News
Applied Modern Language and Culture BS

Throughout the course of the academic year, hundreds of RIT students prepare to compete for some of the most prestigious international fellowships and scholarships available. Intensive research projects, applications, essays, and interviews all play a critical role in their selection.

Faculty in RIT’s Modern Languages and Cultures department received an International Research and Studies grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund the development of new materials and curricula for Chinese, Italian, and Spanish courses that focus on STEAM. Associate Professor Zhong Chen, Principal Lecturer Elisabetta D’Amanda, and Department Chair Sara Armengot will spend the next three years developing, testing, and implementing the new materials in the classroom.

Several RIT students from a variety of colleges and academic disciplines have been awarded prestigious international fellowships and scholarships.

Tori Russell, a second-year biotechnology and molecular bioscience student from Warsaw, N.Y., recently added the College of Liberal Arts’ applied modern language and culture program as a second major. Russell is enrolled in the newest French option for this program.

While many colleges and universities require general education courses, RIT’s immersion requirement takes it a step further. Beyond the typical writing, math, science, social science, global studies, art, and ethics requirements, students are asked to fulfill an additional nine credits in a topic of interest. The intended result is to produce well-rounded students who have gained broader, more diverse perspectives.

Sarah Sabal secured two prestigious international scholarships—a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) and a Boren Awards Scholarship—that will allow her to spend a year intensively studying the Chinese language in an immersive setting. She is one of several students who contributed to a record-breaking year for RIT in terms of securing funding for international experiences.

A number of students majoring in Applied Modern Language and Culture have earned a spot on the Dean's List for Fall 2020.

The Global Opportunities (GO) grant, a partnership between RIT’s College of Liberal Arts and RIT Global, is the latest incentive program to encourage students to experience learning in other countries.

A new classroom lab, complete with wireless headphones, large touch-screen monitors and retractable computers that can be lowered into desks to improve visibility, has opened in RIT’s Department of Modern Languages and Cultures.

A new bachelor's degree in applied modern language and culture will be offered to students at RIT this fall that will provide advanced studies of languages and cultures that directly apply to the global workplace and economy.