Department of Modern Languages — The 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 and Japanese language, literature, film 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 European languages. Both major and minor programs give students considerable flexibility in selecting 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.

Department Policy on Enrollment in Language Courses

It is the policy of the Department of Modern Languages to exclude from its elementary- and intermediate-level courses any student who the Department deems to have significant knowledge of the target language. The departmental policy will be determined by examination of the student’s transcript and/or administration of a placement test. Students who demonstrate proficiency in the target language may apply for a waiver from the foreign language proficiency requirement or distribution area. Such students are encouraged to enroll in advanced language, culture, and literature courses.

Honors

The Department of Modern Languages offers an honors program in all its majors: French, German Studies, Italian, and Russian Studies. To be eligible, students must have a) completed at least six courses towards the major, not counting intermediate proficiency in the language; b) achieved a University cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a 3.25 cumulative average in major courses through the junior year. A student wishing to do honors work should seek out a departmental advisor willing to direct the honors paper. After receiving approval from this advisor, the student must apply in writing to the chair of the department for admission to the honors program, preferably before the beginning of the senior year.

An honors candidate enrolls in his/her major’s “Honors Research Project” course (498) in the first semester of the senior year. If this course is completed successfully, the student enrolls in “Senior Honors Thesis” (499) in order to complete his/her research and write the thesis. All theses will have two or three readers: The advisor and one or two other faculty members chosen by the student with departmental approval. All readers must approve the thesis, which will then be submitted to the department in a timely fashion to meet the College’s deadline. The student will present his/her final thesis to the department.