French Department Records

The Department had its beginnings in 1906, when preparatory French and college French were offered; these areas were merged in 1911 to create the French Department. From 1916 to 1920, the department also taught Spanish and Italian as the Department of Romance Languages. In 1941 the departments were separated to create a French Department and a Spanish Department, which operated independently until 2011, when they were integrated as the Department of International Languages and Literature. The French department offered a summer program in France for secondary school teachers from 1961-1968. This program was organized by St. Kate’s faculty through the National Defense Language Development Program with partnerships at universities and colleges abroad.

The French Department provided a variety of programs to help students become more familiar with the language. It independently funded a language lab to provide more services and tools for students. The French Department also offered social programs for students in the department and organized festivities for traditional French holidays.