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Languages & Literature

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Understand others. 

Find your voice. 

Shape your world.

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Find your path

Explore the programs within Languages & Literature to discover where your interests can take you.

How do we understand people whose experiences differ from our own? What can a story reveal about our lives? How can the words we choose help us connect with others?

In Carroll College’s Department of Languages & Literature, these questions guide our work. Through the study of languages, literature, and writing, you explore how people make sense of their lives and the worlds they inhabit. You learn to pay close attention, question your assumptions, and communicate with purpose.

Along the way, you develop your own voice and learn to recognize the power of someone else’s.

Language reflects identity and shapes power.

Ryan Hallows, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Languages & Literature

Group Study in Simperman Hall at Carroll College
Group Study in Simperman Hall

Study What Makes Us Human

A poem can give words to an experience you have struggled to explain. Learning another language can change how you understand a community. Writing a story can help you see the world through someone else’s eyes.

As part of Carroll’s Catholic liberal arts tradition, our courses invite you to explore enduring questions about human experience and what gives life meaning. You examine how language reflects identity and shapes power. You encounter unfamiliar perspectives and consider the dignity of each person whose experiences you study.

In an age of artificial intelligence, these questions take on new urgency. What is uniquely human about how we create and connect with others? What does an authentic human voice bring to our understanding of the world? Studying languages and literature helps you explore these questions and consider how to use emerging technologies with judgment and responsibility.

This work asks for curiosity and patience. It also offers something lasting: a fuller understanding of yourself and your responsibilities to others.

Learning also grows through experience. Opportunities such as study abroad and community engagement help you connect what you study with the people and places that give it meaning.

 

 

Build skills you can put into practice

  • Read closely & think independently.

    Look beyond first impressions. Pursue questions openly, evaluate evidence, and develop interpretations you can support.

  • Communicate with clarity & confidence.

    Build a persuasive argument, contribute thoughtfully to a conversation, and adapt your writing to different audiences. Learn to approach disagreement as an opportunity for deeper understanding.

  • Connect across cultures & create with intention.

    Develop the language skills and cultural understanding to communicate with people whose experiences differ from your own. Listen with empathy and build relationships grounded in mutual respect. Make choices about language, form, and meaning. Develop your ideas through research, practice, and revision.

Explore enduring questions about human experience and what gives life meaning.

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Prepare for work—and for a meaningful life

The ability to understand people and communicate effectively matters across professions. Our programs help you connect academic study with professional interests, developing the judgment and communication skills to build collaborative relationships grounded in mutual respect. Those same habits matter beyond the workplace. They help you participate in your community and consider how your abilities can serve others. 

You learn to approach ethical questions thoughtfully and respond to others with courage and compassion.
Whether you pursue a major or minor, or take a course that opens an unexpected door, you can build an education that connects professional preparation with the larger question of how you want to live your life and engage with your communities.