The Department of Modern Languages has begun courses for their new world intercultural studies major this semester. After previously only having two specifications of French and Spanish, this new major opens up many new opportunities for students to study a variety of disciplines with an international approach.
Informally referred to as WICS, the program is being offered as a way to give students a chance to learn intercultural relations and gives them a multi-faceted experience of working with not just the modern languages department, but across any department they see fit.
Dr. Nathan Rabalais, head of the department and one of the coordinators, shared that conversations about beginning this program started in 2023, and has finally been structured into reality. “I think it’s been needed for a while,” he said. The program is a hybrid and has its core courses while also maintaining flexibility for students to mesh any classes they see fit. With this kind of degree or minor, there’s possibilities for career paths including international relations, foreign service and tourism and hospitality. But any career can have ties to intercultural relations.
Rabalais sees the value of this program in how flexible it is comparatively to the other majors offered within modern languages. “It’s just how customizable it is,” he said. “It prevents some students from defaulting into something they didn’t really want to do.” He also notes that it is not strongly literature based, as the other two majors offered are, and gives more of a professional and business approach.
Students can take the core courses alongside electives and then in tandem, choose classes they would like to take with it. “It’s so interdisciplinary and that’s kind of the interesting part of it,” Rabalais stated.
Caroline Huey, an associate professor for Germanic studies in the modern languages department, currently teaches the foundational courses for the WICS program. “World Intercultural Studies. Every single major has something to do with that,” she said. She was asked to take part in teaching some of the courses due to her background in cultural studies.
She noted the importance of the subjects being taught in these foundational classes, such as world history, geography and arts. She found that these classes are great for international students, who are already somewhat versed in intercultural relations, and students from the United States.
What Rabalais and the department hopes that students take away from this new program is what a significant asset it is; whether you study it as a major or just as an elective class. “Employers are looking for candidates who are capable of communicating across culture, across language, that can adapt to different language barriers or cultural nuances,” Rabalais said.
Students who are also interested in this program but do not want to go abroad may find their career path right here in South Louisiana, where Rabalais believes there is a need for more people with intercultural skills in industries like tourism and government. “I see WICS as at least one step in kind of filling that gap,” he said.
Huey shared that she wants this to be recognized as necessary. “There are lots of really good majors at UL,” she said. “But something that specifically just looks at how the world is interconnected is really something everybody needs right now.”
For the future, Rabalais hopes to create more WICS courses and broaden the collaborations with other departments. “It’s just more opportunities to learn from each other and to let students explore more, and not be confined,” he said.