Department of Modern Foreign Languages

Leonard R. Koos, Chair
Marie A. Wellington, Career Advisor– French
Marcel Rotter, Career Advisor– German
Elizabeth F. Lewis, Career Advisor– Spanish

Faculty

Professors

Ana Garcia Chichester, Spanish
James F. Gaines, French
Elizabeth F. Lewis, Spanish
Marie A. Wellington, French

Associate Professors

Shoukri B. Abed, Arabic
Brooke E. Di Lauro, French
Leonard R. Koos, French
Maria Isabel Martinez-Mira, Spanish
Scott M. Powers, French
Marcel Rotter, German
Jose Angel Sainz, Spanish
Federico Schneider, Italian

Assistant Professors

Maria Laura Bocaz-Leiva, Spanish
Marcelo Fajardo-Cardenas
Jeremy G. Larochelle, Spanish
Jessica C. Locke, Spanish

Lecturer

Martha Patricia Orozco de Watrel

The Modern Foreign Languages Program

Through courses in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, the department offers students the opportunity to gain proficiency in understanding, reading, writing, and speaking one or more languages. To supplement language instruction, communicative tools on the internet and laboratory work are used extensively; internships in the community whenever possible and international studies are encouraged as well.

Classes are conducted primarily in the target language. Through classroom instruction, individual research, and work in department sponsored co-curricular programs, students come to know the culture of the people whose language they study. Through internships, students work directly in language-related professions. The Department of Modern Foreign Languages offers major programs in French, German, and Spanish. Students may also request a special major in Italian Studies. Courses in Arabic and Chinese are currently offered at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. The department offers minors in Business French, Business German, Business Spanish, and also contributes to the minor in Asian Studies. Double majors in a foreign language and another discipline are possible.

The department provides students an opportunity to reside in campus residence areas in which the foreign language is spoken and which sponsors various inter-cultural programs each year. Currently each language area has as its resident program director a native speaker of that foreign language.

Summer programs abroad led by MDFL faculty members include the following: Arabic language in Petra, Jordan (4 weeks); French language and culture in Paris, France (4 weeks), German language and culture in Erkurt, Germany (4 weeks); Italian language and culture in Orvieto, Italy (4 weeks); and Spanish language and culture in Bilbao, Spain (5 weeks). In addition, the department cooperates with a variety of overseas study programs, advises and encourages students wishing to study abroad, and helps in planning their foreign study programs. Credits can be accepted from abroad to fulfill department requirements.

Graduates in Modern Foreign Languages may pursue careers in government or in private fields in which the knowledge of languages is essential, including interpreting, translating, research, social services, education, or international business.

*For information regarding general education language requirements for students not currently majoring in Modern Foreign Languages, please see page 75-76 in this Catalog.

Modern Foreign Language Course Offerings (MDFL)

201 – World Literature in Cultural Context (3)

World literature in context—an introduction to literature from Western and non-Western perspectives. Themes and literary techniques from a variety of authors. In English. Other Modern Foreign Language courses are listed separately under a heading for each language. See: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

back to top