Modern Languages and Literatures
The faculty in the Spanish & Hispanic Studies Program at Union College welcomes you to an exciting and transformative journey through the Spanish language and the cultures of Spain, Latin America, and US Latinx and diaspora communities. From the moment you step foot in our classrooms, you become part of a caring learning community that emphasizes the importance of faculty-student interactions, student-centered learning, immersive and hands-on projects, deep critical and analytical thinking, and highly creative and innovative applications across a broad set of technologies, disciplines and professional fields.
We have designed our curriculum with you in mind! You can design and customize your learning through a broad set of events, actions, and goals meaningful to you. You can even study independently in another country! The curriculum provides you with the knowledge and skills you can apply to new and diverse professional and personal contexts and situations. And we constantly encourage you to expand your vision and understanding of yourself and others, as well as the impact that the learning of Spanish language and culture can have in your life, your career, and your community.
We offer all levels of learning in Spanish in addition to an exciting array of classes in English (what we call MLTs- Modern Languages and Literatures in Translation). Every year students gain minors, major, double majors, or what the college calls interdepartmental majors (imagine taking two majors and smashing them together to become an ID Major). And did you know that you can even create your own major at Union College called an “Organizing Theme Major”? This is an option through which the study of Spanish language and culture can lead to exciting results. For instance, imagine joining the fields of Spanish + Environmental Engineering + Digital Art - or - Spanish + Africana Studies + Political Studies. Innovation lies at the intersections.
Beginning in the intermediate Spanish sequence, you can take classes that develop your language skills through topics as diverse as sustainability and environmental studies, innovation and entrepreneurship, race and power, immigration and border studies, art, culture and urban design, intervention and activism, digital storytelling, literature and film, women, gender, and LGBTQ studies, and more. Our courses provide you with a broad set of perspectives, vocabularies, and approaches that you can apply to your interests, your careers, and your life.
Our classes and our faculty-led mini and full term abroad offerings as well as our language clubs, are all about immersing you into the Spanish culture and language through hands-on projects, first-hand experiences and internships, digitally connected and engaging projects using technologies like your phone apps, virtual and augmented reality, video editing, story mapping, blogging, op-ed writing, and so much more. Our classes engage students with authentic materials through 360 degree technology, through social media, videos and films, newspapers and podcasts, blogs, poetry and short stories, video games, and other storytelling platforms.
The faculty members in the Spanish and Hispanic Studies program are fully dedicated to your learning, to providing you with expansive, creative and, yes, fun and engaging opportunities that will make you want to take many more classes with us. (And before you know it, you will have gained a minor or major with us, and we will have had dozens of super interesting conversations. For instance, you may have published an article, worked with ESL students at a charter school, or translated a brochure for a community outreach program!)
We are a highly dynamic and active group of scholars with strong publication records and worldwide name recognition, and we are teachers with a deep commitment to cutting edge pedagogy. We continue to learn so that we can pass on that learning to you. We have lived, grown up and worked in Puerto Rico, Chile, Perú, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and Spain. We are of Colombian, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, US, and, yes, even Korean and German descent. In essence, we bring a diversity of perspectives, experiences, vocabulary and accents to the classroom. We know what it’s like to learn a language, to be immersed in a new culture, and to apply new learning to new environments, situations, and disciplines. We know how important it is to always be there for our students, not just as teachers, but also as mentors and individuals who care, deeply, about the intellectual growth of every one of our students.
Whether you want to go to law school, work in the field of environmental studies, health, education, criminal justice, psychology, marketing, or you just don’t know yet, and you want to explore your options (which is what a liberal education is all about), a degree in Spanish & Hispanic Studies expands how you think about the world around you, and also exponentially increases your professional marketability.