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Undergraduate Program

French Studies at Rice University integrates several disciplinary perspectives in the study of contemporary France and the broader French-speaking world.

Accordingly, the faculty includes literary theorists, philosophers, historians, linguists, cultural critics, as well as language instructors.

The program seeks to situate French culture within the broadest possible context of European and world thought and history as a crucial component of those over-arching historical phenomena known as "the West" and "modernity".

The program courses reflect this intellectual diversity and thus range the fields of not only language and literature, but also social science, history, philosophy, and the respective studies of feminism, gender, film, and post-colonialism.

The Department of French Studies also sponsors undergraduate courses in Italian language, literature, and culture.

Activities

The French Club, Club Chouette, organizes and hosts numerous activities each year, including the weekly French Table at noon on Wednesdays at Lovett College, films, dinners, and plays. There is also an active chapter of the French honorary society Pi Delta Phi.

Honors Program

An honors program in French Studies is open to qualified students. French majors who complete any course at the 300 or 400 level that is not specifically a language instruction course are eligible to apply to the program. Those interested in the honors program should consult the department's undergraduate advisors.

Travel Scholarships/Fellowships

The Department of French Studies encourages its students to spend time in France or in a French-speaking country and thus provides opportunities to do so. The Alliance Française of Houston each year presents a summer travel scholarship of $3,000 to a sophomore or junior for six weeks of study in France.Application for the summer travel scholarship must be received in the department office by January 22, 2010. Also, the department each year awards a rising junior in French Studies the Clyde Ferguson Bull Travel Fellowship of $15,000. Application for the Bull Fellowship   must be received in the department office by January 22, 2010.