Robert Weigel is the current Department Chair.

Welcome and greetings from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures! We have three new faculty members and several new full-time instructors joining us for Academic Year 2008/09: Carolyn Fitzgerald (PhD, Michigan), Assistant Professor of Chinese specializes in 20th century Chinese Literature and is developing a new Minor in Asian Studies to be implemented very soon. We are also excited to be able to offer an introductory Japanese class this Fall and intend to build on strong initial enrollment. We also welcome new Assistant Professors in Spanish, Almitra Medina (PhD, Georgetown) whose research interests are in second language acquisition, and Ted McVay (PhD, LSU) who specializes in Golden Age Literature. Traci O’Brien (PhD, CUNY) is the new Assistant Professor in German and concentrates in 19th century German women writers. We are also excited to have several new instructors with us, Alicia Almada (MA, Auburn), Constanza Holland (MA, Auburn), Patricia Johnson (MA, Auburn), Alex Holland (ABD, Virginia), and Ari Gutman (MA, Auburn) in Spanish, Anja Werth (MA, Leipzig and Carthage) in German, and Viviane Koua (PhD, Limoges/Ivory Coast) and David Palmieri (PhD, Montreal) in French.

After many years of service, longtime faculty members Renate Latimer (German) and Tony Madrigal (Spanish) who also served as Department chair joined the growing list of Professors Emeriti in our Department. We wish them the best for their lives after Auburn.

In Summer, we took a record number of students abroad to our various sites in Salamanca (Spain), Cuernavaca (México), Paris (France), Taormina (Italy), and Vienna (Austria). More than 210 students participated and developed their languages skills while exploring other cultures. In Spring, the semester abroad program in Alcalá (Spain) also had a record 18 students enrolled and we expect an even higher number to participate in Spring 2009.

On campus, students have the opportunity to meet through various activities such as the French Conversation Table, the Spanish Table, the German Club (who gather regularly at the Olde Auburn Ale House), the Auburn Latino Association of Students, and the Italian Club. Students are also able to enjoy foreign language movies presented by the French Film Series, the Cine Auburn Spanish Language Film Series, and movies presented by the German Club. Please see our events update for upcoming lectures and presentations.

In Fall 2008, the department will cohost the annual SCLA (Southern Comparative Literature Association) Conference, “Comparative Literature and World Literature: Textual, Visual, Aural Interconnections and Interfaces”; several FLL faculty are organizing and chairing sessions and/or present papers The conference is interdisciplinary and will feature papers on all areas of comparative literature and critical approaches, representing creative traditions around the globe.

We send greetings to prospective students, and warm wishes to our faithful Alumni and supporters. We thank all of you for your generosity, which our success depends on. Your donations make it possible for us to offer our students instruction of the highest quality, opportunities to study abroad, state-of-the-art technology, and experiences that make a real difference in our students' lives. Please keep your donations coming, and visit us when you are in town.