UNT Home | Graduate Studies | College of Arts and Sciences | Foreign Languages and Literatures
Graduate faculty and areas of research
Jorge Avilés Diz, Assistant Professor and Graduate Advisor in Spanish; Ph.D., University of Salamanca (Spain). 18th- and 19th-century Spanish Peninsular literature.
Pierina Beckman, Associate Professor; Ph.D., University of Iowa. Medieval and Golden Age Spanish literature; fantastic literature; feminist writers.
Christophe Chaguinian, Assistant Professor and Director of the French Coop; Ph.D., Indiana University. French Medieval literature and culture; Catholicism and religious art in 19th- century France.
Will Derusha, Associate Professor and Associate Department Chair; Ph.D., University of Georgia. Spanish Peninsular poetry and culture of the 20th century.
Marijn Kaplan, Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor in French; Ph.D., University of New Mexico. 17th- and 18th- century French literature.
Marie-Christine Koop, Professor, Department Chair and Director of the French Summer Institute; Ph.D., Michigan State University. French civilization and culture; social issues and women in France; Quebec society and culture
Jongsoo Lee, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Indiana University. Indigenous codices in Mexico; Náhuatl language and literature; Spanish-American colonial literature.
Samuel Manickam, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., University of Oklahoma. 20th-century Latin American literature; Mexican literature and film.
Teresa Marrero, Associate Professor; Ph.D., University of California Irvine. Latin American theater; Chicano and U.S. Latino theater; theories of the theater; poststructuralism; women’s studies; post-colonial studies; creative writing; cultural theory.
Cristina Sánchez-Conejero, Associate Professor and Director of the Spanish Summer Institute; Ph.D., University of California Santa Barbara. 20th- and 21st-century Spanish Peninsular literature, cinema and culture.
Michel Sirvent, Professor; Ph.D., Université de Provence (France). Nouveau Roman; contemporary fiction; narratology; semiotics; textual analysis; literary theory.
Donny Vigil. Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Beginning and Intermediate Spanish; Ph.D., Purdue University. Spanish applied linguistics; phonetics, phonology and dialectology.
Lawrence Williams, Associate Professor and Director of Curriculum and Assessment; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University. Applied linguistics; second-language acquisition; technology-enhanced language learning; French phonetics.
Jiyoung Yoon, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Indiana University. Spanish syntax and semantics; second language acquisition; applied linguistics.
For More Information
University of North Texas Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Phone: 940-565-2404
Language Building, Room 101
E-mail: worldlanguages@unt.edu
www.unt.edu
worldlanguages.unt.edu
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Toulouse Graduate School
940-565-2383
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Master's Degree Program
Graduate opportunities
An expertise in a foreign language provides you an advantage in the workplace as well as opens the possibility of working overseas. At the University of North Texas, you master language skills by immersing yourself in the culture through a combination of required course work and other learning opportunities.
The Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers course work leading to a Master of Arts degree in French or Spanish. Our M.A. degree enables you to teach language courses at a junior college or university. Other options include teaching language in public and private schools as well as intensive language programs for business professionals.
You may work as a translator or interpreter
- Locally at clinics, hospitals or courts
- Nationally for the CIA, Department of Defense or other government agencies
- Globally for the United Nations, the Peace Corps or other international institutes
There are also many opportunities in the tourism industry and multi-national companies.
The varied background of our faculty members includes extensive travel and study in the Americas and Europe, research activities, and involvement in professional organizations.
Foreign studies programs and facilities
Our French and Spanish Summer Institutes (worldlanguages.unt.edu/graduate-programs/graduate-summer-institute) offer graduate courses during a four-week period each June. You can earn an M.A. in French or Spanish during four summers of course work supplemented by additional courses taken during the fall or spring semester at UNT, transfer credit or additional summer study in France or Spain.
Through the Strasbourg and Madrid study abroad programs, you may earn 6 semester credits in French or Spanish while studying at the University of Strasbourg or through the faculty-led program in Madrid for three to four weeks in the summer.
Graduate students with one year of teaching experience as a teaching fellow or at a high school may spend one year in France teaching English at a high school or university as a lecturer or a teaching assistant.
We also host international conferences as well as Professional Development for Teachers workshops.
The World Language Lab supports students learning 10 different languages. It provides 80 computer workstations, more than 30 software programs for self study and assignments, multi-language audio and video media, satellite reception of international foreign language programs, presentation equipment, and additional materials.
Attending UNT
Admission requirements
You must meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse Graduate School, in addition to the following program requirements:
- 12 semester hours of advanced undergraduate work in a chosen language field
- GRE scores in the quantitative, verbal and analytical sections (no minimum score)
- 250-word essay in the target language
- One-page curriculum vitae
Your admission is based on a holistic review of these items including your undergraduate GPA. All factors are weighed equally.
Degree requirements
Master of Arts degree
Thesis option I
- 30 semester hours completed in the major
- 6 semester hours of thesis
Thesis option II
- 24 semester hours completed in the major
- 6 semester hours in a minor or through transfer
- 6 semester hours of thesis
Nonthesis option
- 30 semester hours in the major
- 6 semester hours in a minor or through transfer
Written comprehensive examinations in your major language are required if you do not select one of the thesis options.
Financial assistance
Graduate fellowships and assistantships are available. The application form is at worldlanguages.unt.edu/employment/graduate-student-teaching-positions. Language students may also find part-time employment in the World Language Lab. Additional part-time employment, requiring secretarial skills, is available in the department office. Information about other financial assistance is at financialaid.unt.edu.