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Modern Languages and Literatures

Modern Languages and Literatures Department

In the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures (MLL), students learn to understand, speak, debate, create and dream in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Arabic and Hebrew. With faculty representing four continents and at least 20 distinct languages, MLL embodies the values of intercultural competence, interdisciplinary connections, critical thinking, and community-building. Our courses, from the beginning language sequence through to upper-level courses on literature, film, and media, are taught with student-centered, interactive and experience-based pedagogies. Students who complete majors and minors in our languages are equipped with a range of career-ready skills, and are infused the joy of humanistic exploration and understanding.

Sampling of popular courses from across MLL:

  • Japanese Manga & Anime (JPN)
  • The Vampire as Other: A Transcultural Figure in Literature & Film (RUS)
  • Chinese Writings on Medicine: from Ying & Yang to Biomedicine (CHN)
  • Portrayals of Disability in International Film (GER)
  • Negritude Movement: In African/Afro-Caribbean Literature (FRN)
  • Exploring Identities in Quebecois Culture (FRN)
  • Resilient Voices in Ukrainian Literature (RUS)
  • Media Literacy and Contemporary China (CHN)
  • Beyond Bedtime Stories: The Grimm Fairytales (GER)
  • Japanese Language: Society, Power and Identity (JPN)
  • The Three Gorges Dam: Engineering & Culture (CHN)
  • Language Teaching Practicum (MLL)

Fields and topics engaged in MLL courses:

  • Healthcare Psychology (incl. Memory and Trauma Studies)
  • Immigration & Exile
  • Gender Studies
  • Religious Pluralism
  • Theater & Film Studies
  • Climate Change & The Environment
  • Medicine and Wellness
  • Media Studies
  • War & Violence
  • Minority Studies
  • Urban Studies
  • Education & Pedagogy
  • Law and Society
  • Technology & Science

Union students majoring/minoring in Modern Languages & Literatures recently awarded national/international fellowships

As the mission of the Modern Languages and Literatures department indicates, our students expand their “ethical and intercultural values through experiences that prepare them to negotiate a diverse range of perspectives and situations in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities, both local and global.” Echoing these aspirations, the department would like to recognize and celebrate some of our students’ accomplishments this year (2023). Majoring or minoring in languages while pursuing other careers, these students used their interdisciplinary interests and skills to realize their visions and get the following distinctions:

Ebyan Abshir ’24 (Spanish/English minors & Africana Studies). selected for the Judge Reginald C. Lindsay Fellowship by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts)

Caitlin Boice ’23 (Japanese/English ID. selected for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. She will help teach English in a Japanese school)

Morgan Duffany ’23 (Spanish/Biochemistry double Major. Morgan received a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship to teach English in the Canary Islands, Spain)

Sebastian Koch ’23 (German minor/Electrical Engineering/Chemical Engineering). Sebastian was selected for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) Fellowship)

Caroline Monaco ’25 (French/Environmental Science Double major. Caroline was selected for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship)

Read the article on our news site for more information on these students

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