The German Department offers a flexible German studies curriculum that embraces language and culture study as a humanistic endeavor while intersecting a range of academic, interdisciplinary, and personal interests; for example, art, history, and music, German film, politics and business, personal heritage, philosophy or world literature, European pop culture, study and work abroad. Students are strongly encouraged to study one or two semesters in a German-speaking country in order to further develop proficiency in the language and culture as well as to gain a better understanding of their own culture in a global context.