Tougaloo, MS- Tougaloo College will be offering six foreign language selections during the fall and spring semesters. Through an arrangement with the Fulbright Foundation, four visiting Fulbright professors are on loan to the liberal arts college, located in Jackson, MS. In addition to the regular offerings of French and Spanish, the Modern Language Program will be offering Arabic, German, Japanese and Korean over the course of the 2008-2009 academic year. Each of the Fulbright professors is a native speaker of the language they will be teaching.

“In our continued quest to expand the learning opportunities for our students, these scholars will add tremendous value to an already intellectually stimulating learning environment. In addition to their opportunity to learn German, Arabic, Korean and Japanese, they will, in the process, develop an understanding of these cultures. In turn, these scholars will learn more about our language and culture. This enriching experience will influence and help shape our students’ world view and help prepare them for informed citizenship and world leadership. These aims drive our approach to education.”

Mary Davis, professor of French and director of the Modern Language Program at Tougaloo College, believes that this will provide an extraordinary opportunity for the community at large. “Our goal was to give our students something that they could not get anywhere else, certainly not in the state of Mississippi. But we also saw it as a way to provide something really special for the entire community. It is a way for anyone who has an interest in languages and culture to experience an intensive language experience in languages that you don’t often find here in the South and certainly not all at the same institution.”

Students may enroll through August 29, 2008. For more information, please contact, Professor Mary Davis at 601-977-7886 or at mpdavis@tougaloo.edu.

Founded in 1869, Tougaloo College is a private, historically black, coeducational four-year liberal arts institution, located on the northern edge of Jackson, Mississippi. Known nationally as "The Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi," the College is led by its first female and 13th president, Dr. Beverly Wade Hogan. Dr. Hogan is a 1973 graduate of the College and a native Mississippian. Under her visionary leadership, the College has increased its enrollment by 12% and boasts a student retention rate of 68%.

Tougaloo College ranks among the top 50 U.S. institutions whose graduates earn PHDs in science and engineering disciplines and among the top 15 historically black colleges and universities in the graduation of females with undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences. The College has produced more graduates who have completed their PhD degrees through the UNCF-Mellon Doctoral Fellowship Program than any other institution in the nation.

Listed as one of the Best Colleges in the Southeast by The Princeton Review (2007 and 2008 editions), the highest ranking Mississippi HBCU on U.S. News and World Report's list of "America's Best Black College" (2008) and the only Mississippi institution ranked among the top 20 liberal arts institutions in the nation by Washington Monthly (2007), 66% of its graduates enter professional and graduate schools immediately after graduation. Tougaloo College is the leading producer of African American health professionals, including over 40% of the physicians and dentists, practicing in the state of Mississippi. Among its graduates are more than one-third of the state's African American attorneys and educators including teachers, principals, school superintendents, college/university faculty and administrators.