Message from the Chair

Your help makes success possible!

It is through the continued generosity and support of our dedicated donors, alumni, and friends that we are able to provide our students with the kinds of opportunities that will help them succeed while at UCLA and later in their personal and professional lives beyond the university. Thanks to your thoughtful philanthropy, we have been able to sponsor a broad range of programs, expand the curriculum, and help fund travel and study abroad programs in Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, and Nantes. In the summer of 2027, ELTS will launch a new summer travel study program in collaboration with the interdepartmental Food Studies minor and the Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies at UCLA: “Mediterranean Food and Ecocultural Sustainability: From California to Italy in Siena, Italy.” This new program will be led by Professor Vetri Nathan. 

We have expanded our curricular and programmatic collaborations with the Thomas Mann House in the Pacific Palisades to include joint seminars, conferences, and student research projects. In addition, recent programmatic collaborations include the Italian Cultural Institute, the Getty Research Center, and the Wende Museum. In collaboration with UCLA’s Center for Community Engagement, Professor Elsa Duval and Professor Cara Tovey have developed new community-engaged courses, including an ELTS internship course.  

Our student-run clubs continue to thrive, and they organize film and food festivals throughout the academic year as well as events and speakers. This year, we will sponsor the French club, the German club, the Italian club, and the Scandinavian Club. We are also excited to organize the 2026 ELTS Job Fair, an event designed to connect UCLA students with internationally recognized organizations and companies. In addition, our graduate students have been recognized with numerous prizes, including two dissertation year fellowships, the Grandgent Award (an annual award given by the Dante Society of America), the Casola Prize given by the Patrons of Italian Culture, and the Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) program. 

We thank you for your continued support of ELTS!

Todd Presner
Department Chair
European Languages & Transcultural Studies