Infrastructure

PHYSICAL SPACE OF DEPARTAMENTO DE LETRAS

UFV and Departamento de Letras (DLA) offer a privileged physical and supporting structure for teaching and research activities, greatly facilitating the activities developed by the Postgraduate Program in Languages and Literature. The facilities of DLA, dedicated exclusively to teaching and research activities, occupy the entire third floor of the Center for Humanity Sciences, Languages, and Arts, with a constructed area of 1,100.00 m² distributed into an administrative and an academic wing. The Administrative Wing includes 12 offices for the faculty members, the coordinators’ offices of the Undergraduate Programs in Languages and Literature and the Trilingual Executive Secretary; the Head of Department and Staff Management’s office; the coordinators’ and public anwsering’s  offices of the Postgraduate Program in Languages and Literature; DLA’s conference room; a Video Conference room; a small kitchen; and DLA’s public answering office. These rooms are equipped with desks, chairs, shelves, phones, computers, printers and Internet access spots with high-speed optical fiber connection. Each room measures approximately 14.20 m². The two wings are connected by a main hall, where DLA’s public answering office is located. In the space between the two wings there is a lobby, where one can access DLA’s answering office, the exit stairs and two toilets: a male and one female. There’s also a bulletin board where information about activities related to the Department is regularly posted. In the Academic Wing there are 08 classrooms, all of them equipped with a TV, a VHS player, a DVD player, a data show projector, a stereo and an overhead projector. Additionally, the Academic wing includes the following coordination offices: CELIN (English Language Extension Course); CELES (Spanish Language Extension Course); DLA’s Sectorial Library; and a Computer Laboratory.

FACILITIES OF THE POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM IN LANGUAGES

The Program shares the space allocated to DLA. The physical structure of the department includes an office that accommodates the board of coordinators and which is used as a public answering office for the Program. At the time of implementation of the Master’s Program, three exclusive classrooms were created for teaching activities in the two areas of focus of the Program, namely: Literary Studies and Linguistic Studies. It is also worth noting that two of them (Rooms 16 and 32) can be used as auditoriums, each with capacity for up to 60 people, where academic subjects, special activities and courses are taught by professors of the Program or invited researchers. These two rooms are adequate spaces for open defenses of Master’s dissertations. Each of these rooms is equipped with 50 upholstered armchairs and a permanent projector for the Postgraduate Program.

NEW DEPARTAMENTO DE LETRAS AND POSTGRADUATION BUILDING

The Program to Support Restructuring and Expansion Plans of Federal Universities (REUNI), instituted by Decree no. 6,096, of April 24th, 2007, defined as one of its objectives to provide federal universities with the necessary conditions to broaden the access to and permanence in higher education. It is one of the actions constituting the Education Development Plan (PDE), launched by the President of the Republic on April 24th, 2007. This program intends to join efforts to consolidate a national policy for the expansion of public higher education, by which the Ministry of Education fulfills its role as attributed by the National Education Plan (Law No. 10.172/2001), in providing higher education to at least 30% of young people in the age group of 18 to 24 years by the end of the decade.

Within this context of the expansion of Brazilian public universities, in 2008, the number of vacancies for the Master’s Degree in Languages and Literature and Undergraduation course (Portuguese-English; Portuguese-Spanish; Portuguese-French; and Portuguese and its respective literatures) in DLA at UFV was increased. Considering the urgent need to expand DLA’s infrastructure, in response to a teachers, students and staff’s demand to attend these programs, a building for the Center of Human Sciences, Languages and Arts (CCH) at UFV was constructed with resources from REUNI. The building has 4 floors, the first two floors are occupied by DLA and the other two by the Department of Social Sciences.

In the intended area for DLA 6 classrooms, 1 auditorium (with 84 seats), 2 tutorship rooms, 1 computer room, 1 library, 3 Coordination offices, 6 public answering offices of the program, 1 managerial room, 1 storage room, 1 pantry, 1 electrical equipment and internet network room, 2 collective restrooms (men and women) and 2 restrooms for people with special needs (men and women) will be built on the ground floor. On the first floor, in a more reserved manner, there will be 43 individual offices for the faculty members, 1 meeting room, 1 support room, 1 electrical and internet network room, 2 separate collective toilets (male and female) and 2 toilets for people with special needs (male and female). The building has 2 elevators to meet the mobility criteria. All these spaces will be adequately furnished with funds from REUNI. The relocation to the new building (CCH 11) is scheduled to the second semester of 2013 and will improve the conditions for the development of teaching, research and extension activities for teachers and students of both the Graduate and Undergraduate Programs in Languages and Literature. In the new space, there will be 3 classrooms for the exclusive use of the Postgraduate Program.

LANGUAGE LABORATORY

In addition to the Computer Laboratory, the Program benefits from an exclusive language laboratory on the first floor of the Central Library (BBT). The laboratory is used for teaching, research and extension activities related to the teaching of foreign languages offered by DLA: English, French and Spanish. It is a multimedia space which image and sound resources are available for didactic activities, for courses of both Undergraduate  and Graduate Programs in Languages and Literature. The laboratory is equipped with micro-computers, printers, a television, audio and video booths, a DVD player, recorders, visual and didactic material, as well as posters, maps and CD-ROMs. Until 2010, there were two language laboratories. Due to the modernization of the teaching equipment and technologies of the classrooms, the laboratory that was located at DLA was disabled. The space has been transformed into a large classroom for the Postgraduate students that can serve as a small auditorium for up to 60 people.

VIDEO CONFERENCE ROOM

In November 2009, with resources from FINEP, the direction of CCH created, at DLA, a modern room for video conference activities for the exclusive use of the five Postgraduate Programs of CCH: Languages, Education, Economy, Home Economics and Administration. The use of this room is administered by the Postgraduate Program in Languages and Literature, which provides access of the other Programs through prior scheduling. The Video Conference Room has not been used yet by our Program for the promotion of teaching activities, conferences or events. It is a valuable tool for the national and international insertion of PPGLET, as it enables the establishment of scientific contacts, academic exchanges, and the establishment of Research Networks aimed at the production of knowledge in Languages and Linguistics. Using the Video conference equipment, results are optimized since large staff displacements are avoided as well large sums of financial resources for the promotion of academic and scientific events and activities.

CENTRAL LIBRARY AT UFV

The Central Library (BBT) is installed in a modern building with a total area of 12,816.59 m², divided into 4 floors and with a capacity for 1,290 spots. Besides the main entrance, it has a secondary entrance with a ramp for disabled people, wide circulation areas and 02 panoramic elevators. On the ground floor, in addition to the Directors’ Office and the Public Answering Office, the Reservation Sector, the sector of secondary and high school mateirals (which also serves the community of Viçosa and region), Reference Section, Collection consultation terminals, Video conference Room (56 seats), Auditorium with 170 seats, Binding Section and other technical and administrative sections. On the 1st floor, there are 03 rooms with acoustic covering for group study, 12 individual study rooms, Multimedia, Map Library, United Nations Collection, UFV’s Collection, Reprographics Service, Procurement and Cataloging Section, Public Service Management, the Language Laboratory for the exclusive use of the students and teachers of DLA, the Rare Works section and the Laboratory of History and SbiCafé – Brazilian Coffee Information System. On the 2nd floor, there are collections of books, theses and bulletins; the Lending Section; individual study rooms; reading rooms and a video room (with 36 seats). On the 3rd floor, there is the collection of journals, COMUT, Consultation to the CD-Reference and CAPES Journals Portal and a reading area with individual tables. The collection meets the needs of undergraduate and postgraduate programs at UFV and has a significant number of updated journals relevant to the various areas of knowledge that constitute the University.

SECTIONAL LIBRARY OF THE POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM IN LANGUAGES
PPGLET has a Sectional Library which use is allowed to postgraduate and undergraduate students and professors. Currently, the collection totalizes 6,572 titles, consisting of literature in the fields of Languages and Linguistics, in addition to updated bibliography in the disciplines and research developed in the Program. The Sectional Library has its collection and user services fully computerized and integrates the VIRTUA System of UFV’s Central Library. The Program has invested financial resources in the quantitative and qualitative expansion of the bibliographic collection of the Sectional Library, which serves the Master’s Program. In the second semester of 2008, after the recommendation of the Master’s Degree Program by CAPES, the Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies transferred R$ 10,000.00 to the Program for the purchase of updated bibliography. This resource was used for purchasing approximately 193 books pertaining to the areas of focus and research studies of the Program. In 2009, PPGLET participated together with the other Postgraduate Programs at UFV in the FAPEMIG Notice to expand and improve the bibliographic collections of the Research Institutions based in Minas Gerais. Of the R$ 300,000.00 obtained by the University in the above mentioned Notice, R$ 10,232.00 were allocated to the Master’s Program in Languages and Literature and used in the purchase of 185 books of Linguistics and Literary Studies. In 2010, the Program was included, along with the other Stricto Sensu Programs at UFV, in FAPEMIG Notice to improve the bibliographic collections of the Institutions in Minas Gerais State. Through this notice, we obtained R$ 7,064.11 in funds for the purchase of 127 books. In 2011, UFV submitted to FAPEMIG its proposal for the Universal Notice to improve bibliographic collections and PPGLET obtained around R$ 4,480.12 for the purchase of 146 new titles. In 2012, through FAPEMIG, R$ 4,836.00 were obtained to purchase 78 new books. In 2013, we received R$ 6,918.00 from FAPEMIG, with which 94 books were acquired. With the resources obtained by the Program, in its first four years, the collection of the Sectional Library was expanded with 823 new titles.

The collection will increase significantly in the coming years, with the consolidation of the Program and with the contribution of new resources from UFV and FAPEMIG. Considering the approximately 6,572 titles available in the DLA Sectional Library plus the 13,373 titles available in the Central Library, the bibliographic collection available to the Program can be estimated at 19,945 titles in Linguistics and Languages.

In terms of enhancing the collection, the number and variety of book titles available for consultation has improved significantly after the creation of the Postgraduate Program in Languages. This is due to the contribution of financial resources for bibliographic acquisition provided by UFV and FAPEMIG. In addition, the variety of titles of academic journals in Linguistics and Languages was significantly expanded, considering that PPGLET started to periodically receive academic journals edited by other Programs. In the expansion of the journals, it is also necessary to consider the efficient exchange process of Revista Gláuks, a journal of the Program, with other national and international journals. The exchange system made it possible to acquire important journals of our area of study by making printed volumes of these publications available in the Library.

DLA has sought to increasingly improve the services of the Sectional Library for the Program. For this, with financial resources from the Department of Languages, a magnetic detector was installed in the corridor that gives access to the Library of PPGLET to secure the collection. DLA Headquarters also allocated the public servant Marciana Hilário Pena Gonçalves, from UFV’s technical-administrative staff, to attend the general public and catalogue and register the publications.

COMPUTER RESOURCES

UFV is currently served by computational resources that place it among the country’s most equipped institutions in this area, significantly optimizing its teaching, research and extension activities. The computational structure of university consists of a corporate network of computers—UFVnet—, which is based on four fiber optic backbones with a range of approximately 25 km. Each of them has one or more Ethernet-based local networks, which connect to adjacent networks and these to one of four lines, forming a ring that comprehends the entire campus. This network interconnects UFV’s administrative organs, departments and research laboratories, allowing the transfer of data between the various computer devices and communication between its users. Regarding the use of laboratories by the faculty and students of the Postgraduate Program in Languages, UFV has its own modern facilities.