SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

An Introduction: Who We Are

In July, 1998, the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State created a School of Languages and Literatures to house several small- to medium-sized academic units, and to serve as a point of interchange among all of the college's language and literature units.

The School is composed of the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Linguistics Curriculum, the Language Acquisition Center, the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER),  and the Department of Applied Linguistics (LALS), which includes the ESL curriculum.  The School's purpose is to promote the study and knowledge of foreign and second languages and literatures, particularly where the interests of language and literature intersect.

The School is intended to serve as a point of innovation, cooperation, and interchange among all the language and literature units at Penn State.  It promotes interdepartmental collaboration in language and literature teaching and in research.  It engages in activities such as conferences, symposia, the coordination of collaborative grant proposals, invitations to visiting scholars, and assistance in promoting interdisciplinary education abroad opportunities that center on language and literatures.

The School has a Director (the head of one of the member Departments).  Its Advisory Board represents all units within the School, along with other units such as the Department of French and Francophone Studies, the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, and the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies.  Each Department within the School has its own department head, governance structure, academic budget, and departmental autonomy; other units within the School, such as the Language Acquisition Center, have their own Directors.  The Linguistics Curriculum is overseen by a Coordinator.

Students are enrolled in courses and degree programs within their departments or programs (the School itself does not offer courses or degrees).

The Director of the School is Caroline D. Eckhardt, Head of the Department of Comparative Literature.  For the names of contact-people in the departments and other units within the School, and in other Penn State academic units relating to language and literature, we invite you to visit  the individual program and department websites.