Annual Report 2006

Layout: Lars Nordmo 2006

This is the web version of CASTLs third Annual Report. Below you will find the words from our leadership, and by following this link you will get the full version of the report.
The paper version will be available after the 1st of April 2006. Please contact us at castl@hum.uit.no if you like us to ship you a copy of the new report.












We did it! 2006 ended with a powerful affirmation of the
splendid work everyone at CASTL has done over the past
four years. A comprehensive evaluation by an international
committee and by the Research Council of Norway determined
that CASTL will continue as a Norwegian Center of
Excellence through 2012.
We are inspired by this evaluation to continue our research,
to contribute even more substantially to our field through
increased publication of our results and to advance our approach
to graduate education. You may enjoy knowing that
your epic support has helped us reach the point where the
committee concludes “there is no doubt that CASTL has become
the top center of theoretical linguistics in Europe and
one of the major centers in the world.”
Our Ph.D. students, writes the committee, “distinguish themselves
by their independent, original contributions to the
field.” In addition to recruiting the brightest young linguists
to our Ph.D. program, the committee also notes that CASTL
“has been able to attract numerous internationally renowned
senior researchers as well as postdocs who have become
highly respected in the field, as evidenced by their impressive
citation and publication records.”
The committee furthermore singles out the crucial contribution
of our affiliates, who form the basis for our excellent relationship
with the Department of Language and Linguistics.
And they mention the online database LingBuzz that we
host, describing it as “the standard tool for the distribution of
electronic articles in syntax and related areas.”
The Norwegians say tongue-in-cheek that selvskryt skal man
lytte til, for det kommer rett fra hjertet [we should listen to
self-praise, for it comes straight from the heart]! While we
hope this year’s annual report doesn’t go too far in illustrating
this adage, we present in the following pages a few more
comments from the midterm evaluation, thereby inviting our
sponsors and supporters to join us in celebrating this success.
In our role as the CASTL leadership, we’re proud to present
the superb accomplishments of our students and colleagues
and we’re humbled by the opportunity to thank the many
people in CASTL’s extended network who have made crucial
contributions to our success, especially the Research Council
of Norway and the University of Tromsø, but also many
generous colleagues and administrators at the Faculty of
Humanities – and, of course, three anonymous reviewers out
there somewhere.

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