The Modern and Classical Languages Department offers B.A. degrees in French Language and Literature, and Spanish Language and Literature; and B.S. degrees in French Secondary Education and Spanish Secondary Education. One of the great strengths of our program is the cooperation between the department's foreign language and foreign language education faculty. At most colleges and universities, the education faculty is part of a separate school of education which often has little or no relationship with the content areas. Buffalo State has been known for excellence and innovation in education since its founding in 1871.
In addition to our major programs, we offer strong minor programs in French, German, Italian, and Spanish and two years of course work in Chinese, Classics, and Swahili. Students who plan to teach a foreign language are encouraged to take a second language, as flexibility enhances your chances of getting a job. And, speaking of jobs, in the past five years all of our B.S. graduates who really wanted to teach have found jobs. But you may not want to teach. In that case, you might want to take a B.A. degree, which is an excellent preparation for graduate school, or you might want to combine your foreign language degree with a degree in a related field such as communication (with international jobs in journalism, public relations, and marketing) or criminal justice, social work or business. A foreign language enhances your chances of getting a job in those fields.
We strongly encourage our majors to study abroad. There are numerous low cost opportunities to do this through the Office of International Education. For example, we sponsor a three week summer experience in French-speaking Quebec and a five week summer experience in Salamanca, Spain. One of our oldest study abroad programs is in Siena, Italy, where students can spend a semester studying art and culture as well as the language.
In our major programs we are able to offer you small classes which promote student participation and proficiency in the foreign languages. We have no language classes larger than 25 students and most courses for the major are smaller. This affords you, the student, the opportunity to get to know your professors well. This not only increases learning, but also furnishes you with strong references for job applications or for graduate school in addition to the intrinsic rewards of getting to know the experts in their fields. Our twelve tenured and tenure-track professors all hold the Ph.D., the terminal degree in their field, from institutions such as Harvard, Rutgers, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, which are known for their academic quality. The department has published more than ten books in the last five years.
We thank you for your interest in this department and we encourage you to contact us if you have questions.