Welcome from the Chair

Thank you for visiting the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. We are a department of approximately 40 people working together for the education of students who want to use foreign languages and literatures and for research on a wide range of international topics. We serve over 3500 students annually and offer twelve languages: here students can study Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, ancient Greek, modern Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish. We offer majors in Classical Studies, French, German and Spanish and minors in these areas as well as Classical languages, Business French, Latin and Russian. Students will encounter excellent teachers (most of our faculty have won teaching awards) and researchers who are at the cutting edge of their fields.

FLL April 16 Memorial Funds Jocelyne Couture-Nowak and Jamie Bishop shared the conviction that learning a foreign language and culture is not just a joy, but is fundamental to our civilization--if we are to be civilized. To honor the memory of our colleagues and students, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures has established two memorial scholarships for French and German majors at Virginia Tech. Donations may be made payable to the Virginia Tech Foundation, for the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Scholarship (French) or the Jamie Bishop Scholarship (German). If you give online, please be sure to indicate which scholarship you would like to support. Virginia Tech Foundation University Development 902 Prices Fork Road Blacksburg, VA 24061 I would like to thank all of you who have sent expressions of support and sympathy from around the world. The number of messages has been overwhelming, and I am not able to acknowledge them all. --Richard Shryock, Chair