# 2025-2026 General Catalog

**Source**: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/departments-programs-degrees/french-italian/french-ab/
**Parent**: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/departments-programs-degrees/#programsanddegreestext

[Office & Contact Information](https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/departments-programs-degrees/french-italian/)

The major program assures proficiency in all four language skills—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—and acquaints students with the intellectual and cultural contributions of the French-speaking world through the study of its literatures, traditions, and institutions.

## The Program

The department encourages its students to work closely with the academic advisor in designing a major tailored to their needs and interests within the broad requirements prescribed by the program and to avail themselves of the guidance of an excellent teaching faculty. Each year, a substantial number of students with good preparation in French participate in the university's very popular Education Abroad Program, which maintains centers in Bordeaux, Lyon, and Paris.

### Career Alternatives

Foreign language teachers, a cardiologist, a veterinarian, a naval commander at the Pentagon, a professor of Political Science, lawyers, sales representatives, journalists, a speech pathologist, a law professor, translators, a  senior applications programmer, travel agents, independent business owners, a senior museum curator, nurses, financial managers, stock brokers, and an industrial attaché for a French trade commission—all graduated with an A.B. in French from UC Davis. These represent only a small fraction of the career choices documented in a survey of department graduates.

### Major Advisor

Consult the department office.

### Honors Program

Candidates for high or highest honors in French must write a senior thesis under the direction of a faculty member. For this purpose, honors candidates must enroll in [FRE 194H](https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/search/?P=FRE%20194H "FRE 194H") (4 units) and [FRE 195H](https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/search/?P=FRE%20195H "FRE 195H") (4 units). Normally, a student will undertake the honors project during the first two quarters of the senior year; other arrangements must be authorized by the department chair. Only students who, at the end of the junior year (135 units), have attained a cumulative grade-point average of 3.500 in courses required for the major will be eligible for the honors program. The requirements for earning high and highest honors in French are in addition to the regular requirements for the major in French.

### Education Abroad

The department of French and Italian encourages students to study abroad in the [Global Learning Hub](https://globallearning.ucdavis.edu/). With the approval of a major advisor, applicable courses taken abroad may be accepted in the major or minor programs.

### Prerequisite Credit

Credit will not normally be given for a course if it is the prerequisite of a course already successfully completed. Exceptions can be made by the department chairperson only.

## Graduate Study

The department offers programs of study and research leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in French & Francophone Studies. Candidates for the Ph.D. have the option of enriching their degree program by preparing a designated emphasis in African American & African Studies, Classics & Classical Receptions, Critical Theory, Feminist Theory and Research, Second Language Acquisition, or Studies in Performance & Practice. Detailed information may be obtained from the graduate advisor or the department chairperson.

### Graduate Advisor

Consult the department office.

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