French at Wooster

The French Department at Wooster offers students the opportunity to develop high proficiency in French language skills and to learn about and appreciate the culture and literature of French-speaking countries. Individual students may plan their major according to their specific interests, focusing on literature, film, civilization, language and linguistics, or foreign language education.

The Major

Majors in French take 11 to 15 courses beyond the introductory level, including three courses in Independent Study (I.S.). In addition to junior and senior I.S., all majors are required to take Advanced French, Introduction to Francophone Texts, Studies in Francophone Culture, and Phonetics to assure the coherence of the major and provide students with the ability to read, research, and use language at an advanced level.

Students interested in language should include Applied Linguistics and Translation and Stylistics in their major. Students who prefer the civilization and literature focus should take courses from the historical studies sequence--the Middle Ages and Renaissance and the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries--that focus on the relationship of literature to its cultural context and of the past to contemporary concerns. Those interested in graduate study in French should include courses in several periods.

The department also provides a range of electives which offer each student the opportunity to pursue individual interests within the program of the major. Recent courses of particular interest include Studies in the Eighteenth Century: Reading, Writing, and Viewing Revolution; Twentieth Century Fiction and Film; and Standard and Variation in French Dialects.

A major in French should be complemented by courses concerning France, Western Europe, Canada, or West Africa in other departments. The department also supports students who wish to double major or to combine a minor in French with a major in another related area. In recent years, students have combined a French major or minor with majors in Comparative Literature, Cultural Area Studies, English, Economics, International Relations, Political Science, and Spanish.

For those who are interested in French as preparation for careers in international business, Wooster offers an integrated program of study that incorporates French and Business Economics. Contact the chair of the French Department for more information.

Students who wish to prepare for careers teaching French at the secondary level may obtain licensure to teach in Ohio through the College's Education program.

The following courses are offered in the department.

Off-Campus Study

The department strongly encourages our majors to study off campus for a semester or a full academic year to improve linguistic competence and to gain experience with Francophone culture. In recent years, students have participated in study opportunities in Paris, Nantes, and Dijon through IES; at the Centre de Linguistique Appliquée in Besançon; and in French-speaking areas of Switzerland, Belgium, Québec and Africa. Three programs in which Wooster students regularly participate are the Sweet Briar and CUPA programs in Paris and the Kalamazoo program in Dakar, Senegal. Financial aid obtained through the College may be applied to most approved programs, and a limited number of scholarships to assist with the travel expenses of students studying abroad in a French-speaking country are available from The McSweeney Fund. Students interested in study abroad opportunities should consult the International Programs Office.

Independent Study

As preparation for the one-year, senior I.S. experience, junior majors familiarize themselves with the resources useful in research in Francophone language, civilization, and literature and complete an independent project, often a paper on a cultural or literary topic or a translation. With the guidance of a faculty member, all seniors complete a project which normally culminates in a paper, written in French, on some aspect of language, literature, or culture. It is not unusual for students who study and travel abroad to develop interests that are later explored in depth in their senior I.S. projects.

Recent I.S. projects, for example, include an examination of the problems facing North African immigrants in France; studies of the cinematic work of Cyril Collard, LucBesson, and Krzwsztof Klieslowski; a translation of a text by Marie Cardinal; a study of the Napoleonic myth in literature and history; a proposal for a multicultural French program using francophone texts of the Caribbean; an examination of the privatization of Airbus; and a comparative study of bilingual education in France and the United States.

On-Campus Opportunities

Campus life provides many opportunities for students to practice and improve their French. Students and faculty gather twice weekly at French tables for lunch or dinner and conversation. In all dormitories, French-language television programs are broadcast daily through the SCOLA service and TV5. Some advanced students of French choose to live in the French House under the direction of a native French student. Residents of the House organize a variety of activities, including "Pause Café," international dinners, French films, and field trips to cultural events.

The presence of a native-speaking French Assistant is an invaluable linguistic and cultural resource for students. Isabelle Philippon, the French Assistant for 2004-2005, is studying English at the Université Marc Bloch in Strasbourg  She grew up in a small village near Strasbourg.

Advanced French students who are considering a teaching career have opportunities to tutor beginning and intermediate language students and to work as research assistants for faculty members.

Prizes and Scholarships

Each year the Department of French awards the following prizes:

• The Willis C. Behoteguy Prize, to the major student who has the highest standing in French at the end of the junior year; and
• The John W. Olthouse Prize, to the major student who has the highest standing in French at the end of the senior year.

Students of French are also eligible for a number of other prizes and scholarships, including:

• The Mary Sanborn Allen Prize, to a student majoring in a foreign language who has benefited most from study outside the United States;
• The Frances Guille-Secor Memorial Fund, providing scholarship income for a student with financial need who has demonstrated high competence in French language, literature, and civilization, as well as in other studies; and
• The G. Pauline Ihrig Fund in French, awarded annually to a student who has demonstrated both academic achievement and financial need. First preference is to be given to a student who is studying French and who has demonstrated outstanding scholarship in the language.

Qualified students of French are invited to join Phi Sigma Iota, the International Foreign Language Honor Society.

In each of the past eight years a French student from the College of Wooster has won a major prize in the Annual French Contest of the Maison Française de Cleveland (affiliated with the international Alliance Française). Recent winners of the concours from Wooster include Signe Helgeson ('01), Dana Schrum ('02), Chris Liao ('02), Arete Moodey ('03),  Noel Hollinger ('05), Sarah Thomas ('05), and Lara Tellis ('05).

After Wooster

Knowledge of a foreign language is an advantage in a wide range of professional fields including research, teaching, library science, publishing and editing, translation, personnel work, travel and tourism, international business, banking, and law. Recent graduates have served with the Peace Corps in Tunisia, worked for an international translating service, designed web sites for a French company based in Toulouse, done management consulting for a large accounting firm, worked for AirFrance, gone to graduate or law school, or taken middle school or high school teaching positions.

We are particularly proud of a 1996 graduate of our program who won a Fulbright Award and who spent the following academic year in Boulogne, France, studying French civilization and teaching English in the public school system. Three recent graduates have had one-year grants from the French government to teach English in high schools in France.

The Faculty

All members of the French Department teach beginning and intermediate language courses and direct senior I.S. projects. Students who would like further information about our program are welcome to contact any of the faculty members listed below. Each of us, however, has special teaching and research interests:

Carolyn A. Durham Inez K. Gaylord Professor of French Language and Literature. B.A. Wellesley ; M.A, Ph.D. University of Chicago. Professor Durham is a specialist in 20th century fiction and film and in literary theory with additional interests in Comparative Literature and Women's Studies.

April Gamble Adjunct Instructor of French. B. A. Virginia; M.Ed. Bank Street. Professor Gamble is particularly interested in language education.

Harry Gamble Assistant Professor of French. B.A. Wake Forest; M.A., Ph.D. Institute of French Studies, New York University. Professor Gamble is a specialist in cultural history with particular interests in French colonial studies and in the history of French education.

Sharon L. Shelly Associate Professor of French. B.A. Case Western Reserve; M.A. North Carolina (Chapel Hill); Ph.D. Harvard . Professor Shelly specializes in linguistics and foreign language pedagogy. She serves as liaison with the Department of Education.

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