News
July 23, 2020Clarkson University to Expand Language Course Offerings this Fall
This fall, students wanting to take select world language courses will have that option at Clarkson University. Clarkson’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the School of Arts & Sciences will offer undergraduate courses in Chinese and Spanish this fall, taught in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. There are plans to roll out French and Mohawk language courses in the spring. All of the courses will be taught online.
“Adding these course offerings will let Clarkson undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing an MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) degree get that on-campus language experience. New York State requires all teacher candidates to have one semester of college-level language and we wanted to make it easy for Clarkson undergraduates to fulfill that requirement. Regardless of the discipline, an individual wants to pursue (for example, chemistry, English, computer science, etc.) they must have one semester of a world language or American Sign Language in order to meet the prerequisite for admission to the MAT program. Students who want to become world language teachers must have a major, or the equivalent, in the language,” said Catherine Snyder, Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Education.
“Offering this opportunity for students to gain experience in languages at Clarkson is a valuable addition to our provision. Gaining an understanding of a language, and by extension, a culture is invaluable to graduates in whatever they pursue in life, as well as opening new doors for students during their time at Clarkson and allowing for the breaking down of barriers in our world. Language learning is an important part of a broad education, and I am excited that we are making developments in this direction,” said Alastair Kocho-Williams, Chair, and Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“We are launching the introductory classes by leveraging the expertise of our faculty who speak Spanish, Chinese, and French. We have plans to add Mohawk as well,” Snyder said.
Spanish and Chinese courses launch this fall online, with French and Mohawk this spring. For more information go to https://www.clarkson.edu/academics/arts-sciences/humanities-social-sciences
