One proud Persian ASU student is setting out to get her native language offered in a class by summer 2006.
"It just takes one person to have a passion and strike a spark," said Sogol Homayoun, a linguistics senior.
The Modern Language Association found less than 1 percent of Arizona residents speak Persian in its 2000 census.
Homayoun is writing a proposal to convince the Critical Language Institute to offer Persian languages.
The institute is an organization on campus that offers nine-week summer programs that offer training in languages not typically found in the United States.
The class -- which will count for eight credit hours at most universities -- would be available to anyone in the community as long as they pay the registration fee.
Homayoun plans to start with one class in the institute. She hopes it will gain momentum and the Department of Languages and Literatures will pick it up as part of the curriculum.
The proposal, which Homayoun is using as her thesis for the Honors College, will need to tell about the demand for the courses, why they should be offered and what benefits students will receive from taking them.
Homayoun is in the process of writing grants and acquiring community support to raise the $10,000 needed to implement the classes at the institute.
Professor David Damrel, a member of Homayoun's honors thesis committee, said having Persian languages offered would be beneficial to ASU.
"Persian is important if you want to understand the modern Middle East," he said.
Homayoun is starting her quest to get the language offered at the institute, which she said has been supportive.
"Persian is a critical language, and it definitely fits into our mission," said Ariann Stern, assistant director of the Critical Languages Institute.
Even with the small number of speakers in the state, the language "is important beyond Arizona," Stern said.
"It is important that Americans know more critical languages," she added.
Nicole Lenzen, a nursing sophomore, is not enrolled in a language course but said the classes would be good for ASU.
"There is a large student population here and it is good to have more to offer," she said.
Homayoun, president of the Iranian Students of ASU, said the campus was last touched by the Persian culture 18 years ago when a similar club was on campus. The club became obsolete once the members graduated, and Homayoun said she wants to create a cultural diversion.
"It is going to take a lot of passion and energy to demonstrate this to ASU," she said.
Reach the reporter at amanda.m.gonser@asu.edu.
