Last spring, a group of students completing Italian 103 decided to bring the defunct Italian club back. After an initial interest meeting earlier this year, the Italian Club at UW kicked off regular autumn quarter meetings on Wednesdays, from 3:30 - 4:30pm, in SMITH 107. Below is a short interview with the Italian Club's founding president, Sophie Biernacki. Sophie is a sophomore majoring in French and minoring in Italian.
Q: What made you… Read more
On Friday, June 13th, the Department of French & Italian Studies celebrated the achievements of the class of 2025. The event celebrated our graduating French MA students and undergraduate French majors and Italian minors who have earned their degrees from Autumn 2024 - Summer 2025. Our graduation celebration brought together students, guests, faculty, and staff to mark the culmination of their time at the UW. The event began with a speech from Professor Beatrice Arduini, the chair of… Read more
The Department of French & Italian Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 FIS Academic Awards and Photo Contest! The Department of French & Italian Studies would like to commend all of the students who submitted projects during this academic year. We would like to thank Professor Maya Smith and Professor Richard Watts for their efforts to evaluate and select our academic awards winners. The photo contest was voted on by faculty and staff in French and Italian… Read more
On Monday, June 9th, our two graduating Masters in French students presented their final projects to French & Italian Studies faculty, staff, and family members. As part of the Masters in French program, students are expected to complete a capstone project under the guidance of a faculty advisor who best fits their area of expertise. The two graduating MA students of 2025, Emy Chevalier and Madeleine Poole, each gave 30 minute presentations on their presentations.Emy Chevalier, advised by… Read more
The Department of French & Italian Studies is offering a variety of exciting classes in winter quarter!Read below to check out some of our classes and their descriptions! If you have any questions regarding our courses, please reach out to frenital@uw.edu. … Read more
The following article was originally published as an article on the Textual Studies website by Nikita Willeford Kastrinos. The Department of French & Italian Studies is home to the Textual Studies Program (TXTDS). In this program, students can explore how texts — from scrolls, manuscripts, and printed books to archival documents, digital texts, and… Read more
Associate Professor of French Richard Watts was recently featured of episode 2 of the "Ways of Knowing" podcast. In Episode 2: Paratext, Professor Richard Watts explains how everything we read comes with accompanying discourse. Decisions have already been made about how readers should think and feel about a book, Watts says, and the paratext urges readers to accept those interpretations.
This is the second episode of Season 2 of “Ways of Knowing,” a podcast highlighting how studies of the… Read more
Cinema Italian Style Festival 2025 is presented by Seattle Perugia Sister City Association and Il Punto Seattle, with the support of many Seattle organizations and business partners from the Italian and Italian American communities. The Seattle Cinema Italian Style will take place from Wednesday, November 12 through Sunday, November 16, 2025, at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Now in its 17th year, Cinema Italian Style returns to Seattle with a vibrant selection of 11 acclaimed films, special… Read more
Applications for the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) will open on November 3rd! Applications are open from November 3rd and close around early March.Run by the French Ministry of Education and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, each year TAPIF places around 1,300 Americans into French public schools to work as English language teaching assistants for 12 hours a week. The seven-month contracts, which can be renewed twice (consecutively or not), enable young adults to gain… Read more