While each student’s course of study will reflect her or his own interests, an Area of Concentration in Spanish Language and Culture or Spanish Language and Literature, will generally comprise the following:

When chosen as a single or a double Area of Concentration (AOC):

• the satisfactory completion of no less than 10 semester-long academic activities (including Courses, Tutorials, Independent Research Projects) approved by the faculty of the program;
• at least one Independent Study Project supervised or approved by the faculty of the program;
• and a thesis with a focus on relevant aspects of the Hispanic world.

No less than eight of the academic activities must be taken in Spanish (beginning with Spanish Oral and Written Expression, that is, the fourth semester of the language sequence), and at least one of them must be undertaken during the senior year as an advanced Spanish course or tutorial.

Other requirements include:

• One semester of study abroad, supervised and/or approved by the Spanish faculty, when chosen as an Area of Concentration. In some exceptional cases, the Spanish faculty may approve that this requirement be satisfied by work in the form of an Independent Study Project in a Spanish speaking country, supervised by a faculty member of the Spanish AOC. Courses taken abroad will be counted towards fulfillment of the AOC requirements. For students choosing Spanish as a joint area of concentration, study abroad is highly recommended, but not required.
• A high level of proficiency in Spanish language, as demonstrated by satisfactory evaluations in all courses, tutorials, and independent research projects conducted in Spanish beginning with Spanish Oral and Written Expression. Each one of these academic activities will have specific areas of evaluation in accordance with the course level and content. A well-defined and strong performance in all areas of evaluation is expected from students seeking an AOC in Spanish.
• The senior thesis must reflect the student’s interest in the field and her or his capacity to work on a well-defined aspect of the Hispanic world. Whenever possible, the thesis should be written in Spanish. In joint areas of concentration, it is expected that a significant portion of the research must be done in Spanish. When those conditions are not present, the student will work on a capstone project in Spanish during the senior year.
• A satisfactory Baccalaureate Exam.

Joint Disciplinary AOC Requirements

When chosen as a joint Area of Concentration: the satisfactory completion of no less than eight academic activities (including Courses, Tutorials, Independent Research Projects) approved by the faculty of the program. No less than five of them must be taken in Spanish, (beginning with Spanish Oral and Written Expression that is, the fourth semester of the language sequence), and at least one of them must be undertaken during the senior year as an advanced Spanish course or tutorial.

Faculty

• Sonia N. Labrador-Rodríguez, Associate Professor of Spanish Language and Literature
• José Alberto Portugal, Professor of Spanish Language and Literature; PepsiCo Chair
• Mariam Manzur-Leiva, Instructor of Spanish Language and Literature

Recent Theses

• Hate in the Time of Cholera: How the 2010 Cholera Outbreak in Haiti Threatened La Raza Dominicana
• A Translation of Juan Carlos Onetti’s La Muerte y La Niña
• Public Lies and Private Truths: Images of Dictatorial Power in La Fiesta del Chivo by Mario Vargas Llosa and El Otoño del Patriarca by Gabriel García Márquez
• Maintaining Inequality: A Comparative Study of Educational Stratification in Argentina and the United States
• El Canto: La Voz del Pueblo Como el Arma de la Reivindicación en el Misticismo Telúrico de Canto General by Palo Neruda
• El Desarrollo de la Novela, Indigenista Ecuatoriana, 1879-1979: De Anticipación a Posmodernidad