The Department of Spanish and Latino Studies offers a variety of programs including: majors in Spanish, minors in Spanish, LALS, and Portuguese, and various graduate programs. Our languages courses play crucial roles in the contemporary global scenario: Spanish is the second most spoken language and Portuguese is increasingly important due to the emergence of Brazil as an economic power.
Our programs emphasize a strong foundation in both language and cultural practices in tune with new developments in the field, such as foreign languages for business, translation, interpretation and subtitling, and the use of technology in foreign language acquisition.
The Department offers a wide array of scholarships, internship opportunities, and study abroad programs in order to support students’ academic experiences while preparing them for the job market. Students graduating with degrees from the Department find employment in the areas of teaching, translation, interpreting, study abroad, publishing, import and export, etc. They are also well equipped to continue their studies at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels.
Our faculty includes a group of professors with national and international visibility whose areas of teaching and research expertise span language acquisition, translation, literature, film, theater, and critical theory. Their scholarship has been recognized with various awards including the prestigious Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships. They have also been invited to appear in media, deliver keynote addresses at conferences, and contribute as guest editors in journals.
Cultural programming is fully integrated into the curriculum and made possible by the support of several donors, centers and institutes, both on campus and in the community.