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| 995 Main Street Weston Hall Williamstown, MA 01267 Tel: (413) 597- 2391 Fax: (413) 597 - 3028 cfllc@williams.edu |
The establishment of the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures marked a significant change in the conception of foreign languages study and its application at Williams College.
Traditionally, the Asian, German, Romance and Russian languages and literatures had always been recognized as autonomous programs within the liberal arts curriculum; the emphasis was on language acquisition or on the study of literature by periods and centuries. Gradually, as students' needs evolved and international issues became more predominant on campus, there was a progressive move to situate language and literature studies within a larger cultural framework. The creation of a center that could address these changing curricular needs by integrating linguistic and literary aspects of language study into cultural contexts was considered an important, new way to organize the study of language and literature at Williams. In 1986, with a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, and backing from the College's administration, the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures came into existence.
The Center has today as its mission the essential task of developing projects that enrich and supplement the existing departmental curricular programs through lecture series, special seminars and new interdisciplinary, cross-cultural courses. It serves as a forum for scholarly exchanges with specialists from the College and other American, European and Asian institutions, acts as a catalyst for the implementation of innovative ideas, and serves to promote the importance of language, literature and cultural study among other college departments and within the Williams community.
To achieve these goals, the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures directs the Comparative Literature and the Critical Language Program, sponsors lectures and cultural activities, and coordinates the Foreign Teaching Associates program. The Center also oversees the language lab and classroom equipment needs as well as developments in technology for foreign language teaching, provides extensive material on study abroad programs, and maintains a small collection of foreign language periodicals and reference books.