In 1937 the School of Science and Business became the Basic Division, its mission being "to provide two years of basic courses in the humanities, natural and exact sciences as the foundation of the schools of agriculture and forestry, textiles, and engineering." The department had been expanded to the Department of Modern Languages and Translation Services and was located in Peele Hall (Appendix 4). The Translation Service was established in 1925 and had two functions: graduate and advanced undergraduate students would complete translations on subject matters in their major area of concentration, and faculty would offer translation services to the rest of the University (their teaching and translating responsibilities were divided equally). The types of translations done were all technical, and the department averaged 52 articles per year and over 175 letters. The Translation Service, headed by Professor Hinkle, received international recognition in 1937.

The course catalogue of 1945 divides the course offerings of the Department of Modern Languages into three categories: 1) Basic courses consisting of elementary French, French Prose, and Military French (the same curriculum was offered in German and Spanish, the latter without the military course); 2) Technical, Industrial, and Scientific language courses; and 3) General courses entitled "Masterpieces of Literature" (offered as open electives with no prerequisites, and in which "parallel readings," i.e. bilingual editions, were used. There also seems to have been a seminar, "French, German, and Spanish Civilization": "a study of the manners, customs, people, social classes, governments, politics, and education of these countries. The Fall term focuses on developments in Europe and the Spring term is devoted to Latin America." The department still offers courses in culture and civilization and, indeed, successful language teaching is always done in a cultural context. For, beyond learning the grammar and vocabulary of a foreign language, we need to understand the cultural practices, social structures, and mentality of people from other countries to interact effectively with them.

By 1952, the Basic Division became the School of General Studies and the department had added Russian, taught by Dr. V. Pikner. During the academic year 1952-53 there were six faculty members (Lawrence Hinkle, S.T. Ballenger, Ruth B. Hall, Fred Allred, V. Pikner, and George Poland) and 17 class sections in which 210 students were taught. Most of the faculty were cited for having participated in professional meetings, both local and national. The department's mission was fourfold: 1) to offer undergraduate elective courses in foreign languages; 2) to certify graduate students in foreign languages; 3) to translate articles and edit scientific materials; 4) to teach English as a Second Language to international students. Over a period of several years in the early 1950s, the department translated 93 articles, 66 of which were published in professional journals. 1959, the Raleigh Times praised North Carolina State College as "the only educational institution offering a translation service in North Carolina. The work enables scientists and others in the state to keep posted on the creative achievements of scholars and research workers throughout the world."

In 1954, the salary of one associate professor was $3,900. Because of his excellent teaching and extension work that year, he was recommended for a 10% raise and a merit raise of $144. In 1957, with George Poland (Ph.D. UNC - Chapel Hill, 1953) as its head, the department began to offer evening classes at Ft. Bragg and certified 175 graduate students in foreign languages. In 1958 a Living Books program was offered weekly on WUNC TV in which faculty from English and Modern Languages discussed masterpieces of Western literature, including such works as the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Candide, and Don Quixote; included in the program lineup for November 1959 was Modern Languages Professor Mary Paschal (currently Professor Emeritus of French). This period marked the beginning of the department's telecommunications extension efforts. In the past five years it has offered courses in Spanish, French , and English as a Second Language broadcast through the university's distance education program on Channel 18. These courses are accessible, not only to students registered for them and taking them at home, but to any of the three-hundred thousand people in the greater Raleigh area with cable television. The department is planning to expand its distance education efforts and eventually broadcast throughout the state. A literature course offered in translation, Masterpieces in Western Literature is scheduled for the Fall of 1997.

In 1955, the increasing number of departmental services and outreach efforts led the department head to complain of insufficient staff and resources to meet all of the teaching, service, and translation demands - there were 66 requests for high-school outreach visits, for instance, but only 28 could be fulfilled. At this point the department's role was entirely a service one, with faculty teaching up to six courses per semester as well as certifying graduate students and carrying out technical translations. The department was also active in extension cooperation, primarily lecturing in area high schools. In response to this state of affairs, Dean C. Addison Hickman stated in a 1958 administrative memorandum to Chancellor Carey Bostian that giving the School of General Studies exclusively service status was a waste of faculty talent; he also asked for salary adjustments to meet the rising cost of living and requested more class and office space.

In the 1960 Annual Report, Fred Virgil Cahill, Jr. made a rousing defense of the School during his first year as Dean, and he openly challenged the University administration: "Both the good of this university and of the community require that we continue to expand the liberal arts. The fact that we are basically a technological school is both an advantage and an opportunity. We have here a chance to underscore the relevance of both the liberal arts and the technologies to a complete education. That anyone ever thought that they could be separated is one of the tragedies of modern civilization."

In a postscript, he added: "I cannot close without mention of the enormous burden of committee work, Senate offices, extra-curricular services that is carried out by the faculty of the School of General Studies. Sometimes I wonder how and why they do it." Thirty-five years ago, Fred Virgil Cahill seems to have highlighted some of the problems that both the department and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are still trying to solve. NC State, as it moves into the twenty-first century, still has an unique opportunity to produce some of the most well-rounded professional graduates in the country, by fully supporting the efforts of the department.

In 1961 Professor Sofus Simenson (currently Associate Professor of German and Assistant to the Dean for International Studies) was commended for his outreach work in the public schools and the department began establishing a second-year language curriculum. By the end of 1963, the School of General Studies had become the School of Liberal Arts, the first language laboratory was installed, enrollments in Modern Languages had increased by 38%, and the department was located in Harrelson Hall (Appendix 5). The first Summer Institute for International Students was successfully offered in 1965, and the department had added Italian to its curriculum. At this time, the School of Liberal Arts "sought to develop students' communication skills and to acquaint them with our literary heritage; to increase their understanding of their economic, political, social, and philosophical environment; and to think critically in a world of human affairs." With this mission in mind, two semesters of a modern language at the intermediate level were required. The department also offered scientific, literature, and civilization courses; French was the most popular language at this time.

In the 1970s, under Dean Robert Tilman, the School developed rapidly and was renamed the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHASS). In his 1971 Annual Report, department head George Poland complained that the department's staff was insufficient to meet student demands and that many students dropped language classes because classrooms were overcrowded and because there was little opportunity for special attention to slower learners. There were fifty majors in French and Spanish that year. The Annual reports from 1972-73 and 1973-74 by new department head Alan Gonzalez are perhaps two of the most urgent to have been written up to that time. In them, he points out such hardships as insufficient salaries, sparse office space, overcrowded classrooms, lack of audio-visual equipment, an inordinately heavy teaching load (twelve hours per semester) that hindered quality scholarship, and the University's generally unfavorable attitude toward the study of foreign languages. The conclusion of his 1972-73 report, "Aims and Philosophies," makes a strong statement about the importance of the department's role at North Carolina State University: "No one can deny that understanding foreign peoples and cultures is more necessary now than ever before. North Carolina students may not have had as much international exposure, but they are interested and inquisitive about foreign cultures. The fundamental duty of this department is to provide the basic knowledge that will prepare young men and women to understand values other than their own and thereby contribute to the international understanding on which world peace and the future of mankind depend."

By 1972, there were 20 faculty members, and the 1970s saw increasing department growth and activity. Language-culture courses, first offered in the fall of 1973, received a 92% positive student evaluation. The department began offering a Bachelor of Arts degree as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a Teacher Education Option in either French or Spanish, and Greek and Latin became part of the curriculum. The Humanities Extension program was created and George Poland retired. In 1974, the highest paid associate professor earned $17, 300. In 1978 the department was renamed once again - to the current Foreign Languages and Literatures. In 1980, a foreign language festival sponsored by the department attracted 2,000 visitors; the Japan House was established; 3 books and 16 articles were published; 30 conference papers were presented. The department taught 2,368 students and received external funding in the amount of $14,900 and internal funding of $4,480. In 1984, Dean William Toole's first year as Dean, the School became the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.