{"id":31026,"date":"2026-03-03T03:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?p=31026"},"modified":"2026-03-03T03:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:08:09","slug":"what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/","title":{"rendered":"What can you do with a French major?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every year, graduates from the College of Letters & Science enter the workforce and begin to contribute thousands of dollars to their local, state, and national economies. They bring the skills and knowledge they gained at UW-Milwaukee to their jobs, along with their ambitions and fresh perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article series, we highlight some of the recent Letters & Science alumni who have found fulfilling roles in their chosen fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name:<\/strong> Sarah Lane<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major:<\/strong> French<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduation Year:<\/strong> 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job:<\/strong> International Student Services Coordinator at UW-Superior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Lane\u2019s best memories from her time at 51ÁÔÆæ didn\u2019t actually happen at 51ÁÔÆæ. They were when she was an exchange student studying for a semester at Universit\u00e9 Paris 8 | Vincennes \u2013 Saint-Dennis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was taking classes in French with French-speaking students,\u201d she said. \u201cI made friends that I still talk to today. I got to meet people from French-speaking countries all over the world. \u2026 I gained a sense of being independent that I think still helps me today. It was probably the coolest experience of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That experience has also proved helpful in her day-to-day job as the international student services coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can remember my first week of exchange and thinking, \u2018Everything is so different. I\u2019m so far away from home. I have no support system,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cI know that feeling of being completely independent from basically everything. So, I\u2019m able to empathize with those international students when they come for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an international traveler, Lane spent most of her childhood nearby. She grew up in Sussex, Wisconsin, and chose 51ÁÔÆæ because it was affordable and would allow her to live in a bigger city. She entered college as a French major. Since she had been taking French classes since middle school, Lane thought it would be a good academic area to start, and she could switch to something else if a new subject caught her interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She never switched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just liked learning the language,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn\u2019t have the typical university experience; Lane entered 51ÁÔÆæ during the COVID-19 pandemic and had to attend many of her classes online. Being an exchange student was one of her first true tastes of college life. After she returned to the U.S., Lane began as a student worker at 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Center for International Education (CIE)<\/a>. If studying abroad gave her the empathy she needed to be good at her current role, her job at CIE gave her the skills and knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough that job, I got to know this whole other side of international education,\u201d she said. \u201cI had no idea that international students are sponsored by the university, and that there\u2019s this whole back end of recruiting students and immigration paperwork. I gained a lot of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now she uses that knowledge every day at UW-Superior. Much of Lane\u2019s time is spent on paperwork. International students need help navigating visas, securing work authorization, applying for scholarships, understanding the American health care system, and much more besides. Lane also maintains the immigration records of her students to comply with federal law. It\u2019s a lot of work; UW-Superior has one of the largest percentages of international students in its student body out of all the Universities of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Sarah Lane (left) enjoys taking international students at UW-Superior to see the Bentleyville Tour of Lights in Minnesota. Photo courtesy of Sarah Lane.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the most fun part of her job, Lane said, is getting to know the international students and providing them with opportunities to learn about their new home. For instance, each year she takes a group of students to the Bentleyville Tour of Lights in Minnesota. She\u2019s currently in the middle of planning a cultural night for students to celebrate and share their cultures with their classmates. On one memorable occasion, she helped the students host a cooking demo and invited the surrounding community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good for the (international) students to be able to experience the U.S., but it\u2019s also great for community members and domestic students to learn new things from international students,\u201d Lane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She learns new things from them every day, Lane said; she even gets to keep up with her French skills by talking with her student workers from France and Cameroon. But choosing a French major gave her much more than just a command of the language, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomething I really value is having a global perspective, and that\u2019s definitely something I got from my French courses,\u201d Lane said. \u201cThe point is to learn about culture and history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s knowledge she can take with her anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, graduates from the College of Letters & Science enter the workforce and begin to contribute thousands of dollars to their local, state, and national economies. They bring the skills and knowledge they gained at UW-Milwaukee to their jobs, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":31027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1848,1648,1961],"tags":[1853],"class_list":["post-31026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-student-news","category-in-focus","category-in-focus-2026","tag-march"],"yoast_head":"\nLetters & Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What can you do with a French major?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year, graduates from the College of Letters & Science enter the workforce and begin to contribute thousands of dollars to their local, state, and national economies. They bring the skills and knowledge they gained at UW-Milwaukee to their jobs, …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letters & Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-03T09:08:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-03T09:08:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/03\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Vickery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Vickery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Vickery\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453\"},\"headline\":\"What can you do with a French major?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-03T09:08:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-03T09:08:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":802,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"March\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni and Student News\",\"In Focus\",\"In Focus 2026\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/\",\"name\":\"What can you do with a French major? - Letters & Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-03T09:08:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-03T09:08:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp\",\"width\":720,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"51ÁÔÆæ alum Sarah Lane ('23, BA French) is the International Student Services Coordinator at UW-Superior.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In Focus\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What can you do with a French major?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/\",\"name\":\"Letters & Science\",\"description\":\"College of\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453\",\"name\":\"Sarah Vickery\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fdc2a8fd73cb2a506bc8cb0bf544eba2c6d61ac223cedb9612c0d7b103a86b28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fdc2a8fd73cb2a506bc8cb0bf544eba2c6d61ac223cedb9612c0d7b103a86b28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fdc2a8fd73cb2a506bc8cb0bf544eba2c6d61ac223cedb9612c0d7b103a86b28?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah Vickery\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Letters & Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What can you do with a French major?","og_description":"Every year, graduates from the College of Letters & Science enter the workforce and begin to contribute thousands of dollars to their local, state, and national economies. They bring the skills and knowledge they gained at UW-Milwaukee to their jobs, …","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/","og_site_name":"Letters & Science","article_published_time":"2026-03-03T09:08:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-03T09:08:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/03\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Sarah Vickery","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah Vickery","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah Vickery","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/#\/schema\/person\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453"},"headline":"What can you do with a French major?","datePublished":"2026-03-03T09:08:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-03T09:08:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/"},"wordCount":802,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/03\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp","keywords":["March"],"articleSection":["Alumni and Student News","In Focus","In Focus 2026"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/","name":"What can you do with a French major? - Letters & Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/03\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp","datePublished":"2026-03-03T09:08:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-03T09:08:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/#\/schema\/person\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/03\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/03\/Sarah-Lane-banner-shot.webp","width":720,"height":480,"caption":"51ÁÔÆæ alum Sarah Lane ('23, BA French) is the International Student Services Coordinator at UW-Superior."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/what-can-you-do-with-a-french-major\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Focus","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What can you do with a French major?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/","name":"Letters & Science","description":"College of","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/#\/schema\/person\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453","name":"Sarah Vickery","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdc2a8fd73cb2a506bc8cb0bf544eba2c6d61ac223cedb9612c0d7b103a86b28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdc2a8fd73cb2a506bc8cb0bf544eba2c6d61ac223cedb9612c0d7b103a86b28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdc2a8fd73cb2a506bc8cb0bf544eba2c6d61ac223cedb9612c0d7b103a86b28?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sarah Vickery"}}]}},"acf":[],"meta_fields":{"_edit_lock":["1772577238:785"],"_thumbnail_id":["31027"],"_edit_last":["785"],"feat_img_video":[""],"feat_img_gallery":[""],"feat_img_caption":["feat-img-caption-on"],"breadcrumbs_display":["breadcrumbs-on"],"otp_nav_display":["otp-on-mobile"],"post_layout":["post-layout-theme"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["1648"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["4"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1772528890"]},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 22:47:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/785"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31030,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31026\/revisions\/31030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}