About Us
Why study French? You may not know that French is the only language, other than English, spoken on five continents. Some of the 43 countries where French is spoken are Morocco, Switzerland, Vietnam, Senegal, Belgium, Mali, and Canada. French, along with English, is the official working language of many non-governmental organizations, including the International Red Cross, the United Nations, UNESCO, and NATO, not to mention the International Olympic Committee.
Studying French gives students an advantage in applying to jobs in the service and hospitality industries (hotels, airlines, travel agencies) as well as jobs with companies doing business with Canada. Knowledge of French will also help you if you study history, art history, philosophy, biology, political science, or math.
Graduates of our program pursue many different paths upon completing their degree. We have placed students in graduate programs in French at universities such as the University of Chicago, Rutgers University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Michigan. Our Teaching of French graduates are currently employed as high school French teachers in the Chicagoland area. Many of our students, upon graduation, also choose to teach English in France for a year under the assistantship program sponsored by the French embassy. Some of our students have joined the Peace Corps, which actively recruits students with knowledge of French to work in West African countries.
French is a beautiful language with a rich history. We look forward to meeting you, and would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about French at UIC.
2012 Award Winners
Hannah Koeppl, double major in French and Francophone Studies and Biological Sciences, is one of 13 students who have been awarded the Olive and Alfred Kuehn Scholarship for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Julie Larmon received the Dorothy Thelander Award for 2011-2012. She will be researching French and Francophone music groups around the world and creating a GIS map that will be used as part of a collaborative wiki project by students in French 231 and 232.
2011 Award Winners
Sydney Mayer is the recipient of a Caterpillar Associates Undergraduate Student Award for Fall 2011. She will be continuing an on-going research project about the Haitian Revolution and exploring how mapping the routes of slave ships can contribute to understanding events during that revolution.
Lourdes Gonzalez received a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad in Paris through the MICEFA exchange program.
Ruth Rosas received the Peter V. Conroy Prize for excellence in French Studies, which is awarded annually to an outstanding graduating senior majoring in French or the Teaching of French.
Megan Drozd received the Marie-Odile Sweetser Prize for excellence in French Studies, which is awarded annually to an outstanding graduating senior majoring in French.
Jessica Galea (French minor) was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study anthropology at the University of Bristol in England. (Click here to read Jessica's article in the Spring 2012 edition of AtLAS.)
Jessica Thornton received the Dorothy Thelander Award for work on an undergraduate research project during the 2011-2012 academic year.
