Mission

The mission of the Department of World Languages is to promote academic excellence by providing UNF students with the opportunity to learn to communicate effectively in writing as well as orally in a language other than English.  Additionally, the department fosters human understanding by exposing students to a multiplicity of textual constructs and by urging them to undertake cultural experiences that enhance their vision as global citizens.  Such a commitment to excellence requires that faculty members pursue in earnest academic research and publication to stay abreast of new developments in literary criticism, cultural studies and language acquisition, that they integrate results of their inquiry effectively in the courses they teach, and that they publish or present their research in highly regarded professional forums.  The Department’s pedagogical focus is to underscore at all times the importance of language as a window to human understanding.  The World Languages faculty strives to instill in students the critical skills necessary to analyze a variety of texts—literary and otherwise—in their original language and social context, so that they may discern and appreciate cultural differences.  Programmatic relevance is ensured by a shared teaching methodology that blends language instruction at its most practical level with academic approaches in the humanistic tradition, which assert the inherent value of multiculturalism.  In order to ascertain success in its mission, the Department assesses its students yearly through instruments tailored to the program as well as to the desired learning outcomes.  This commitment to rigorous assessment promotes self-reflection on the part of a committed faculty willing always to renovate and upgrade the language program for the benefit of UNF students as well as to address the needs of the community the university serves.