French is the first or second language of more than 40 countries and is spoken by about 125 million people around the world. French is one of the official languages of the European Union, the world’s second-largest trading bloc. France itself has the fourth-largest economy in the world.

The mission of the program is to give students the opportunity to develop appropriate proficiencies in French, to acquaint students with the literary and cultural productions of the francophone world, and to give them the opportunity to acquire critical skills through literary and cultural analysis as they prepare for careers in teaching and research, business, translation, and other areas. The French program’s research mission is to contribute to the development, organization and dissemination of research and criticism in the focus areas of literature, culture, linguistics and language pedagogy. As a core element in the University’s mission of internationalization, we support and promote international involvement by both faculty and students through programs such as our International Engineering/French program, study abroad programs, and the Francophone Students’ Association.