Learning a language can open many doors for your career, boosting your marketable skills and preparing you to interact with people on a deeper level. While all Trinity University students are required to learn a second language at the intermediate level as part of the Pathways curriculum, many want to take their studies a step further. Increasingly, students are looking for opportunities to expand their language skills so they can put them to use beyond the classroom.
Now, two French studies professors are in the process of developing new courses that will focus on French for professional purposes. Funded by a grant from the Albertine Foundation, Maxence Leconte, Ph.D., and Zvezdana Ostojic, Ph.D., are working to establish courses like French for business, French for international relations, and French for education.
“Trinity students are always looking for ways to connect their education to a career path and real-world experiences,” says Leconte. “Our hope is to provide them with such opportunities in these new French courses and help them learn about the impact that language learning can have on their future.”
The Albertine Foundation works with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy to emphasize innovative cultural and educational French projects in higher education, just like this one at Trinity. Leconte hopes this initiative will interest students from across various disciplines and those who already are involved in French studies, bringing together a wide array of participants in the classroom.
Leconte and Ostojic are also planning opportunities to bring in experts from diverse fields to speak to students in these new courses. To understand what would be most helpful to students, they are collaborating with two current students in the course development process, Bocar Diagana ’26, ’M27 and Alexandra Polster ’27. This unique learning opportunity gives Diagana and Polster a glimpse into what it takes to create a new undergraduate course and allows their voices to help shape the future of French studies at Trinity.