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The art of communication, along with the knowledge and appreciation of literature and its cultural context, are central to the mission of the Department of Languages and Literatures.

The Department offers majors and minors in English, French, German, and Spanish through both the College of Letters and Sciences and the College of Education. Students also can take several levels of Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. English majors can choose a concentration in creative writing, professional writing, or literature, any of which may be combined with certification and licensure through the College of Education. World language courses emphasize the development of language proficiency and the cultural and historical context of each language.

Department Highlights

• A special edition of the "a/b: Auto/Biography Studies" on "Epistolarity in the Twenty-First Century" will be published this spring.  The journal is edited by Joe Hogan, Rebecca Hogan, and Emily Hipchen and has been housed within the Department of Languagues and Literatures for most of its twenty-one year history.  The scholarJames Olney has referred to a/b as "the journal of record in the field."
• The Department of Languages and Literatures has received a $24,000 grant from Kikkoman for support of the Japanese program.
• Four distinguished authors gave readings during the fall semester as part of the l&L Works in Progress Cafe:
  • Dean Bakopoulos, executive director of the Wisconsin Humanities Council and author of "Please Don't Come Back from the Moon"
  • Judith Mitchell, author of "The Last Days of the War," a historical novel set in 1919 France
  • Amaud Johnson, author of "Red Summer," winner of the Durst Prize in Poetry
  • Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of "Space," a memoir, and "Dog Angel," a book of poetry

Faculty
The Department prides itself in being a strong teaching department, and received acknowledgement of this in 1999 when it won the UW Regents Award for the Outstanding Teaching Department for the entire UW System. Full-time faculty teach all classes in the department; teaching assistants are not used. Nearly all English faculty hold doctoral degrees in literature, applied linguistics, or rhetoric and composition. Faculty in the creative writing program hold Master of Fine Arts degrees, the terminal degree in that field. The foreign language faculty bring diversity to the classroom, with a mix of native speakers and non-native instructors in each language.
 
Hands-on Learning
Students have many opportunities to gain practical experience through on-campus publications, as well as off-campus internships. English students can fine-tune their writing, editing, and publishing skills working for public and private organizations. In addition, foreign language majors can participate in language/cultural immersion experiences both at home and abroad.

Student Organizations
Students in English are involved in on-campus opportunities, including editing the campus literary magazine, MUSE, and ?Works in Progress Caf?, a biweekly forum featuring faculty and student works of creative writing. French and Spanish students with a strong academic record can join the local chapter of Pi Delta Phi, the National French Honor Society or Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. Student-led French, German, Japanese and Spanish clubs provide opportunities for further language practice, cultural exploration, and interaction among students outside the classroom.