About the Translation Research and Instruction Program
The Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP) began in January of 1971 with a Translator Certification Program that was established in the Department of Comparative Literature. The TRIP Certificate was formalized a few years later in April of 1974 as an official SUNY Graduate Certificate.
Those completing the TRIP Certificate enrolled in a newly launched translation workshop course. The course was an impetus for TRIP's creation of a Translator Training Program, which was funded as a Center for Translation and Intercultural Communication with a two-year grant by the US Office of Education. While founded among literary scholars, TRIP provided both literary and non-literary translation training from the outset.
With grant funding for the Center, TRIP created the Translation Referral Service (TRS) in 1974, in which graduate students, under the supervision of faculty members, provided translations for the Greater Binghamton region. The TRS maintained a comprehensive list of locally available, linguistically competent and qualified translators - and interpreters, as available - in both source and target languages. Even after grant funding ended, the TRS remained open until 2008.
TRIP eventually expanded its course offerings. The TRIP Minor was approved in the 2005-06 academic year. The Department of Comparative Literature supported many students' interest in translation studies and practice until a TRIP Ph.D. program was formally approved by SUNY in the fall of 2004 and saw its first graduate in 2008. Rosemary Arroyo joined the faculty in January of 2003 and directed TRIP until June of 2007. She announced her retirement in late 2018.
TRIP's next two directors were faculty in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies. Michael Pettid, who served as TRIP Director from 2010 through 2016, developed a dual-degree program with Beijing International Studies University (BISU), in effect from 2016 through 2021. Chenqing Song, who led TRIP from 2016 through 2023, oversaw admissions and degree progress for many BISU students, and in 2021, received campus and SUNY approvals for a new TRIP degree track, an MA in Translation.
Marilyn Gaddis Rose
Marilyn Gaddis Rose was a Distinguished Service Professor for Binghamton University. She was honored in a Translation Studies Volume in 2012 that includes contributions by Binghamton University alumni and faculty. Several graduate student awards have been created in her name, including an annual fellowship stipend. The campus commemorated Professor Gaddis Rose's life on May 12, 2016 in the Anderson Center's Osterhout Theater.
Program Mission:
- Advance the frontiers of translation studies research
- Demonstrate our commitment to humanistic studies, including transdisciplinary approaches in the humanities and a focus on aesthetic and theoretical concerns, as well as the socio-political implications.
- Inspire and train the next generation of translators and translation studies researchers
- Provide an excellent education in translation and translation studies
- Foster translation studies research and teaching across departments within Binghamton University
Program Vision:
- Cultivate our students’ knowledge and abilities to turn them into globally aware translators
- Dismantle power structures in place since the founding of the institution that have historically oppressed BIPOC people.
- Enhance the social recognition of translation, translation studies, and translators within the profession and broader communities.
- Expand the variety of coursework offered to achieve our mission, including interpretation.
