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Over 5,000 Georgia Tech students were enrolled in some aspect of the School of Modern Languages program in the 2008-2009 school year. That means 20 percent of Georgia Tech students gained foreign language skills, far surpassing the national average of 8.6 percent.

The School's faculty has attracted students with a distinctive applied language and intercultural studies approach that develops professional and social competence, as well as intercultural skills. Chair Phil McKnight has seen enrollment double since the School began reshaping the program in 2001.

"Where most higher education language programs prepare students to read literature and to eventually become teachers, our program, which has been cited by national organizations for its innovative approach, creates a new model for foreign language learning." According to McKnight, "Educational needs in the 21st century reflect the challenges and opportunities of globalization and technological developments in international trade, computing, media and information exchange, and international relations that impact virtually every aspect of our lives. Consequently, we seek to graduate students who are effectively prepared to negotiate within and between the social, technological, and political contexts of other cultures and to understand the local impact of globalization, environmental issues, and other current and future change factors."

Modern Languages has also attracted students through programs developed in collaboration with other units across the College and Georgia Tech. The International Affairs/Modern Languages joint major (IAML) is Ivan Allen College's most popular with more than 180 students. Engineering, Computing, and other majors are attracted by courses of study in eight different languages. The School extends its applied language approach through intensive study abroad, work abroad, and internship programs in China, France, Germany, Korea, Japan, Latin America, and Spain that works with the Georgia Tech International Plan. The School's signature Language for Business and Technology (LBAT) summer immersion program is one of Tech's most successful study abroad programs.

"Our upper division and capstone courses," said McKnight, "focus on the development of strong intercultural communication skills and on the analysis of multicultural perspectives on social, political, economic issues, and values systems of the countries where the languages we teach are spoken. We may look at themes of migration and integration, memory and heritage, property, space and environment, technology and commerce, perspectives of mass media or film, and at the scope of elements that figure in the construction and maintenance of cultural and national identities."

See related story below on School of Modern Languages faculty member, Juan Carlos Rodriguez