The BU Learning Experience
Boston University boasts a robust learning environment for the study of languages, literatures, and film, both within and beyond the Romance Studies Department. The interdisciplinary nature of what we do integrates our students and faculty into numerous other programs across the university, creating ties and synergies that benefit research, teaching and learning.
The Humanities Community at BU
Within the department, undergraduate and graduate student organizations enrich our community with an array of events, including an annual Francophone film festival and graduate student conference. Our faculty organize an annual conference on Second Language Learning & Disabilities, one of the first conferences of its kind.
Our sister department, World Languages & Literatures, houses BU’s Translation Seminar, an annual event dating back to 1981, and also offers an MFA in Translation. Romance Studies faculty are deeply involved in both of these projects. BU’s Global House, under the direction of one of our alumni, provides undergraduate students with an immersive language-based living-learning residence. Film offers a unique means of understanding languages and cultures, and BU’s Cinema & Media Studies program contributes courses (including many taught by Romance Studies faculty) that help students to understand the theory, aesthetics, and sociocultural dimensions of moving picture media.
Elsewhere at BU, our students’ education and our faculty research is enriched by a range of institutes and centers relevant to study of French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish languages and cultures, including the BU Center for Humanities, the Center for the Study of Europe, the African Studies Center (one of the oldest and most respected in the United States), and others.
Boston – One of the World’s Greatest College Towns
Beyond BU, the Boston offers a rich environment for delving deeply into an understanding and appreciation of Romance languages and their associated cultures. The Boston area hosts consulates from 14 Romance language countries. Boston and its environs also boast a branch of the Alliance Français, an Instituto Cervantes center, multiple art house movie theaters, and numerous other academic and cultural institutions, not to mention a vibrant restaurant scene featuring cuisine from many Romance language cultures.
