An upcoming Chinese program might grow with support from other departments.TCU currently only offers one Chinese course, but the course is being taught in English with an emphasis on culture solely. Sharon Fairchild, dean of the department of modern languages, said the AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences hopes to add an actual language component to the curriculum.

The Chinese culture and civilization course is important because it can’t be taught like mathematics, Fairchild said.

“You need to learn about the culture and the other elements which make up the language,” she said.

Currently, six students are enrolled in the Chinese Culture and Civilization course.

Fairchild said the department is working on a proposition to add a full-time faculty member to teach Chinese.

“We would also hope that with a new Chinese program, we would have other departments that would send us their students, such as political science or the ROTC program,” Fairchild said. “Especially, since the state department is pushing for students to learn new languages.”

Adding a Chinese language course could benefit the Asian studies minor, which political science professor Carrie Currier became the chairwoman of in November.

“The Asian studies minor has been around for 10 years, but it hasn’t been widely publicized,” Currier said. “Those of us who are interested in China felt it was necessary to have a Chinese language course.”

Currier also said that in her research of Chinese programs nationwide, TCU was one of the few institutions that did not offer Chinese as a course.

“Even Paschal High School has adopted Chinese into their curriculum, so recommending it as a language course was a natural choice,” Currier said.

Currier also said a Chinese program would aid in developing a study abroad program in China because learning a language is the first step in developing an interest in a region.

Ann Vu, president of the Asian Students Association, said having a more diverse language program would make TCU more appealing to a more diverse group of students.

“TCU already has a lot of classes about China and the economy.” said Vu, a senior biology major. “A Chinese course makes sense.