian, but Gloria didn’t give up; she went to talk to the Center for Language Studies (that’s us!) and the Curricular Resource Center. After learning what the process would look like to independently study Ukrainian, she, in her own words, “decided to take a leap,” and start the process of developing a Group Independent Study Project for learning Ukrainian.

Because Gloria already spoke Russian, she designed the course particularly for students who already have background in another Slavic language. This choice is a good reminder that GISP/ISP language courses don’t necessarily have to be at the beginner level, either. If you already have some level of background or ability in a language not offered at Brown, you can still create a GISP or ISP to continue learning, with a curriculum that is tailored to your level, just like Gloria did. 

As she was assembling the resources and content for her GISP, Gloria also had to find motivated students with similar interests who might pursue an independent study. To create a successful, vibrant GISP, this might be the step with the most difficulty — and conversely, the most potential. At a speaker event on campus about the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Gloria met students who were from Ukraine or interested in Ukraine. Through the network of different organizations at Brown, like the Ukrainian Student Association, she was able to meet other students interested in learning Ukrainian or supporting the project. One of these was Oleksii Shebanov ’26, a student from Ukraine who became the course’s Teaching Assistant, an invaluable resource as a native speaker and fellow student. Gloria also met the instructor for the GISP, Professor Lynne deBenedette, an instructor in Slavic Studies who supports Gloria and the other student in the GISP. So participating in or starting a GISP can lead you to meet individuals connected to language learning who, even if they don’t participate, can be amazing friends and connections in the Brown academic and language-study environment.

The process of creating a language GISP involves working with two centers on campus, the CLS and the CRC. Gloria emphasized that anyone interested in starting a GISP but worried about the process should reach out and schedule a meeting with the CRC, or attend their open hours — where you can have the chance to hash out the feasibility and the options for what you want to organize. You will also work with the CRC to create a comprehensive syllabus and lesson plan of the content you’ll cover over the semester.

But for Gloria and the GISP students, learning Ukrainian is not just vocabulary cards and grammar structures. It’s a form of linguistic resistance and support for Ukraine and speakers of the language. Much more than just an academic discipline, language learning is also a way we can advocate for communities in crisis: by opening up communication, by showing respect and appreciation for a language and culture, and by building robust support networks for people displaced by conflict. Ukrainian specifically, a language  historically subordinated in certain spaces and geographies by Russian, the language of the Soviet Union, lends itself to this function of language learning. Now more than ever, learning and using Ukrainian instead of Russian is a clear assertion of support for Ukraine and Ukrainian-speaking communities, as Gloria told me.

I’ve written before that learning a language isn’t contained to your semesters and years at Brown; it’s an arrow that points out into the world, to conversations and connections with new communities. And it’s not just symbolic support: building a wider network of Ukrainian speakers is real and meaningful for the millions of Ukrainians who have already been displaced by the war. On the flip side, the geopolitics and culture outside Brown naturally has an impact on what languages are studied here. So students that work hard to make learning a certain language accessible to Brown students are doing immeasurably important work for the university and broader community. Making space for a language to be studied formally at Brown also contributes to the legitimacy, preservation, and political means a language has available to it.

Gloria also hopes that the Ukrainian Language GISP won’t just be a one-off semester course, but that it can continue to grow as an opportunity and program at Brown. An array of students from different backgrounds and concentrations all expressed interest—a display of the diversity of students that engage in language learning at Brown. Compared to self-studying, learning a language within the defined curriculum of a GISP keeps you more accountable, and generates better results by the end of the semester, which I talked about with Yomi last year, and Gloria agreed.

Of course, organizing and participating in an independent course comes with its challenges. So far, Gloria has found it difficult determine the correct pace of learning: enough to challenge herself and the other student, but not enough to be overwhelming or unrealistic, without a standardized beginner language curriculum or a degree in second-language instruction. The CRC and the CLS, which are both familiar with methods and pacing of instruction, can help with this! As you create your syllabus, you will work with the CRC to make it realistic for one semester of study. And one exciting benefit of creating a GISP curriculum is that it allows you to include aspects of language learning that aren’t traditionally present in language courses. Gloria emphasized that daily immersion in materials in the language is often missing from language, courses, even daily ones, so she has been trying to include more natural engagement with language—on social media, or in mundane, daily conversation—into her study.

As the Ukrainian language community at Brown continues to grow—a new language table started this semester—Gloria and her GISP are a crucial part in making studying it more accessible to students and more integrated into the community. Many of us spend our time at Brown thinking about things we’d like to do if we ever have the time, but then never act on those nagging thoughts. But as Gloria was contemplating her time at Brown, she saw the opportunity to organize an opportunity herself, and thought: “If not now, when?” As language learners, students, and people, we can all learn from that.