Graduate Student Life
There are approximately thirty students in residence from all regions of the country and various countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. The official student organization, Graduate Students of French (GSF), selects student representatives who sit on departmental committees and organizes academic enrichment programs.
The weekly Pause Café provides students, faculty, and members of the university community the opportunity to converse in French and to meet people from various Francophone places. Teaching assistants from France and Francophone countries are an important part of social and intellectual student life; some remain in the Department to earn advanced degrees.
Students who are giving papers at scholarly conferences are supported by financial contributions from the Department; supplementary funding is also available from the Graduate College and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Recently two of our students have been awarded the prestigious Bourse Chateaubriand for doctoral research in France. The Director of Graduate Studies and graduate students organize the French Forum, an informal lecture series which permits graduate students and faculty to present their research.