Spanish

Facts

• The Augustana Spanish department offers a major and minor in Spanish, a major in teaching Spanish, and an interdisciplinary minor in Latin American Studies. For 2011, the college has added a major in Spanish for Professional Use for students in Business, Health or Speech Pathology pre-professional fields.

• Flexible scheduling, electives and specialized advanced courses allow students to combine their study in Spanish with other majors or minors, such as business, communication sciences and disorders, medicine, political science, sociology, education or the arts and humanities.

• Four different Spanish major and minor options include a cultural studies emphasis, in which students can enroll in up to four courses with a focus on the history, culture and arts of Latin America or Spain.

• The department includes six full-time and four part-time faculty who have lived or studied in or who are natives of Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Venezuela and Spain.

• Students of Spanish can find individual assistance from department tutors or through the Spanish Learning Center, a Spanish-language counterpart to the college’s Reading/Writing Center.

Facilities

The Spanish department’s offices, language lounge, learning center and most classrooms are located in Denkmann Memorial Hall.

Spanish-language periodicals in the Thomas Tredway Library and on-campus access to Spanish-speaking television and radio stations improve students’ comprehension and increase their knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world.

On campus and abroad

• The Summer Spanish Program in the Andes offers both a 5-week and a 10-week language immersion program. Students at any level of ability take coursework to improve their skills and stay in the home of an Ecuadorian family during the 10-week program.  Students at the advanced level can opt for a 50-week program of advanced literature or cultural studies courses. Excursions include visits to Quito, Otavalo, the high Andes, and for students on the longer program, a 10-day final trip to Peru, with visits to Lima, Cusco and the famed lost city of Machu Picchu

• The Spanish Department also offers advanced students the opportunity to study for 6 months in Sevilla, Spain through an affiliated program with the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies.  Students on this program can take coursework in Sociology, Art History, Business, Anthropology and Political Science along with advanced study of Spanish.  Internship opportunities are also available in Sevilla through this program. 

• On campus, Augustana offers a variety of co-curricular programming related to the study of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture, including the Spanish Club, Latinos Unidos, the annual Hispanic Film Festival, and events to celebrate holidays such as Cinco de Mayo or el Dia de los Muertos.

• The college’s proximity to Hispanic neighborhoods in Rock Island and Moline offers many opportunities to volunteer and to practice speaking Spanish, including conversation sessions (called Tertulias) led by Augustana students who are native Spanish speakers.

What students and graduates say

Bob Lyons ’08, Chinese, Spanish and political science major: “One of the few defining aspects of my college experience has been Augustana’s Spanish department. Under the training of excellent professors, I have developed critical language skills that have helped develop a deeper global perspective and provided crucial insight into the complexities of the world…. I participated in the Summer Spanish Program in the Andes where I was introduced to different cultural traditions while improving my Spanish. Although I am a better Spanish linguist, Augustana’s Spanish department helped me figure out who I am and how I can better serve the needs of my community, which has made all of the difference.”

Cassandra Bausman ’06, Spanish and English majors; Ph.D. in English graduate program at the University of Iowa: “Studying Spanish at Augustana opened up new avenues of literary studies and made it possible for me to view literary trends and social concerns in a much wider context. But it’s not just about the classroom—the department allows you to experiment with the Spanish language and culture outside the classroom as well as inside. The faculty and the Quad Cities offer many opportunites to experience the major in a variety of different real-world ways, from volunteer activities and social activism to travel opportunites and informal gatherings of the Spanish Club.”

Maggie Wdowiarz ’07, Spanish and K-12 education majors; High school Spanish teacher: “Every professor in the Spanish department is passionate about the language and about teaching. Throughout my time at Augustana, my interactions with them helped mold me as a teacher of the language. Now that I’m in my own classroom, I’ve found that my practices as a teacher have been strongly molded by each of them. My ability to use and teach Spanish is in large part due to the caring, dedicated professors at Augustana and I continue to contact them when I need help.”