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The Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
The Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures is, in the narrowest sense, those departments and facilities housed in Weston Hall. These include the Department of German and Russian, the Department of Romance Languages, the Program in Comparative Literature, the Language Laboratory, and several classrooms and multipurpose spaces dedicated to foreign languages, literatures, and cultures. In the broader sense, the Center encompasses both the departments of Asian Studies and Classics and all faculty members in languages, literatures, and cultures whose teaching and research interests lie outside of the English language and American culture. In this broader sense, the Center provides a gathering place for faculty members and students interested in international issues and acts as an advocate for their inclusion in the Williams curriculum.
The Center coordinates a variety of lectures, readings, film series, conferences, and other special events that emphasize the interdisciplinary and cross-national study of foreign cultures. Recent events include a conference devoted to the art of translation, a series of contemporary Arab films, an evening of Viennese waltz, a Russian pot-luck dinner, and regular informal events hosted by foreign language Teaching Associates and Teaching Fellows, who come to Williams from Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
The classrooms in Weston Hall have the latest audio, video/data projection, and satellite reception equipment, including multi-standard VCRs, laserdisc/DVD/CD players, multiregional DVD players, audiocassette players, and dual platform computers with wireless keyboards and auxiliary laptop outlets. The language lab houses a large collection of audio, video, and computer materials and is itself divided into two distinct sections: a computer classroom with sixteen networked Macintosh computers and an independent work space with both carrels for audio, video, and satellite viewing and computers fully equipped for work in a number of foreign languages. In addition, the Language Lab has a small viewing room and a recording studio with up-to-date equipment that can handle both analog and digital recording.
The Center's small library has foreign language dictionaries, language instruction materials, and information on travel and study abroad. The Center also subscribes to several foreign language newspapers and magazines from around the world, which are available to all in the Center lobby.
The Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Faculty Handbook . | . Administrative Staff Handbook . | . Support Staff Handbook
