The Modern Languages Department
The Department of Modern Languages offers strong and varied programs in French, German, Italian, and Russian language, culture, and literature, taught by a faculty with considerable international experience. The department also offers smaller, but expanding, programs in Chinese language and literature and in Japanese language, literature and culture. Course offerings are designed to serve the educational needs of students who want to acquire a knowledge of foreign languages from the elementary to the advanced level, and who wish to explore the richness of literary and cultural traditions outside the United States.
The main objective of the department's academic programs is to provide students with practical and intellectually challenging undergraduate study that will enable them to make effective use of a foreign language in pursuit of their professional and personal goals. Students can major or minor in any of the department's four languages. Both major and minor programs give students considerable flexibility in selecting from among required courses; independent study and graduation with honors are available for majors in any of the department's languages.
Our course offerings also enable students majoring in other disciplines to develop knowledge of a second language and an awareness of cultural diversity. Many offerings are interdisciplinary, and several are given in English; these include an extensive selection of core courses in several distribution areas.