Romance Languages & Literatures
910 Clemens HallNorth Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-4620
Dr. Justin Read
Chair
jread2@buffalo.edu
Dr. Maureen Jameson
Director of Undergraduate Studies
jameson@buffalo.edu
Why study Italian Minor at UB?
Italian is spoken by more than 60 million people, mainly in Italy but also in Switzerland (in the Canton Ticino) by some half million speakers where it is one of the four official languages. Italian is also spoken by large communities in the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and South America (specifically in Argentina and in the south of Brazil where almost half of the population is of Italian origin). Our program develops an appreciation of Italian world cultures through an engaged study of language, literature, and film.
RLL's Italian program provides many ways for students to acquire or improve language proficiency, to explore various cultural aspects of Italy and of Italian world communities (including in the United States), and to gain a strong foundation in the study of Italian literature and film. Italian students are strongly encouraged to study abroad for a summer, a semester, or a full year. There are quality affordable SUNY programs throughout Italy.
Students who wish to earn teacher certification should contact the Teacher Education Institute in the Graduate School of Education, 367 Baldy Hall.
Learning Outcomes
- Develop language competence and communicative strategies.
- Apply knowledge of language history.
- Identify and utilize linguistic core concepts.
- Identify and analyze rhetorical strategies in different texts and genres.
- Apply knowledge of cultural and theoretical contexts.
- Locate and interpret sources and produce original research.
- Incorporate sources and modes of analysis from multiple disciplines and media.
- Appraise material critically.
- Recognize and cultivate personal growth.
The Learning Environment
Italian courses are taught in the target language from the first day. Classes are small and highly interactive. In introductory classes, instructors model usage and engage students in daily conversation on topics drawn from around the world. Our 200-level classes strengthen cultural analysis while emphasizing active mastery of the language, both spoken and written. Students may perform original skits or scenes from established dramatic works, analyze graphic novels, or discover new trends in popular music.
Upper-division courses reflect the interdisciplinary orientation of the faculty and permit students to explore the relationship of language and literature to other disciplines. Collaborations with the Theatre program allow performance classes in the target language. There are regular courses in cinema, as well as inquiries into literature’s kinship with the visual arts. Partnering with colleagues in the sciences, RLL faculty have developed courses on globalization and sustainability. New classes, such as a Petrarch seminar or Portuguese for Speakers of Spanish, empower students to build on foundations to expand their cultural and linguistic horizons. Classes in Business French and Medical Spanish offer students prospects for combining their passion for language with a wide array of career options. The new UB Teach initiative offers an accelerated path to certification and a career in secondary teaching.
About Our Facilities
RLL recently updated its departmental classroom to provide state-of-the-art audio visual technology for classroom presentations, lectures and films. The department also has a Quebec Studies seminar room with specially dedicated materials and equipment available to support film study. A spacious conference room serves for meetings and oral exams. All regular classrooms are equipped with up-to-date computing and display technology and are linked by a T1 connection to the Internet. Secure wifi is ubiquitous on campus.
About Our Faculty
The breadth of faculty specializations in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and a pan-Romance model make for an actively interdisciplinary research and teaching agenda which promotes linguistic, literary, cultural, and visual literacies. We have emerging interests in Catalan and Portuguese, with cross-disciplinary strengths in Iberian and Latin American Studies, Francophone Canadian, Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Studies, Early Modern Studies, as well as Cultural, Postcolonial, Gender, Disability, and Urban and Landscape Studies, in addition to Poetry, Theater and Performance, Film, and Romance Linguistics. RLL faculty contribute to interdisciplinary initiatives such as UB’s Humanities Institute, the Gender Institute, the Early Modern Reading Group, Poetics and Canadian Studies.
RLL graduate students are productive and high achieving. They have successfully competed for UB Presidential scholarships; been short-listed for Fulbright and Ford fellowships; received CAS and Humanities Institute dissertation writing grants; had papers accepted in major disciplinary conferences, and articles accepted for publication at peer-reviewed journals. They organize an annual conference and publish its proceedings.
Full time tenured/tenure track RLL faculty: 16
Teaching assistants: 19
Adjunct faculty: 8
Faculty List Directory
Please visit the Romance Languages and Literatures department website for additional information about our faculty.
Career Outlook
Students who choose RLL and especially the Italian program as their main academic home at UB find a number of career opportunities open to them. Among graduates in the past decade, some have gone on to do graduate work, some have gone on to law school, and others have found positions in public service and secondary education. Whatever career appeals to graduating students, proficiency in Italian will assuredly be an advantage.
Some fields in which RLL graduates have pursued careers include:
- Anthropology and linguistics
- Public relations
- Customs and immigration
- Diplomacy and foreign service
- Post-secondary and secondary education
- International student advisement
- International trade
- International relations
- Broadcast and print journalism
- Law and jurisprudence
- Public relations
- Translation
- Federal civil service
- Social work
Academic Advising
Department faculty advisors are available to consult with students for academic advising.
Academic Advising Contact Information
Students who are planning a major or minor in Italian, or who have questions about initial placement or study abroad integration or course planning, should always feel free to request an advisement appointment either using the online request form on the Romance Languages and Literatures website, or Email Romance Languages and Literatures . An advisor will reply with guidance and suggestions.
Scholarships and Financial Support
The Linda Rock Scholarship is awarded twice annually to students majoring and sometimes minoring in Italian who have applied to and been accepted by a study abroad program. The award is granted on the basis of academic merit, but financial need can also be taken into consideration.