Due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19 on campus, the Department's main office is closed. Core staff are working from home, so please reach out to us via email.   

 Congratulations to Joshua Griffiths, one of our current French Linguistics Doctoral Students. He has accepted a position of visiting lecturer in French in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University in Boston. Bravo!

Congratulations to Jim Law, one of our current French Linguistics Doctoral Students. He is graduating this spring and has already accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the French & Italian department at Brigham Young University for next Fall 2020. Bravo!

Congratulations to recent graduate of our French Studies Doctoral Program, Ashley Voeks. She is currently working as a Visiting Assistant Professor of French at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, but she has recently accepted a tenure track position at Texas Tech University for next Fall 2020. Félicitations!

A group of four undergraduate students, including Italian and Anthropology major Sophia Luongo, are working together to take on the waste crisis in Rome. Their interdisciplinary approach combines mechanical engineering, communication, public health and Italian language skills. Currently, they are collecting funds through Horn Raiser and have already received over more than $7,000 toward their goal of $10,000! With guidance from faculty mentor, Antonella Olson, they plan to travel to Rome in summer 2020 and work with an existing Italian non-profit, Retake Roma, to address the issues facing the city. Please read more about their incredible project. We are proud of you!

Dr. David Birdsong and Dr. Paola Bonifazio are both featured in Life and Letters, the College of Liberal Arts magazine for fall 2019. Dr. Bonifazio discusses Film Studies with two other Liberal Arts professors, and Dr. Birdsong provides commentary on benefits of studying World Languages.

  Dr. Paola Bonifazio is the receipent of the 2019-2020 VPR Research and Creative Grant for a project entitled, "Italian Producers Go to Hollywood". Her proposal was selected out of many strong applications. With these grant funds, Dr. Bonifazio will expand her research by sourcing material from film archives with a focus on financial, production, and labor connections between Italian and American cinematic projects. Brava!

 After long collaboration, “From ‘Stazione Termini’ to Indiscretion of an American Wife: A Collaborative Research Project on the David O. Selznick Collection" is finally out! The Section is the outcome of a research project conducted by Associate Professor Paola Bonifazio and graduate students Steve Eaton, Sam Gaglio, and Dylan Levy at the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The goal of the research project is to contribute to scholarly debates on the relationship between Italian and American film cultures, industries, and film stars. Read the essays online.

We are saddened to announce the passing of Knud Lambrecht, Professor Emeritus of French Linguistics. Lambrecht died on September 6, 2019, at the age of 80. Read more here. 

Sarah Le Pichon, one of our French Studies Doctoral Students, recently presented a Trauma-Informed Teaching: A Workshop and was part of a round table discussion on Safe Spaces: Investigating Trauma and Trauma-informed Practices in and out of the Classroom, which were both hosted at Clemson University. Bien fait!