The Department of Hispanic Studies offers a sound educational experience centered on the study of the language as well as the literary and cultural production of Iberian, Latin American, and U.S. We offer language instruction to serve all proficiency levels, from beginners to students with native or near-native language skills. In our upper-division courses, students hone their research, writing,
and public speaking skills and explore key questions posed by literary and cultural studies about the Spanish-speaking world: the United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Spain. We address the needs of traditional students of Spanish as a foreign language; of heritage speakers for whom Spanish is a part of their family history; and of bilingual and bicultural students whose first language is English but who enter the university as near-native speakers of Spanish. Over the years, Spanish has emerged not only as the most studied foreign language in our country, but, in fact, as the unofficial second national language. Therefore, the Department of Hispanic Studies strives to educate students to lead engaged, rich, and productive lives in the U.S. as bilingual and bicultural citizens who need to be fluent in the two unofficial national languages.
