Spanish Undergraduate Program

Spanish is the official language, not only of Spain, but also of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, and most of South America. Spanish, with approximately 320 million speakers, is the fourth most spoken language on the planet, and the United States is now officially the fifth largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Spanish is spoken by approximately 10 percent of the total population of the United States (nearly 25,000,000 people). In the United States alone, more than five million people use Spanish as a first or second language. Spanish is a major international language of banking, commerce, cultural production, diplomacy, and science.

The Program

The undergraduate program leading to the B.A. in Spanish is intended to introduce students to a wide range of disciplines within the area of Hispanic language and civilization. Students may focus on literature, linguistics, language teaching, or other related areas. To this end, the program offers a broad selection of courses, as well as opportunity for independent study, directed work in allied fields, and summer programs in Salamanca, Spain and Havana, Cuba. Implicit in the program is building the students' proficiency in the Spanish language. Graduation requirements for the Spanish major include completion of three 200-level courses (9 credit hours) with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and ten 300-400 level courses (30 credit hours) with a minimum GPA of 2.0. For students who have chosen a major in another field, there is the possibility of doing a joint major with Spanish. Graduation requirements for the joint major are three Spanish courses at the 200-level with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and seven courses at the 300/400 level with a minimum GPA of 2.0. A Spanish minor, which calls for two courses at the 200-level with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and four courses at the 300/400 level with a minimum GPA of 2.0. An honors program in Spanish is open to students who achieve an overall GPA of 3.25 and a GPA of 3.75 in at least five upper-division Spanish courses. Students in the honors program in Spanish must complete two honors projects in two upper-division Spanish courses. For study abroad options, see the Study Abroad section or contact the Study Abroad Programs Office at (716) 645-3912. Students wishing to satisfy the requirements for teacher certification should plan their programs with particular care in order to accommodate the required semester of the professional sequence during their senior year. For certification requirements, students should contact the Teacher Education Institute in the Graduate School of Education.

Career Opportunities

The ability to read and speak Spanish allows communication in one of the major languages of international business and finance. Because of the strong likelihood that many of their future clients will be Spanish-speaking, students of nursing and the health-related professions and other occupations requiring direct client contact, such as law and social work, would be especially well advised to consider a major or minor in Spanish. With involvement of the United States in NAFTA (with Canada and Mexico), Spanish has become even more essential in the world of international commerce.

Preparatory sequence:

AND

Lower-division courses:

• Three 200-level courses (for the major) OR
• Two 200-level courses (for the minor)

Upper-division courses:

• Ten courses at the 300/400 level (for the major) OR
• Seven courses at the 300/400 level (for the joint major) OR
• Four courses at the 300/400 level

Other information:

Students must maintain a 2.0 average in courses counted towards the minor or major.

Next steps:

Go to the Advisors page and send e-mail to the undergraduate advisor in Spanish. To apply, click on the "Apply Now" link at the top of this page or from the home page.