PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE PROFESSIONS
The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures helps majors and minors prepare for their future professions by providing them with the opportunity to develop several significant skills that will allow them to assume leadership roles in the twenty-first century: the linguistic skills that will allow them to communicate and do business with non-English speakers; the cross-cultural awareness that will help them understand and deal with people whose worldview is defined by different values and norms than our own; the analytical thinking that comes from learning to write clear and persuasive prose in both their own language and another; and the liberal education that will allow them the flexibility to make the rapid shifts that the workplace of the twenty-first century will most certainly demand; the cultural and historical knowledge that will allow them to see languages and literatures as a central aspect of civilizations and peoples.
Graduates of programs in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures have recently received jobs in the U. S. and abroad in areas including high school and university teaching, translation, domestic and international business, military and civilian intelligence, computer science, international law, hotel management, Foreign Service, Peace Corps, International Monetary Fund, international airlines and expediting services, international consulting, international journalism, and other professions. A number of graduates have gone on to law school, business school, and medical school, where they prepare themselves for the international aspects of their later careers.