Recently, students received an email notifying that the Department of Art and Visual Culture and the Department of Modern Languages are changing their name. They are being changed to the Department of Art and the Department of Global Languages and Cultural Studies.

Department chair Brian Winkenweder said in an email interview that “The Department of Art and Visual Culture changed the name for the sake of precision, clarity and efficiency.” The Linfield software for course registration needs a 4-letter prefix Winkenweder wrote, “Originally, we proposed to use AART as the 4-letter prefix, but the registrar pointed out that it had a Pirate-like quality (“AAAaaaaaarrrrghhhhht!”) that we may not want.  So, the compromise was ARTS.  The “S” is only to satisfy the need for a four-letter prefix.”

The switch from the Department of Modern Languages to the Department of Global Languages and Cultural Studies (GLCS) was also changed for clarity reasons.

Christopher Keaveney said in an email interview, “the new department name and description reflects more faithfully than does the former one what it is that we provide for our students through our curriculum. … Not only are half of the full-time faculty in our department the product of literary studies, cultural studies or regional studies graduate programs, but nearly one quarter of our current offerings are culture courses taught in English.”

There is a change of departments along with a change of how people think about subjects in a more global sense. Keaveny said, “Learning a language and attempting to understand the cultural values and practices of the people that speak the language are central to success in a variety of disciplines and careers.”