Associate professor Phillipe Seminet, Languages, Literatures and Cultures Department Chair at St. Edward’s, along with his wife, professor Georgia Seminet, have created a new major for those looking to study language: Global Languages and Cultural Studies.
“Language is about communicating,” Phillipe Seminet said. “… And whatever your profession may be, you will have a richer experience (by studying it).”
This new major will officially come into effect in the Fall 2024 semester. Based on a program at Stonehill College, a Holy Cross college in Massachusetts, it will be a 36-hour major. The primary courses are all language and culture based; there’s an introductory course, called Introduction to Language and Culture, numbered CLLC-1310, that also fulfills the general education requirement for Global Perspectives. Then, the major requires students to pick two languages: one as a primary and one as a secondary. The student would take 18 hours (six classes) with their primary language and 12 hours (four classes) with their secondary. Finally, the major will capstone with CLLC-4430, a special topics class that functions as the Culminating Experience course for the major.
“There are studies that indicate that language majors are most popular as a second major,” Seminet said. “My thinking is rather the same for the Global Languages and Cultural Studies: more as a second major. Again, it’s a 36-hour degree, it’s not really heavy on the hours like they might be in the business school or in the natural sciences. But that’s the case because it’s also expected that it will be coupled with something else.”
The degree is intended to supplement a second major and is designed to open doors in a student’s chosen field. By having two additional language proficiencies in addition to a student’s English, that student has access to opportunities all over the world. Seminet also intends this major for students who might already have experience with second languages: a considerably large population of the student body, according to Seminet. He emphasized the fact that language is communication, and that communication is essential to the post-collegiate landscape.
“Language is about communicating, … and whatever your profession may be, you will have a richer experience for being able to communicate with more cultures,” he said.
Rising senior Jordan Walters is one of the first five St. Edward’s students to take up this major. His primary language is Spanish and his secondary is French, a combo Seminet believed would be the most common; Walter’s first major is International Business. He echoed many of Seminet’s beliefs about language.
“I really think that learning languages is something that should have more of a focus placed on it,” Walters said. “I think there is a certain cultural understanding that comes with learning a language, and it’s lost in America because none of us are really pushed to learn a language that much. … It’s (something that) helps with understanding other people.”
The creation of this major is being phased in to replace the defunct French minor. The popularity of the university’s languages, other than Spanish, has been decreasing for years: Chinese and Arabic were eliminated amidst COVID-19 budget cuts. Now, French no longer has consistent students to validate the existence of a full minor. Seminet hopes to bring back some demand for foreign languages with this new major; he also is encouraging faculty to offer classes like Biology I in Spanish. His desire is to show students the true value that connections through language can bring.
“The respect that you show others by wanting to and then making the effort and putting in the work to learn their language speaks volumes of you as a person,” Seminet said. “And so it will help you in whatever environment you might be.”
