Undergraduate Studies in French

Foreword

Nationally recognized for its excellence in teaching and research, the University of Virginia French Department offers a variety of courses and programs that enable its students to explore as well as develop in-depth knowledge and advanced competencies in the field of French. To help you evaluate opportunities and make sound choices, this handbook presents information needed by current or prospective French majors or minors, as well as those taking French electives on the 3000 level or above. Note: All second majors and minors must be declared by the ADD DEADLINEof the semester in which the student plans to graduate.

The Major

• Requirements:
  

  The French major consists of 30 credit hours of courses with a minimum grade of “C” in the FREN sequence at and above the level of FREN 3020, with the further provisions 1) that FREN 3031 and 3032 are required, unless the student receives exemption from the Director of the Undergraduate Program; and 2) that at least 9 of those hours must be at the level of FREN 4000 or above.

• Exemptions:
  
  1. Students presenting a 4 or a 5 on the AP Language test alone will receive exemption from, and credit for, French 3031. Students presenting scores of 4 or 5 on both the AP Language and Literature tests will receive exemption from, and credit for, both French 3031 and French 3032.
  2. With permission of the instructor or a faculty advisor, a major may take a 4000-level literature course without a prior 3000-level offering.
• Note:
  
  1. Up to twelve hours toward the major may be earned in approved foreign-study programs (see Study Abroad).
  2. Undergraduates may take 5000-level courses after having earned a "B" or better in two 4000-level courses and obtaining the instructors' permission.
  3. Special rules govern the taking of independent study courses (FREN 4993 and 4994). See the "Policy on Undergraduate Tutorials" section below.

Policy on Undergraduate Tutorials

• Normally, only French majors or minors may enroll in independent study courses (FREN 4993 and 4994). To enroll in these courses,written permission from the department chair is required. Applications for independent study under the direction of a faculty member should be made in writing to the department chair before the semester begins and must be made, at the latest, by 5 p.m. on the first Friday after classes begin. This typed application must contain:

  •  A complete description of the project
  •  Evidence of prior courses which have adequately prepared the student for the project
  •  A bibliography of the works to be studied
  •  A brief statement from a faculty member who accepts responsibility for directing the independent study
    

The application will be read by a member of the Undergraduate Studies Committee and by the Department Chair. Permission will be granted or denied prior to the add/drop deadline.

For instructions on how to declare a major or minor in French.

The Distinguished Majors Program

• Admission:

  In consultation with the Committee on Undergraduate Studies, the Director of the Undergraduate Program will admit applicants, normally in the spring of their third year, on the basis of the following factors:

  •  An overall GPA of 3.4, evidenced by a current college transcript or a SIS form.
  •  A departmental GPA of 3.5 in courses at the 3000 level or above.
  •  Recommendations from three members of the University of Virginia French faculty, one of whom may be the intended advisor.
  •  A letter from a French Department faculty member agreeing to direct the applicant's thesis.
  •  A pledged 500-word statement of purpose composed in French.

  Prospective applicants planning to be abroad during the application period should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies for further information, before departure if possible.

• Required Course Work and Thesis:

  The DMP program consists of 36 semester hours. The core is the standard 30-hour major. In addition, the candidate will complete an approved project, normally a substantial paper. The candidate will also take French 4998 (Pre-thesis Tutorial), in which background reading, research, and a thorough working outline of the thesis will be completed under the director's supervision, and French 4999 (Thesis), in which the candidate will, under the director's supervision, draft and revise the work, defined as a 30-50 page study, in French. The thesis should demonstrate mastery of relevant theories, research techniques, appropriate methods of analysis and interpretation, as well as expository writing. Two readers will examine the document: the thesis director and either the Director of the Undergraduate Program, another member of the French faculty, or a qualified professor from another UVA department. The final version of the thesis will be prepared according to the MLA Handbook.

• Continuance:

  The DUP will monitor each candidate's progress on a term-to-term basis. Failure to maintain the overall or departmental GPA required for admission, or failure to complete program requirements on time, will result in probation for one semester. If the candidate's record is then cleared, good standing will be restored; otherwise, the candidate will be dropped from the program.

• Degrees of Distinction:

  The DUP, in consultation with the thesis director and, if required, the Committee on Undergraduate Studies, will recommend conferral of Distinction, High Distinction, or Highest Distinction. The bases for judgement will be the quality of the thesis and work in the Distinguished Majors Program, the major, and the College. All queries concerning the program should be addressed to the Director of the Undergraduate Program.

• Deadlines:
  • Third Year:
    Application for admission: April 17, 2013
    Admissions announced by letter: May 4, 2013
  • Fourth Year:
    First draft of thesis: January 31, 2013
    Revision of thesis and public presentation: April 12, 2013
    Final version of thesis: April 18, 2013

The Combined B.A./M.A.T Degree

Anyone interested in teaching French on the secondary level may wish to look into the combined Bachelor's degree and Master of Arts in Teaching, offered jointly by the French Department and the Curry School of Education. This five-year degree involves both a complete major in French following a specified curriculum and a course of study leading to professional teaching licensure. It is a complex degree and requires careful planning. For details beyond those published in the Undergraduate Record, please consult the Director of the Undergraduate Program in French.

The Minor

• Requirements:

  The French minor consists of 18 credit hours of courses with a minimum grade of “C” in the FREN sequence at and above the level of FREN 3020, with the further provisions 1) that FREN 3031 and 3032 are required, unless the student receives exemption from the Director of the Undergraduate Program; and 2) that at least 3 of those hours must be at the level of FREN 4000 or above.

• In Brief:

  Eighteen hours = 3031 + 3032 + four additional FREN courses, including at least one 4000-level course, but excluding FREN 2933 and 2935.

• Exemptions:
  1. Students presenting a 4 or a 5 on the AP Language test alone will receive exemption from and credit for FREN 3031. Students presenting scores of 4 or 5 on both the AP Language and Literature tests will receive exemption from and credit for FREN 3031 and FREN 3032.
  2. With permission of the instructor or a faculty advisor, a minor may take a 4000-level course without a prior 3000-level offering.
• Note:
  1. Up to six hours toward the minor may be earned in approved foreign-study programs (see Study Abroad).
  2. Undergraduates may take a 5000-level course with the instructor's permission.
  3. A grade of C or better must be earned in each and every course counted toward the minor.
     

For instructions on how to declare a major or minor in French.

Awards and Honors

• The Maas Prize

  These annual awards honor the authors of essays written in French. The prize was established by the late Mrs. Kittyn M. Maas as a memorial to her husband, Lieutenant Commander Charles Maas, USNR.
  

  Guidelines:

  1. The contest is open to all undergraduate students of French at the University of Virginia who have learned the language primarily in the United States and have not previously won a Maas prize. Questions concerning eligibility or other matters should be addressed to the prize-committee chair. In past years, the first place prize was $2,000, the second place prize was $1,000, and the third place prize was $500.
  2. The subject of the essay, set by the bequest, is always an aspect of Franco-American relations in such fields as literature, history, politics, art, cinema or science.
  3. Between 1,500 to 2,000 words, the essay should be typed (approximately 6-8 double-spaced pages) and pledged. The essays must be written solely by the contestant, although outside materials may be used if acknowledged. Grammatical and other linguistic aid from sources other than reference works is not allowed. Essays must be submitted in triplicate in hard copy by the deadline; faxes and electronic files will not be accepted. The essay must not have been previously submitted for another contest or to satisfy a University course requirement.
  4. To assure anonymity, essays must be accompanied, in a separate sealed envelope, by the contestant's full legal name (first, middle, and last), both their local and permanent addresses, their UVa email address, and their local telephone number. The essay and the outside of the sealed envelope will bear only the contestant's student ID number. The sealed envelopes containing the contestants' names will not be opened before the jury has reached a decision.
  5. Essays are judged by a special committee appointed by the chair of the French Department. The decision of the judges is final. The Maas Committee reserves the right to withhold any or all of the announced prizes if, in its opinion, no essay submitted is of sufficient merit.


• The Woody Award

  Endowed by Professor Emeritus T. Braxton Woody, this $350 award, administered by the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, honors a French major in their next to last year of study who, through academic achievement and other activities, has contributed to the advancement of French studies. Nominations from the French faculty are gathered in January by the chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee, and the recipient is selected the following month by the department chair. The award is presented at a Rotunda dinner on or about Founder's Day.

Preparing for Post-Graduate Life

French majors and minors who do not plan on pursuing graduate or professional studies will significantly enhance their employment prospects in business, government, or non-profit organizations by complementing their arts and sciences program with the appropriate internships available through University Career Services, as well as advanced studies (a major or minor) in another discipline.

Que puis-je faire avec ma spécialité en français?

Optional Major Concentrations

While the major permits students to follow their curiosity across the domain of French studies, they are also free to select any combination of traditional concentrations, or to develop a novel synthesis of as many as three disciplines. Among the possibilities:

Traditional Concentrations:

• Language: Phonetics (FREN 3030), The Culture of Commerce and Industry in France (FREN 4836), Grammaire et Style (FREN 4031), Tools and Techniques of Translation (FREN 4035), History of the French Language (FREN 4020).
• Civilization: Topics in Cultural Studies (FREN 3585), History and Civilization of France: Middle Ages to Revolution (FREN 3050), History and Civilization of French: Revolution to 1945 (FREN 3051),The Culture of Commerce and Industry in French (FREN 4836), French Society and Civilization (4838), Topics in French Cinema (FREN 3584), and Topics in Literature and Film (FREN 4586).
• Literature: Literature of the Middle Ages and the Sixteenth Century (FREN 3041), Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (FREN 3042), Literature of the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Centuries (FREN 3043), Advanced Topics in Medieval Literature (FREN 4510), Advanced Topics in Renaissance Literature (FREN 4520), Advanced Topics in Seventeenth-Century Literature (4530), Advanced Topics in Eighteenth-Century Literature (4540), Advanced Topics in Nineteenth-Century Literature (4560), Advanced Topics in Twentieth-Century Literature (4570), Francophone Literature of Africa (4811), and Topics in Literature and Film (4586).

Two Model Interdisciplinary Concentrations:

• Early Modern Studies: History of the French Language, History of French Civilization, survey and topic courses in Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Enlightenment Literature.
• Modern Studies: French Society and Civilization, Film, survey and topic courses in 19th- and 20th-Century Literature, Francophone Literature, and Film.