Recognizing French as an international language and the growing importance of cross-cultural experiences, the department has established a curriculum that includes course work and study abroad opportunities in both France and the broader French-speaking world. For instance, students may participate in a service-learning course that travels to Burkina Faso in West Africa or Morocco in North Africa. We are also affiliated with programs offering summer-, semester- or academic-year study in several different locations in France.

Mastering a foreign language can give students an edge in finding fulfilling careers in government agencies, banking, companies involved in translation, import-export, travel, international development, computer science or any business with foreign contacts. Students may add French to a major in the physical or social sciences, the arts or the humanities for purposes of research.

The number of teaching positions is also increasing as an awareness of the need for foreign languages in a global society grows.