The Department prides itself in its warm and friendly atmosphere, one in which regular, informal interaction between faculty and students on academic and professional subjects is encouraged. In and out of classes, professors try to create an open as well as supportive environment for the development of graduate students in diverse fields. The Department offers graduate programs in both French and Spanish toward the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees.
Programs are unusually flexible and can be modified to accommodate individual needs.
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University awards on a competitive basis a number of multi-year graduate fellowships each year to student applicants with outstanding credentials. Two fellowships held in recent years by students in the Department are the Olin Graduate Fellowship for Women and the Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship for African-Americans. Awards Each year faculty committees of the Department nominate outstanding graduate students in French and Spanish to receive a number of awards to honor their achievements. Within the Department there are presently three endowed awards to honor graduate student excellence. Teaching Development Program for Graduate Students Teaching development for graduate students in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures features a comprehensive and systematic apprenticeship in the theory and practice of teaching Romance languages with ample supervision throughout.