
Overview
Studying French is the gateway to a life of travel, discovery, and success. Regardless of whether you’re just beginning or continuing your French studies, the skills and knowledge you gain through the French discipline at UMN Morris will serve you well. Whether your future career involves collaborating with French-speaking colleagues in a global setting or communicating with clients or community members at a local level, you can learn and excel at a language that opens doors to job opportunities in diplomacy, commerce, healthcare, music, art, history, science, and philosophy.
The UMN Morris French program boasts opportunities for community engagement, as well as courses in sustainability, professional development, and career planning. You’ll gain skills in writing, problem solving, and intercultural competence, as well as analytical skills to use in a diverse workforce. Dedicated faculty members will challenge you to explore the literature and cultures of French and French-speaking nations around the world, from a thousand years ago up until today.
Courses provide both breadth and depth, giving you the language and analytic skills necessary to engage in interconnected fields and Francophone cultures throughout the world. Advanced coursework spans medieval, early modern, and modern France as well as the arts, histories, and cultures of French-speaking North and West Africa, as well as North America. UMN Morris also offers language skills courses in phonetics, grammar, translation, and community interpreting.
Degree Requirements
Graduation Requirements
If you’re interested in pursuing a degree in French, there are certain requirements you must meet to ensure that you graduate. If minoring in French, a different set of requirements apply.
Student Learning Outcomes
By completing a degree in French, you will be able to
- interpret with accuracy detailed information and narratives in French in the past, present, and future;
- express yourself, in speaking and in writing, in the past, present, and future about topics of general, academic, and professional interest;
- interpret cultural artifacts, texts, and films with accuracy, demonstrating knowledge of the French and Francophone cultures that produced them;
- create work that reflects an awareness of your own cultural biases;
- articulate the inherent complexities, worldviews, and values of other cultures; and
- prepare for a future in graduate school or in the professional world.
General Education Requirements
The University of Minnesota and its faculty are committed to providing an education that invites you to investigate the world from new perspectives, learn new ways of thinking, and grow as an active citizen and lifelong learner. The University’s general education requirements are designed to be integrated throughout your four-year undergraduate experience. These courses provide you an opportunity to explore fields outside your major and complement your major curriculum with a multidisciplinary perspective.
Careers and Graduate School
Careers
Advanced skills in another language help you stand out from a crowd, giving you a competitive edge against other candidates for graduate study programs, national fellowship programs, and the workforce. The majority of UMN Morris French graduates spend one or two years in the Teaching Assistant Program in France program, immersing themselves in French culture and language.
There are many occupational areas in which you can use your French degree:
- Teaching assistantship in France
- K-12 education
- Higher education
- Translation
- Foreign affairs
- International business
- Private industry or public sector
A majority of UMN Morris’s French graduates have moved to France after graduation to teach English for a year.
Graduate School
With a four-year degree, you’ll be ready for graduate school if that’s a path you’re interested in. Previous UMN Morris French students have gone on to graduate school with full-ride scholarships at many universities, including:
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- Indiana University
- Cornell University
- Ohio State University
- University of Michigan
“I recently graduated … with an MA in international relations and a masters in public administration, having interned at UNICEF in Geneva, Switzerland, for part of it.” -Fiona ‘18, UMN Morris Alum
Costs and Scholarships
Costs at a Glance
The University of Minnesota Morris is a national public liberal arts college committed to making a high-quality education available to students from across the country. Expenses for housing, meals, books and supplies, transportation, loan fees, and personal expenditures can vary.
Use our net price calculator to estimate your cost of attendance
French Scholarships
Scholarships are a type of financial aid awarded to you and are often based on specific criteria, such as your major, GPA, or financial need.
Research and Engagement
Research
One of the best things about UMN Morris is the opportunity to get to know your professors through collaborative projects—and there are many.
You’ll be able to work with faculty to research French and Francophone cultures. You may be able to present your research on campus or at a conference off campus. Past French students have organized paleography and manuscript collections in the library, created reproductions of medieval books, presented literary and cultural papers at conferences, and published papers in accredited literary journals.
Combining French with other areas of study for a creative and scholarly project is another option. For example, a past student majoring in both French and medieval studies was able to gain hands-on experience researching and putting together an intricate manuscript collection at the campus library for future students to use.
Engagement Opportunities for Students
Study abroad programs are highly encouraged for French students, and they range from weekend trips to year-long exchanges. A direct student exchange program to Lille, France, is offered, along with an annual French club trip to Winnipeg, Canada, for the Festival du Voyageur, which celebrates the history of French traders in Canada. These are real world opportunities for you to practice French—and learn more about North American history. Post-graduate travel opportunities, such as the Teaching Assistant Program in France or Fulbright, may also be an option.
Entre Nous is the French club on campus. This is a great way to practice your French speaking skills in a judgment-free zone while celebrating and experiencing Francophone culture. In addition to the annual trip to Canada, Entre Nous plans three meals throughout the academic year to help foster community: the fête raclette, the fête crêpe, and the Mardi Gras feast. The French club cabaret event is open to any cultural music, literature, comedy, and educational performance. You may also want to participate in the annual French poetry reading contest. Focus is on improving your pronunciation and presenting at the competition to win prizes. No previous experience is needed to participate in French club or its events. In addition, Entre Nous Teaches You is an after-school, community engagement project through which you can team-teach local children the basics of French language and French-speaking cultures around the world.
"I originally joined the French club because I wanted to practice my French speaking skills. But I kept coming back and became more involved because I liked the people. It has made classes easier because I was able to become friends with my classmates through the club. No matter your level of experience, you are welcomed in the French club. It has also been really fun being able to share French language and culture with the community." - Lexus Laudert '25
Research Opportunities for Students
The Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) offers students an opportunity to present research plus scholarly and creative work. Types of presentations include posters, oral presentations, and short or abbreviated theatrical, dance, or musical performances.
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) provides University of Minnesota undergraduates from every college, major, and discipline, the opportunity to partner with a faculty member on research or creative projects.
The University of Minnesota Morris offers the Morris Academic Partnership (MAP) program, in which faculty select academically talented, qualified second-year and third-year students to assist them in scholarly and creative projects. Selected MAP students undertake assignments intended to enhance their intellectual competence and increase their interest in graduate or professional study.
Morris at Festival du Voyageur
Most years in February, students take a bus to Winnipeg for a weekend at the Festival du Voyageur, an annual celebration of the culture of the Voyageurs, fur traders and merchants who frequently traded goods with Native communities.
Barber Lecture Series
Barber Lecture Series Information
The Barber Lectures in Literature are made possible by a gift to UMN Morris from Laird H. Barber and the late Dorothy Klein Barber, both of whom had long and distinguished careers as English faculty at UMN Morris. The endowed lecture series began in 1999 and is shared, in alternate years, between the English and the foreign languages and literatures (German studies, French, Spanish) disciplines. The intention of the Barber Lecture Series is to provide a stimulating forum for delving into the multiplicity of issues which confront and enrich literary studies in many areas of the world.
During their careers and after retirement, the Barbers made major contributions to the liberal arts at UMN Morris and to the town of Morris. Their involvement began in 1964, when Laird joined the English faculty; Dorothy joined the English faculty the next year. Dorothy retired in 1991 and passed away in 1998. Laird retired in 1994 and continues to support intellectual life on campus and in Morris.
Thanks to the Barbers, the humanities division is able to bring to campus each year a distinguished literary scholar to enrich campus dialogue about contemporary literary issues.
Past Speakers
Fall 2022
- Elizabeth Otto, professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History and Global Gender Studies at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York : “Haunted Modern Art: Gender Fluidity, Queer Identities, and Radical Politics at Germany’s Bauhaus Art School"
Fall 2019
- Brigitte Weltman-Aron, professor of French and Francophone Studies, affiliated with the Center for African Studies and the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research, University of Florida: “Resistance in Pictures: Assia Djebar on Art”
Fall 2018
- Sonya Posmentier, associate professor of English, New York University: “Black Reading: Lyrics of the Color Line.”
Fall 2017
- Luis E. Cárcamo-Huechante, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin & Comunidad de Historia Mapuche: "Indigenous Resonance & Responses from Mapiche Territory"
Fall 2016
- Robyn Warhol, Interim Chair and Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor, The Ohio State University: “Reading Like a Victorian”
Fall 2015
- David Tse-Chien Pan, Professor of German at the University of California, Irvine: "Goethe's Wilhelm Meister and Political Representation"
Fall 2014
- Frances E. Dolan, Professor of English at the University of California, Davis: “Know Your Food: Turnips, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and the Local”
Fall 2013
- William Burgwinkle, Professor of Medieval French and Occitan at Cambridge University: “Medieval Bodies: Looking and Touching”
Fall 2012
- Jay Parini, D.E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing at Middlebury College: “The Imagination of Truth: How Fiction Shines a Light into the Dark Corners of History”
Fall 2011
- Ofelia Ferrán, Professor of Spanish & Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities: “Mass Graves, Stolen Children, and Other Specters of the Past Haunting Contemporary Spain”
Fall 2010
- Kate Flint, Professor of English at Rutgers University: “Flash! Photography, Writing, and Surprising Illumination”
Spring 2010
- Siegfried W. de Rachewiltz, Schloss Tirol Museum Director & Faculty Member at Innsbruck University: “Oswald von Wolkenstein, The Last of the German Minnesänger”
Fall 2008
- Dana Nelson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, and Russ Castronovo, Jean Wall Bennett Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison : “‘Action, Action, Action’ 19th-Century Literature for 21st-Century Citizenship”
Fall 2007
- Jonathan Culler, Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University: “Reading The Flowers of Evil Today”
Fall 2006
- Jerome McGann, John Stewart Bryan University Professor at the University of Virginia: “Philology in a New Key Humane Studies in Digital Space”
Fall 2005
- Marvin A. Lewis, Professor of Spanish & Director of the Afro-Romance Institute for Languages and Literatures of the African Diaspora at the University of Missouri-Columbia: “Afro-Hispanic Literature and the Canon”
Fall 2004
- Mary Louise Pratt, Silver Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures at New York University: “Language and Contemporary Geopolitics”
Fall 2003
- Sander L. Gilman, Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and of Medicine & Director of the Humanities Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Chicago: “Is Multiculturalism Good for the Jews A Literary View”
Spring 2003
- Lawrence Buell, Powell A. Cabot Professor of American Literature & Chair of English at Harvard University: “Environmental Imagination, Environmental Crisis”
Fall 2001
- Trinh T. Minh-ha, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Film Studies, Women’s Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley: 1st Foreign Language Barber Lecture (French), “Far Away, From Home” (with screening of her film Surname Viet Given Name Nam after lecture)
Fall 2000
- Leah Marcus, Professor of English at Vanderbilt University: 1st English Barber Lecture, “Elizabeth I as Public and Private Poet”
Fall 1999
- Samuel Schuman, Interim UMM Chancellor Inaugural Barber Lecture , “‘Twas beautiful and hard’: Why Study Literature?”