Undergraduate Studies
The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers courses at all levels, elementary through graduate, in the language and literatures of Spain and Spanish America; Portugal, Brazil, and Lusophone Africa; and Catalonia. The department is highly regarded in national rankings. In the most recent Gourman report, the Spanish undergraduate program ranked 11th (out of 479 undergraduate programs) in the country, and the Portuguese undergraduate program ranked 10th (out of 33 programs).
The Department offers a B.A. in both Spanish and Portuguese, as well as minors in both languages. Some students may choose to earn a B.A. with honors in Spanish or Portuguese.
The use of Spanish in the United States is in a stage of expansion that is likely to continue indefinitely. Contributing factors are a growing domestic Hispanic population, increased trade and cultural relations with Latin America, and Spain's growing role in the European Union. It is no wonder that U.S. students now view Spanish as an almost indispensable tool for their future. The teaching of Portuguese has also experienced growth, as awareness of Brazil and its economic and cultural importance has increased within the context of enhanced Latin American-U.S. relations and migration. Our department is one of the few in the United States that offers courses in Catalan, the language of the vibrant city of Barcelona and its region, Catalonia, in northeastern Spain.
The department collaborates with many other departments and programs on campus, including Comparative Literature, Film Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Linguistics, Second Language Studies, Medieval Studies Institute, Renaissance Studies, International Studies, West European Studies, the School of Business, the School of Journalism, and Women's Studies. The department also works with the School of Education to prepare students who wish to qualify for teacher certification.
