2018 graduate Gino Polverari sheds light on Italian colonization and its influence in Africa. “Sometimes we don’t understand other people’s behavior, but if we knew someone’s whole history, we would understand.”

PhD Candidate Selim Rauer was interviewed by France Culture last week for a podcast about Freddie Mercury.

Freelance writer and co-founder of Your Yoga Minneapolis, Megan Doll (BA '04, French & Italian) believes her liberal arts coursework in both French & Italian and writing taught her to value flexibility, self-expression, community outreach, and inclusivity in an ever-changing world.

Paris-Providence: “One never returns from any journey, for he who returns is no longer the same. This change of scenery, which we shall seek in other territories, other lights, and other perfumes, is a subtle and necessary internal exile.” (Anne Dufourmantelle, Eloge du risque, 2011)

Abou-Bakar Mamah, PhD '18, successfully defended his dissertation on July 30.

Bella Dally-Steele strives to learn as many languages as she can to fuel a career in international journalism. Her first immersion experience was as an exchange student in France as a high school student, which she has followed up by learning abroad in Seoul, South Korea and Fez, Morocco, in college. She is pursuing a bachelor of individualized studies in French, Spanish, and mass communication.

Sophia Wright discusses how her majors in French and music work together in harmony. Wright applies her language skills and understanding of French culture and history to her studies of music and art. She draws connections between different art forms and time periods to create a clearer picture of Western history with the help of her French immersion background. By overcoming challenges in her immersion experience, Wright was able to excel in her other classes because of her French background.

The University of Minnesota has been an active participant in the Big Ten Academic Alliance CourseShare program since it launched in 2006. Our institution was an early adopter, sending an Old Norse course to Michigan that first academic year. However, in recent years we have become primarily a receiver of language courses taught by other Big Ten institutions.

French major Joseph Rojas, Jr., '18, received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award to supplement English instruction in Brazil in 2018-2019.