Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body (Dalhousie University)
Authorized form of name
Dalhousie University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of French
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Dalhousie University. Faculty of Arts and Social Science. Department of French (1973-1988)
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1973-
History
The Department of French was formally established by Senate in 1973, but French language—and later literature—was taught at Dalhousie almost from its beginnings. In 1843, the Dalhousie Board of Governors hired a professor of modern languages to teach French, Italian and Spanish. However, the newly appointed Lorenzo Lacoste met an untimely death shortly before the first Dalhousie College itself floundered and shut down. When the college reopened in 1863, French and German were offered under the heading of modern languages. In 1866 James Liechti was hired as a tutor, and in 1883 he was appointed McLeod professor of modern languages, by which time students were required to take two years of either French or German to receive a BA degree. In 1957 the Department of Modern Languages ceased to exist, and French came under the auspices of the Department of Romance Languages. In 1972 Senate passed a motion to establish an independent Department of French, although the French faculty had been acting as a de facto department for decades.
Places
The Department of French is located in the Marion McCain building on Dalhousie's Studley Campus.
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
The Department of French offers programs of study leading to BA, MA and PhD degrees, with a focus on French literature, linguistics or francophone culture. It also administers a minor in Italian Studies. The department supports language tutoring through its Le Cercle Français and study abroad programs in Dijon, France, as well as a field school program in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. In addition to the student society Club Français, to prepare students for scholarly activities the department runs a regular seminar series and colloquia, as well as international conferences on literary or linguistic themes. The French department is also home to several journals, including Dalhousie French Studies, Belphégor, and Initiales, which was conceived to serve graduate students and young researchers as first-time authors.
Mandates/sources of authority
The basic statute relating to Dalhousie University is Chapter 24 of the Acts of 1863. This statute replaced earlier statutes, and the 1863 statute itself has been amended and supplemented several times over the years. The provisions of these various statutes provide for the establishment and regulation of the university, the membership of the Board of Governors and its rights and powers, the authority of senate for the internal regulation of the university (subject to the approval of the board), and various other matters.
Internal structures/genealogy
The Department of French is within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. It is headed by a chair and, in 2021, served by a faculty of eight professors, two full-time and two part-time instructors, an undergraduate secretary and a graduate program assistant.