About Us

“Mississippi State University will be a leading student-centric public research university that is globally involved, accessible, inclusive, community-engaged, and responsive to the many constituencies it serves while fully integrated with the intellectual, social, and economic development of the state and beyond by delivering excellent programs of teaching, research, and service, and instilling in its community the timeless values of integrity, hard work, and respect”: that’s the University’s sweeping Vision Statement.

No department on this campus better fulfills those aims than the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures (CMLL).

Nothing promotes global involvement like the study of other languages. No one works harder at accessibility than our faculty, who demonstrated amazing commitment to remote instruction during the COVID-19 lockdown. We commit to inclusivity through the diversity of the languages we teach and the variety of our approaches to literature, film, and cultural studies. We do work recognized at the national and international levels, but we also initiate and participate in activities enriching the campus community, the Starkville area, and the state. Everything we do facilitates the intellectual, social, and economic development of Mississippi and the region. We are continually increasing the opportunities available to our majors, minors, grad students, and all other students who enroll in our courses.

Our website provides a lot of good information about our programs. On these pages you’ll discover not just what you can learn with us, but why those things are worth learning. Let us help you find a home in our department. (And if you have suggestions about the website, we hope you’ll share them.)

If you’ll be visiting Mississippi State and would like to know more about CMLL, please contact us. We’d be delighted to meet with you and show you around the center of campus.

Dr. Robert M. West
Professor and Department Head