This fall, the Department of Classical and Modern Languages is making changes to the existing French major and adding a minor called French for the professions.
The department plans to add new course options within the next few years including French for business, tourism, medicine, and science and technology to create more flexibility and versatility for majors and minors.
French professor Audrey Viguier said she has wanted to change the program since she was hired last year, and the new changes might encourage more students to pursue the major. She said students majoring in French will not have to take a business class which will allow them to take another class they want.
Viguier said Truman hired a new French professor, Mélanie Giraud, to help teach the new classes. Giraud specializes in French for the professions.
She said along with taking two of the four new courses, students in the new minor will have to complete an exam in the topics of business or tourism with the Chamber of Commerce. She said passing the exam grants students a Diplôme de français Professionnel, which translates to Diploma in Professional French. Students can add this accomplishment to a resume.
Viguier said she is working on getting internship opportunities for students in Southern France. She said having professional experience in a foreign country is great for students, and the department wants students to be able to use French when they enter the workforce.
“If [French students] have experience as an intern in France, that’s amazing because very few students do that in the U.S.,” Viguier said. “We have a lot of double majors. Many of them want to become doctors, working in medicine, so that’s when they can use French.”
Viguier said the department is still in the process of making and planning for the changes to the major and adding the French for the professions minor.
For more information about the French program changes, pick up a copy of The Index on Thursday, March 22.