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Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It is my great pleasure to introduce our new Executive Director Joseph DeChicchis who is appointed by the Search Committee and confirmed by the SSA Executive Board.
Moving onward and upward,
Farouk Seif
On behalf the Search Committee
Joseph DeChicchis, Ph.D., F.R.S.A.
Academically, Professor DeChicchis has punctuated his career with language study in various parts of the world. Trained chiefly at the University of Pennsylvania in linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics, he also studied semiotics at the University of Bologna and cognitive studies at the University of Sussex. His doctoral dissertation on syntactic and phonological variation in Q’eqchi’, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala and Belize, corrected previous views of Q’eqchi’ homogeneity. Postdoctoral research on the Ainu language took him to the University of Tokyo. Long interested in world heritage languages, his work in general language policy encompasses the computational encoding of texts, human-machine interface design, documentary evidence, orthography design, and international legal translation.
Dr. DeChicchis is the founder of Historic Elizabeth, a founder of the Ryukyuan Heritage Language Society, and a Founding Member of the Endangered Language Fund. In addition to his service to the SSA and his organization of the Deely Project, Dr. DeChicchis is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.
