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Graduate faculty and areas of research
The varied background of the faculty members includes extensive travel and study in the Americas and Europe, research activities, and involvement in professional organizations.
Jorge Aviles-Díz, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., University of Salamanca, Spain. 18th- and 19th-century Spanish Peninsular literature.
Pierina Beckman, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Iowa. Medieval and Golden Age Spanish literature; fantastic literature; feminist writers.
Christophe Chaguinian, Assistant Professor and Director of the French Coop; Ph.D., Indiana. French Medieval literature and culture.
Will Derusha, Associate Professor and Associate Chair; Ph.D., Georgia. Spanish Peninsular poetry and culture of the 20th century.
Marijn Kaplan, Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor in French; Ph.D., New Mexico. 17th- and 18th-century French literature.
Marie-Christine Koop, Professor, Chair, and Director of the French Summer Institute; Ph.D., Michigan State. French civilization and culture; social issues and women in France; Quebec society and culture.
Jongsoo Lee, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Indiana. Indigenous codices in Mexico; Náhuatl language and literature; Spanish-American colonial literature.
Samuel Manickam, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Oklahoma. 20th-century Latin American literature, Mexican literature and film.
Teresa Marrero, Associate Professor; Ph.D., 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 Graduate Advisor in Spanish; Ph.D., California-Santa Barbara. 20th- and 21st-century Spanish Peninsular literature, cinema and culture.
Michel Sirvent, Professor; Ph.D., Université de Provence. Nouveau Roman; contemporary fiction; narratology; semiotics; textual analysis; literary theory.
Donny Vigil, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Beginning and Intermediate Spanish; Ph.D., Purdue. Spanish applied linguistics; phonetics, phonology, and dialectology.
Lawrence Williams, Associate Professor and Director of Curriculum and Assessment; Ph.D. Pennsylvania State. Applied linguistics; second-language acquisition; technology-enhanced language learning; French phonetics.
Jiyoung Yoon, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Indiana. Spanish syntax and semantics; second language acquisition; applied linguistics.
For More Information
University of North Texas Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
1155 Union Circle #311127
Denton, Texas 76203-5017
Phone: 940-565-2404
Fax: 940-565-2581
TTY callers: 940-369-8652
Language Building, Room 101
E-mail: cara.cobos@unt.edu
www.unt.edu
www.forl.unt.edu
Toulouse School of Graduate Studies
940-565-2383 or toll free 888-868-4723
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Master's Degree Program
Opportunities for graduate studies
The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of North Texas offers course work leading to a Master of Arts degree with a major in French or Spanish. The program emphasizes the principle of language immersion and encourages you to take advantage of a variety of opportunities in the graduate program.
An M.A. degree enables you to teach language courses at the junior college and university levels. Teaching language in public and private schools as well as intensive language programs for business professionals are other options.
The foreign language expertise you gain also provides an advantage in the workplace, in addition to the possibility of working overseas. 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; or globally for the United Nations, the Peace Corps or other international institutes. There are also many opportunities in the tourism industry.
Admission requirements
You must meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies, in addition to the following program requirements:
- 12 semester hours of advanced undergraduate work in a chosen language field to enroll in courses numbered 5000 or above
- GRE scores in the quantitative, verbal and analytical sections (no minimum score)
- 250-word statement in the target language
- one-page curriculum vitae
Your admission is based on a holistic review of your advanced undergraduate course work in the target language, undergraduate GPA, GRE test scores, curriculum vitae and essay. All factors are weighed equally.
Degree requirements
The department offers two degree options:
- 36 semester hours, including 6 hours of thesis, with 24 hours completed in the major; a minor of 6 hours is permitted
- 36 semester hours of course work, without a thesis, with 30 hours completed in the major; a minor of 6 hours is permitted
A written comprehensive examination in your major language is required. If you are not following the summer institute track, you also must demonstrate a reading knowledge of a second foreign language by examination or course work. Completion of a course in the second language at the 2050 level or higher with a C is regarded as proof of adequate reading ability. Other options include passing a placement test in the second language above the 2050 level or passing the UNT Foreign Language Proficiency Examination.
Foreign studies programs and facilities
UNT's French and Spanish Summer Institutes offer graduate courses during a four-week period each June. This program enables you to earn an M.A. degree in French or Spanish during four summers of course work supplemented by additional courses taken during the fall or spring semester at UNT, special problems courses, transfer credit and/or additional summer study in France or Spain.
Through the Strasbourg, Valencia and Madrid study abroad programs, you may earn 6 graduate credits in French or Spanish while studying at the University of Strasbourg, the AIP Language Institute in Valencia or through the faculty-led program in Madrid for four to five 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.
The department also hosts the annual "Spanishness" in the Spanish Novel and Cinema of the 20th-21st Century conference as well as events such as The Women in French International Conference, the International Colloquium on Quebec, and Professional Development for Teachers.
The Foreign Language Learning Center supports students learning 11 different languages. It provides 80 computers 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.
Financial assistance
Graduate fellowships and assistantships are available if you are pursuing a graduate degree in French or Spanish. Language students may also find part-time employment in the UNT Foreign Language Learning Center. Additional part-time employment, requiring secretarial skills, is available in the department office.