Graduate Student Activities

Graduate students in ELTS have the opportunity to organize and participate in an annual graduate conference. Curated around a theme, the conference brings together students from across the globe and features distinguished keynote speakers.

2022 Graduate Student Conference – Permanence & Decay
2019 Graduate Student Conference – Porosity & Reciprocity

Started during the 1979-1980 academic year in the Department of Italian at UCLA, CARTE ITALIANE is dedicated to publishing the work of graduate students and international scholars in the field of Italian Cultural Studies. It is funded by the UCLA Graduate Students Association and by subscription fees. For more information, please visit the Carte Italiane page.

By intertwining the multifaceted dimensions of love and identity with the concept of spaces and timescapes through a carefully curated selection of LGBTQ+ films, the Festival highlights a nuanced understanding of how queer identities are constantly negotiated with or against their environments, whether urban or rural. Queer narratives and spatial practices, as reflected through films, invite us to challenge a binary conception of space, divided into centers and margins, or peripheries, cities, and countryside.

The Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies generously sponsors periodic writing retreats for current graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in fields related to the Department. These retreats are designed to give students a quiet space to work on term papers, articles, or dissertation chapters. Light refreshments are provided. Check the departmental events calendar for information on upcoming retreats. For questions, please contact the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies, Professor Laure Murat.

The Graduate Students Association in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies is a self-constituted and self-managed organization of the graduate students under the auspices of the UCLA Graduate Students Association. It is responsible for identifying issues of interest to graduate students and for facilitating communication between graduate students and faculty in the Department. Elected representatives regularly take part in departmental meetings and serve on most departmental committees. The GSA also organizes the students’ own lectures and symposia. The Department is strongly supportive of student initiative and active participation in departmental affairs, such as faculty appointments, program revisions, and public lectures and colloquia. For more information, please visit the Graduate Students Association page.

Founded in 1983 by graduate students in French and Francophone Studies, Paroles Gelées is a journal entirely managed and edited by the graduate students in the department. The members of the Editorial Board are elected each year. The journal appears in the Fall and publishes essays by graduate students in the areas of French and Francophone literature and critical theory. It also includes book reviews, interviews with visiting scholars, and abstracts of doctoral dissertations and faculty publications. The journal welcomes submissions from students in other French and related departments nationally and internationally; all French graduate departments in the U.S. receive the journal.

Graduate students in the Department should be aware that other opportunities exist on the UCLA campus to publish research essays in student journals. In the words of the Graduate Student Association, ours is “one of the largest student journal programs in the U.S.” Of special interest to students in French are the Romance Linguistics & Literature Review (Romance Linguistics and Literature Program) and Comitatus (Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies). Both journals are managed and edited by graduate students.

The Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies (ELTS) is delighted to host the first Humanities Graduate Mixer. This event aims to foster career development through community building among humanities graduate students. By creating networking opportunities, we hope to enhance cross-departmental interaction and collaboration.

Established in 2009, the Work in Progress series is designed to give graduate students in the French and Francophone, German, Italian, and Scandinavian sections have the opportunity to present their dissertation research and writing, and to discuss their work with their peers and with the faculty. Faculty, including visiting professors and visiting scholars or graduate students, also give occasional presentations in this series.