BA Spanish

The majors and minors in foreign languages offer a well-rounded and balanced liberal arts education. Cultural studies focusing on the intellectual, geographic, political, economic, and social structures of the countries in which each language is spoken, and courses geared to developing the ability to analyze, comprehend, and discuss literary themes and art forms, complement the department’s fundamental objectives to expand the student’s oral and written language proficiency and cultural sensibilities to the broadest extent possible.

Generally, the 400-level courses are designed to deepen and broaden the knowledge and skills acquired in the lower level courses; they are intended to provide the capstone experiences for majors, and to help them make the transition to graduate-level study and to professional careers.

By design, philosophy, and faculty preparation, the department’s offerings are richly interdisciplinary and purposely multinational. Students of Spanish, for example, study Latin American and Caribbean cultures along with those of the Iberian Peninsula. 

Travel and study-away - especially through SUNY programs - are strongly encouraged, and as much as half the student’s major or minor program can be accomplished abroad. Many of the department’s students take advantage of the college’s broad range of study opportunities by accomplishing double majors or minors in such fields as Canadian studies, Latin American studies, International Business, Communication, and other similarly interrelated fields.

In addition to courses in French and Spanish, the department currently offers courses in descriptive and theoretical linguistics as well as beginning level I and II courses in  Arabic. Faculty members in the department support and frequently participate instructionally in the college’s honors, women’s studies, and anthropology programs and direct the interdisciplinary minor in language and linguistics.