Spanish and Portuguese, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

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Spanish & Portuguese
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
University of Massachusetts
416 Herter Hall
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-2887
Fax: (413) 545-3178
Undergraduate Program Contact:
Mary Ellen White Maynard
Email: maynard@german.umass.edu
Phone: (413) 545-2807
Graduate Program Contact:
Leah Dodson Email: ldodson@spanport.umass.edu
Phone: (413) 545-0544
Who should I contact?

The Spanish and Portuguese programs are designed to enable students to attain the linguistic, cultural and literary knowledge necessary to understand the Spanish and Portuguese speaking worlds. Acquaintance with the many forms of culture of these worlds and their languages has become essential in this age of global communications and the internationalization of economic, political, cultural and social life.

Every year, more than 2000 students take our Portuguese and Spanish courses. We offer elementary, intermediate and advanced classes, as well as intensive language courses, business Spanish online, and Portuguese language online. Besides Spanish and Portuguese, we are the only public university in New England to offer courses in the Catalan language.

Our major and minor programs in Spanish and Portuguese combine the study of language, literature, culture and linguistics. However we also offer courses in the cinema of the Spanish and Portuguese speaking worlds. Our undergraduate students can choose from different international programs, and complete their course requirements with credits earned by studying abroad. They also have the opporunity to live in the Thatcher Spanish Language Program Residence Halls here on campus that mimic the integrative experience often found while living abroad.

We currently have 60 students enrolled in our graduate programs.

• Our M.A and Ph.D. programs are the only ones in New England that offer a specialization in Hispanic linguistics while also allowing students to take courses with world renowned professors in the UMass Linguistics Department.
• We offer one of the few graduate programs in the nation that focuses on Lusophone literatures and cultures with professors who specialize in Portuguese, Brazilian, and African literatures.
• Our research track in Hispanic literatures and cultures offers the opportunity for students to explore areas such as: colonial literature, Spanish cinema, transatlantic studies, Latino/a studies, Latin American literature, among others. These graduate students have the opportunity to take courses within other departments here at UMass, but also beneit from the close relationships built within the Five College Interchange.
• The Spanish and Portuguese unit also offers a Master of Arts in Teaching for foreign language teachers who want to obtain an Initial Licensure in Massachusetts.

Our graduate students can also take advantage of the graduate certificates we offer in conjunction with other UMass programs, such as the Graduate Certificate in Film Studies, the Graduate Certificate in Advanced Feminist Studies, and the Graduate Certificate in Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies.

We believe that the study and appreciation of the diverse and dynamic cultural heritage of the hundreds of millions of Spanish and Portuguese speakers in the Americas, Europe and Africa, including the various Latino communities in the United States, has intrinsic value and is central to a comprehensive liberal arts education.