Facts

Key Allegheny Benefits

• An understanding and appreciation of international cultures.
• Critical thinking, analytical, and research skills.
• Enhanced language skills (reading, writing, speaking).
• Proficiency in another language.

Allegheny Distinctions

• Small classes, all taught exclusively in the target language.
• Native or near-native fluency among all faculty.
• Tutoring and help with cocurricular programs from international students.
• Extensive opportunities for extracurricular learning, including language houses, language tables, international film festivals.
• Fully-supported Senior Projects that prove to employers and graduate schools the ability to complete a major original assignment.
• Many study abroad programs, including a student exchange program with Mexico and consortial arrangements for study in France, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Spain and South America.
• ACCEL Study Tours: faculty-led three-week tours to several countries.

Endorsements

• " The modern languages department at Allegheny College sets an impressive standard of teaching excellence and commitment. It offers a program that rates among the best we have seen. " - Outside evaluation team
• "I want you and the other professors to know how grateful I am for your guidance.... [You] taught me how to think creatively.... I have been able to apply these skills to the 'real world.' " - 1987 alumnus
• "The Allegheny in Cologne program was the best experience of my life. I wish I could do it again. " - Recent student
• Department recently was awarded a $300,000 grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a teaching and technology initiative, including the new multimedia Blair Hanson Language Learning Center.
• Department received a grant from the Max Kade Foundation to fund a German writer-in-residence program.
• Allegheny language majors applying to graduate or professional school have a 100% acceptance rate.
• Department ranks in the top 4.5% among private undergraduate institutions in production of eventual Ph.D.s since 1920.

Facilities Strengths

• John K. Robinson Memorial Library in Ruter Hall (large book and record collection for study of modern languages and literatures in department's headquarters building)
• New multimedia Blair Hanson Language Learning Center, equipped with state-of-the-art computers and video technology
• Analog and digital language programming via satellite

Equipment

• Videodisc players, VCRs and monitors for both American and foreign videos, professional video camera, high-speed audio tape copier, large screen TV
• Extensive videotape collection of foreign language films, instructional programs and documentaries
• Language-learning software

Student Research and Special Projects

Every Alleghenian completes a Senior Project in his or her major field-a significant piece of original research, designed by each student under the guidance of a faculty advisor, that demonstrates to employers and graduate schools the ability to complete a major assignment, to work independently, to analyze and synthesize information, and to write and to speak persuasively. Modern languages projects take two semesters; during the first, students write and defend a project proposal; in the second, they research, write, and defend orally the project itself. Many modern languages students pursue interests in other fields, choosing interdisciplinary or double majors, and writing some of Allegheny's most fascinating Senior Projects.

Recent Senior Projects

• Théorie et Création dans les textes de Monique Wittig (French)
• French Aid Investments in Africa: A Cost-Benefits Analysis (French/economics)
• The Image of Socialism in the German Democratic Republic as Seen through the Literature of Christa Wolf (German/political science)
• Wasserverschmutzung in der BRD (German)
• The Methods of War Finance in Nazi Germany (German/economics)
• Intervention, Deception, and Withdrawal: Russian Military Policy in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Estonia Between 1993 and 1995 (international studies)
• Factores sociales determinantes de la participación de la mujer Mexicana en la fuerza laboral (Spanish/economics)
• El racismo contra los gitanos en Espana (Spanish)
• A Feminist Interpretation of the Function of los ataques de nervios in Puerto Rican Families (Spanish/psychology)
• Las filosofias del cuerpo humano y la naturaleza en el siglo XVI a través del examen de ingenios de Juan Huarte de San Juan (Spanish)
• El deseo y la muerte: entre la tradición y la modernización en La casa de Bernarda Alba y Bodas de sangre de Federico García Lorca (Spanish)
• Determining Factors in U.S. and Cuban Relations: Factores determinantes en las relaciones cubano estadounidenses (Spanish/political science)

Selected Student Achievements

• Article published in West Watch
• Five Fulbright one-year scholarship winners in last eight years
• Rotary scholarship winner (for study in Uruguay)