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FASS News, Faculty
Grandes notícias: Brazilian Portuguese language and Brazilian literature coming soon to Simon Fraser University
Warm handshakes, exchanging signed documents, and smiles all around. After 1.5 years of relationship-building and negotiations, it is now official: Simon Fraser University (SFU) will soon – for the first time ever – offer Brazilian Portuguese language and Brazilian literature classes.
Signed at SFU’s Burnaby campus, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Consulate General of Brazil and SFU will bring a specialist in Brazilian Portuguese language, literature, and Brazilian culture to teach new courses to SFU’s undergraduate students. The lecturer is anticipated to arrive in the early months of 2024.
This marks an incredible moment in SFU’s long-standing history of multilingualism. It stimulates educational, academic and cultural cooperation between SFU and Brazil. Students will have their worlds opened to the culture and language of our Latin American neighbours. With exchanges between students and partnerships between faculty members at SFU and Brazilian universities expected to take place in the coming years, this pivotal agreement serves as a bridge for greater collaborations to come.
The signing of the MOU was witnessed by SFU representatives from the Provost and VP Academic, Advancement and Alumni Engagement, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), and the Department of World Languages and Literatures (WLL), where the future lecturer will call home.
At the signing, remarks by the Consul General of Brazil Nestor José Forster Jr.and Deputy Consul General Maria Cristina Pereira da Silva included appreciation for Forster Jr.’s predecessor, the former General Consul Renato Mosca, who initiated the collaboration between Brazil and SFU.
By partnering with our Brazilian colleagues and enhancing the university’s curriculum, FASS and WLL are actively contributing to SFU’s institutional priorities to engage globally and transform the SFU experience.
We are excited to reveal more about the incoming lecturer, their first course offerings, and when students can enrol. For now, we can share that the incoming faculty member has experience working in Indigenous communities in Brazil, especially around health care.
Delegates gather at SFU's Burnaby campus for the MOU signing
Laurel Weldon (FASS Dean); Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani (Chair, SFU’s Department of World Languages and Literatures); Nestor José Forster Jr. (Consul General of Brazil)
Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani (Chair, SFU’s Department of World Languages and Literatures); Laurel Weldon (FASS Dean); Wanda Dekleva (Executive Director, SFU Advancement and Alumni Engagement); Jennifer Spear (FASS Associate Dean, Strategic Academic Planning)
Maria Cristina Pereira da Silva (Deputy Consul General of Brazil)
Stay tuned
Be the first to know! We encourage you to follow SFU’s Department of World Languages and Literatures on Instagram and X/Twitter for the latest updates and announcements.
You should also check out our other language offerings. In addition to SFU’s Department of French, WLL offers studies in nine languages: Arabic, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Punjabi, and Spanish.