Welcome to the website of the Department of French and Italian, University of California, Irvine. As you will see when you access the individual faculty webpages, the department is fortunate to have as its members distinguished, productive scholars who have varied interests and can provide training in diversified interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature and culture. Ours is an exciting department in which to teach and study.

FRENCH

The program has eight full-time professors in French and Francophone studies and one senior lecturer who is Director of the French language programs. One faculty member from France has a regular one-quarter appointment: Etienne Balibar, is in residence every Winter Quarter. He participates fully in the graduate program. In both our undergraduate and graduate programs, we offer a wide range of courses on different literary, cultural, historical, and philosophical topics from the Renaissance to the present. Students who take courses in the department have the chance to work with outstanding teachers and scholars in small seminars and design their own program of study.

On the undergraduate level, students can choose to either major or minor in French and Francophone literature and culture; they also have the opportunity to major or minor in a new interdisciplinary European Studies Program with an emphasis in French or Francophone literature and culture. They are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to study in France for a year at one of the several centers run by the Education Abroad Program.

On the graduate level, we have designed our graduate program to be as flexible as possible, in order to allow students to customize their coursework and their M.A. and Ph.D examinations to fit their own intellectual interests. We have few fixed requirements for the degree, in order to allow each student's course of study to be shaped in consultation with faculty mentors selected by the student. We encourage students to take advantage of one of the interdisciplinary emphases we offer with Comparative Literature, Critical Theory, and Women's Studies.

Graduate students have the chance to do research in Paris for a year, either with the support of a fellowship, as a participant in the exchange program we have instituted with University of Paris X (Nanterre), or as a graduate tutor with the UC Education Abroad Program in Paris.

ITALIAN

The program in Italian consists of one professor and one lecturer. Besides two years of Italian language and introductory courses in Italian literature, we offer a minor in Italian Studies that enables undergraduate students to pursue their interests in Italian culture through additional courses in Art History, History, Comparative Literature and Film Studies. Students interested in an Italian minor should consult with the faculty to design their individual course of study. An alternative course of study for those interested in Italian is a major or minor in the new European Studies Program with an emphasis in Italian. Students in Italian also have the chance to study in Italy for a year through the Education Abroad Program.

If you have any questions about our programs, please feel free to contact me.

Ellen Burt
Chair
esburt@uci.edu