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Millersville University’s cabinet approved a departmental name change from Foreign Languages to Language and Culture Studies on January 30. This is an important change because neither “foreign” nor “languages” appropriately represents the department’s offerings.
“Reorganizing the program and making the name change was an effort by the whole department and a long time in the making,” says department chair Dr. Susanne Nimmrichter. “We also want to thank Dr. Diane Umble, the dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, for her continued support in the process.”
Department faculty members have long been unhappy with the inclusion of “foreign” in the title, as Lancaster County contains many speakers of Spanish and the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect of German. In addition, “languages” did not account for the diverse explorations of literature, civilization and culture also essential to the department.
In conjunction with the nominal change, which should go into effect in time for the 2018-2019 school cycle, the department will also revise its major and minor programs.
All majors within the department will work toward a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Language and Culture Studies in their respective languages of specialization. Students then choose between one of three options: Language Studies, Certification or Culture Studies, a new addition designed for students without a background in a specific language.
The department’s minors will also be reorganized into the broader categories of Language Studies and Culture Studies in place of the current minors in French, German and Spanish. With MU’s current course offerings, students will now be able to complete a minor in Japanese within Culture Studies.
“We want to prepare all of our majors and minors to be able to communicate successfully in a multicultural environment in a language other than English and to become aware of historical and political realities of diverse countries, regions and ethnic groups,” explains German professor Nimmrichter.
While Nimmrichter says that much work remains for the department to make a complete transition, she and her dedicated team hope to advertise their newly revised programs among the campus community.
“We believe that this is an important aspect of a liberal arts education at Millersville University and want to encourage all students at Millersville to consider adding some coursework in language and culture studies to their education in order to be prepared to participate in the global community,” the department head says. “In the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German writer and statesman, ‘Those who don’t know other languages know nothing about their own.’”
