Janice M. Aski, professor in the Department of French and Italian and director of Italian Undergraduate Studies and the Italian language program, has been named interim director of the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures for a one-year term, effective July 1. Aski specializes in world language pedagogy and historical Italian/Romance linguistics. She co-authored the first-year Italian textbook Avanti! (now in its fifth edition) and the Italian historical linguistics monograph Iconicity and analogy in language change. Her current research in world language education explores revising language curricula to include the development of intercultural competence.