Resources

The Jones Chair plays a major role in defining and supporting a strong curricular base. It has recently added three adjunct faculty to the section and has created two new graduate fellowships to boost the section's graduate studies while reinforcing its traditional goal of supporting faculty and graduate student research. It also helps local chapters of the Alliance française and the AATF in their endeavor to publicize and sensitize the general public to the role of the French language and culture in the community and Western New York. The Melodia Jones annual series of lectures, colloquia and conferences, organized in collaboration with other UB programs, is an integral part of the Chair's mission. Writers of international renown such as Michel Foucault, Monique Wittig, Ludovic Janvier, Michel Leiris, Michel Deguy, among others, have been guests of the French Program and of the university community. The first and second (1998 and 1999) installments of the French Graduate Students Conference, the 1999 Colloquium on the Poetics of Origins, and the 1999 African Studies Forum's Conference on African Art, Religion, and Ritual are among the most recent examples of the Chair's continuous support of an enhanced campus intellectual fervor.

The University Libraries' holdings in French and Francophone, and Spanish and Latin American literatures and cultures are among the best one can find in any research institution. The university as a whole has succeeded in making technology accessible for study and research purposes. The section's "French Room" is scheduled to be equipped to receive via satellite international educational programs in French such as TV 5.

Fresh films is a yearly film festival bringing the latest films from France, Italy, and Spain.

The Philosophical Reading Group meets every semester to discuss an influential work of philosophy.