Languages Across the Curriculum

The University of Pittsburgh’s Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) Program offers students the opportunity to use world languages in courses offered in a variety of academic disciplines, including those outside of languages and literature. The program aims to provide a curricular framework to develop and apply language and intercultural competences within all disciplines.  It is based upon the belief that languages and intercultural perspectives promote a better and more nuanced understanding of content in any course. It aims to promote a better understanding of world regions while demonstrating the relevance of practical language skills across the disciplines.

Pitt is a part of the CLAC Consortium, a nonprofit academic professional organization managed by volunteers from consortial member institutions.  CLAC is dedicated to promoting the cultures and languages across the curriculum movement through conferences and the sharing of resources.

The University Center for International Studies (UCIS), with funding from Pitt’s Title VI National Resource Centers, has embarked on a four year initiative to increase the number of LAC courses offered on campus. Currently, six Title VI National Resource Centers support the development of new LAC courses: the Asian Studies Center (ASC), the Center for African Studies (CAS), the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), the Global Studies Center (GSC), the European Studies Center (ESC), and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (REEES).

Presently, students apply their second language skills in French, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian to the study of academic content in fields such as Anthropology, History, Art History, Film Studies, Literatures, and Environmental Science. In the future, the program will expand to more languages and other disciplines.

Languages Across the Curriculum Courses

2025

Course TitleLanguageUCIS Center
Korean Language and Culture in K-popKoreanASC, GSC
Modern Chinese History in MandarinChineseASC
Advance Chinese Across GenresChineseASC
Medical School: Advanced Medical ChineseChineseASC
Senegal: Intersections of Culture, History, Religion & DanceWolofCAS, GSC
Renaissance ArtItalianESC
New German Cinema GermanESC
Arabic Life and ThoughtArabicCAS, GSC
Reading Historical Russian1-2 RussianREEES
Ukrainian CultureUkraineREEES

2024

Course TitleLanguageUCIS Center
Modern Chinese History in MandarinChineseASC
Advanced Chinese Across GenresChineseASC
World of Korea: Past & PresentKoreanASC, GSC
Renaissance ArtItalianESC
Arabic Life and ThoughtArabicGSC, CAS, ESC
Ukrainian CultureUkrainianREEES, GSC
Reading Historical RussianRussianREEES
Memory & Patrimony in Brazilian CitiesPortugueseCLAS, GSC, ESC
West African Cultures and SocietiesAkan/TwiCAS, GSC
Senegal: Intersections of Culture, History, Religion & DanceWolofCAS, GSC
Medical School Professional Enrichment Course: Advanced Medical ChineseChineseASC, GSC
Arab Cinema and PoliticsArabicGSC, CAS, ESC

2023

Course TitleLanguageUCIS Center
Modern Chinese History in MandarinChineseASC
Advanced Chinese Across GenresChineseASC
French KissFrenchESC
Renaissance Art (Course Development)ItalianESC
Chornobyl in Ukrainian Cultural MemoryUkrainianREEES, GSC
Reading Russian Literature in the Original 1: Space, Robots, and Aliens in Russian SciFiRussianREEES
Reading Historical RussianRussianREEES
Environmental Engineering Lab (Course Development)PortugueseCLAS, GSC, ESC

2022

Catalog NumberCourse TitleLanguageUCIS Center
HIST 0423Modern Chinese History in MandarinChineseASC
KOREAN 1901Intro to Modern Korean LiteratureKoreanASC
ANTH 0714Asia Now Language TeacherChineseASC
GEOL 0008Environmental ScienceFrenchESC, GSC
FR 1098History of French FilmFrenchESC
HIST 1910Reading Historical RussianRussianREEES
RUSS 0091Reading Russian Fairy TalesRussianREEES