In this June 2013 Journal-World file photo, Gabrielle Reimer instructs an intermediate Spanish class at Plymouth Congregational Church, where she and others from the department were teaching on a volunteer basis.

Kansas University’s new School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, as it’s been explained to me, is hoped to better enable a number of disparate departments to pool resources and collaborate — in ways that are meaningful and important to student success in the 21st century.

KU has been teaching foreign languages since the 1800s and now teaches more than 40 languages (more than any other university in Kansas or the Big 12) plus courses on culture, literature, history and politics connected with those languages, according to the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, or SLLC, website.

But foreign language enrollment at KU and nationwide is down, and that’s part of what’s spurring KU to rethink the way it’s delivered, SLLC director Marc Greenberg said in a story I wrote about the trend earlier this year. The challenge for the future, he said, is basically selling foreign languages to students in an increasingly trade-skill-driven environment. (Example: Knowing a foreign language will give students an edge in a global job market, but unlike many skills, fluency in, say, Quichua, isn’t exactly something you can learn in a few months on the job.)

These issues will undoubtedly be a theme for speakers on Tuesday at the SLLC’s official launch party.

The SLLC was formally created after the Kansas Board of Regents approved it in fall 2014, but the new school is launching in earnest this semester with an inaugural convocation at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Ballroom in the Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd. A reception will follow, about 5 p.m. The keynote speaker is Victor Jackovich, the first U.S. ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to Slovenia, according to a news release from the SLLC. (A number of others also will give remarks. For a full list, see the bottom of this post or click here.)

Less than a completely new offering, the SLLC — located within KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — is more like a repackaging of or a new umbrella over subjects already being taught at KU. The SLLC has five core departments (East Asian Languages and Cultures; French and Italian; Germanic Languages and Literatures; Slavic Languages and Literatures; and Spanish and Portuguese). It also has 13 affiliated departments and centers (African and African-American Studies; Anthropology; Art History; Center for East Asian Studies; Center for Global and International Studies; Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Center for Russian, East-European and Eurasian Studies; Classics; English; Humanities and Western Civilization; Kansas African Studies Center; Linguistics; and Religious Studies).

In a press release about Tuesday’s convocation, Greenberg said this: “The School demonstrates the increasing importance of preparing students with language skills and deep cultural knowledge, which has become essential for employability of our students in an ever more complex globalized world.”

As promised, here are the people scheduled to share remarks at Tuesday’s event:

• Marc Greenberg, Director KU SLLC

• Jeff Vitter, KU Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

• Don Steeples, Interim Dean, KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

• Anna Lambertson, Executive Director, International Relations Council of Kansas City

• Angela Jackson, Founder and Director, Global Language Project 

• Viktoria Olskaia, President, Gabriel Al-Salem Foundation

• Ashlie Koehn, Student

• James Sterbenz, Professor, KU Department of Electrical Engineering

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Have tips for this blog or other KU story ideas? Contact me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187 or on Twitter @saramarieshep.