World Languages and Literatures

• General Information
• Departmental Distinction
• Majors, Minors and Courses in World Languages

www.smu.edu/worldlanguages

Associate Professor Elizabeth Russ, Department Chair

American Sign Language
Lecturer: Tiffany McCray (Area Chair)

Arabic
Senior Lecturers: Liljana Elverskog (Area Chair), Omar Al-Rashdan

Chinese
Senior Lecturer: Xiao Hu, Wei Qu, Yan Xia (Area Chair)

French
Professors: Thomas DiPiero, Dayna Oscherwitz, Hervé Tchumkam
Associate Professors: Maxime Foerster (Area Chair)
Senior Lecturers: Gwendoline Aaron, Paola Buckley (Adviser), Janet Dodd, Rachel Ney, Thierry Tirado, Omar Al-Rashdan
Lecturers: Caroline Grubbs, Yuliya Kruchkova, Antoinette Williams-Tutt (Adviser of International Film Studies Minor)

German
Senior Lecturer: Stephen Grollman (Area Chair)

Greek
Lecturer: Justin Michael Germain (Area Chair)

Italian
Senior Lecturers: Brandy Alvarez, Damiano Bonuomo, Teresa Brentegani, Daniele Forlino (Area Chair)
Lecturer: Stefano Maranzana

Japanese
Senior Lecturer: Keiko Flores (Area Chair)

Latin
Lecturer: Justin Michael Germain
Instructor: Patti Rawlins (Area Chair)

Spanish
Professor: Denise DuPont
Associate Professors: Olga Colbert, Luis Maldonado-Peña, Alberto Pastor, Elizabeth Russ, Rubén Sánchez-Godoy (Area Chair), Gabriela Vokic, Alicia Zuese 
Senior Lecturers: Donna Binkowski, Miroslava Detcheva, Maria Eguez, Susana Fernandez-Solera, Allison Larkin, Maria Villar Martin, Leticia McDoniel, Lourdes Molina, Joy Saunders
Lecturers: Sarah Bogard, Marlen Y. Collazo, Ana Echevarria-Morales, Caroline (C.J.) Enloe, Gema Lopez Hevia, Constantin Icleanu, Maria del Pilar Melgarejo, Christopher D. Warnes, Talia Weltman-Cisneros (Adviser)

Russian
Lecturers: Tatiana Zimakova (Area Chair), Yuliya Kruchkova

Second Language Requirement Adviser: Jay Orenduff

General Information

The Department of World Languages and Literatures offers nine modern languages and two classical languages. Students may pursue a B.A. degree in French, French Studies, Spanish, and World Languages and minors in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, International Film Studies, Italian, Italian Area Studies, Japanese, Latin, Russian Area Studies, and Spanish. The B.A. in World Languages allows students to specialize in two different languages.

In pursuing language study, students gain communicative proficiency in a second or third language, as well as cultural proficiency and heightened global awareness. Courses taught toward a language major or minor emphasize all of these through the study of communication, culture, literature, linguistics, history, film, politics, business and other diverse aspects of language and culture. Students may also apply these skills through a language-based internship, either in Dallas or abroad, and through independent research.

SMU Abroad Rules for Credit. Students participating in an SMU Abroad term program may automatically count nine credit hours of courses taught in an approved program toward a B.A. and six credit hours toward a minor. Students studying abroad for a full year may apply 15 credit hours with specific approval from the area chair of the language.

Departmental Distinction

1. Overall 3.500 GPA by the middle of the junior year.
2. Overall 3.700 GPA in the major by the middle of the junior year.
3. Invitation of area faculty after the area as a whole has discussed the student’s candidacy.
4. Two extra courses beyond the requirements for the major. One course must include a major research paper, to be undertaken and completed in the first term of the candidate’s senior year.

Majors, Minors and Courses in World Languages

Requirements for a B.A. degree in French, French Studies, Spanish and World Languages, as well as for minors in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, International Film Studies, Italian, Italian Area Studies, Japanese, Latin, Russian Area Studies and Spanish are given below.

Programs

• French Studies, B.A.
• French, B.A.
• Spanish, B.A.
• World Languages: Chinese, B.A.
• World Languages: French, B.A.
• World Languages: German, B.A.
• World Languages: Italian, B.A.
• World Languages: Spanish, B.A.

• Arabic Minor
• Chinese Minor
• French Minor
• German Minor
• International Film Studies Minor
• Italian Area Studies Minor
• Italian Minor
• Japanese Minor
• Latin Minor
• Russian Area Studies Minor
• Spanish Minor

Courses

All WL/WLAN courses are conducted in English.

• WL 3374 - Sex, Gender, and Identity in Germany from the Late 19th Century to the Present
• WL 3375 - Introduction to Psycholinguistics
• WL 3376 - Literature and Nation in Spanish America
• WL 3377 - Havana as Revolution: The Cuban Capital in the National and Global Imagination
• WL 3378 - Pompeii: Life Interrupted
• WL 3379 - Modern German Culture From the Enlightenment to the Present
• WL 3380 - Classical Latin Literature in Translation
• WL 3381 - Exploring the Greco-Roman World: Fact, Fiction, and Film
• WL 3382 - Texas-Mexico Borderlands: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic Story
• WL 3383 - Gender and Human Rights in Latin American Women Writers
• WL 3386 - Mary in the Christian Tradition
• WL 3387 - Japanese Culture Through Film
• WL 3388 - Future Worlds: French Science Fiction from the Enlightenment to the Present
• WL 3389 - Introduction to Soviet and Russian Cinema
• WL 3390 - Italian Cinema
• WL 3391 - Italian Literature in Translation: The Italian Novel
• WL 3393 - Dante’s Poetic Vision
• WL 3394 - Boccaccio’s Decameron and Medieval Storytelling
• WL 3396 - Leadership and Ethics in Literature
• WL 3397 - China Before 1850
• WL 4185 - Internship: World Languages
• WL 4285 - Internship: World Languages
• WL 4385 - Internship: World Language