Spanish Major

As a Letters & Science student, you will take a variety of courses across the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities to satisfy university-wide General Education Requirements plus additional classes in formal reasoning, international awareness, and research to satisfy Letters & Science Degree Requirements.

There are also quality requirements (minimum GPA) and residency requirements (number of classes taken at UWM).

Degree requirements may vary depending on when you first started college either at UWM or elsewhere.

Spanish Major Requirements

The major in Spanish requires 33 credits at the 300 level and above. At least 15 of these advanced credits must be taken in residence at UWM. PORTUGS 202 may be used to satisfy 3 credits of these 33 advanced credits.

The College requires that students attain at least a 2.0 GPA in all credits in the major attempted at UWM, as well as in any transfer work counting toward the major.

All majors are required to take an exit examination, which is offered on campus near the end of each semester. It is recommended strongly that they take this exam during their last semester in the Spanish program.

Required
Language
SPANISH 308Advanced Writing and Reading3
SPANISH 318Advanced Speaking and Listening3
or SPANISH 319 Advanced Speaking and Listening for Heritage Speakers
Linguistics
SPANISH 341Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics3
Literature
SPANISH 350Introduction to Literary Analysis3
Select three electives at the 300-level or above, or PORTUGS 202: 19
PORTUGS 202
Portuguese for Spanish Speakers 2
SPANISH 332
Using Spanish in the Business World
SPANISH 333
Advanced Spanish Grammar
SPANISH 338
Spanish for Health Professionals
SPANISH 348
Introduction to Translation: English to Spanish
SPANISH 388
Health Issues in the Hispanic World
SPANISH 391
Social and Historical Issues in the Hispanic World:
Only one of the following 300-level courses, taught in English, count as an elective:
PORTUGS 360
Luso-Brazilian Culture:
SPANISH 371
Introduction to Latino Literature in English
SPANISH 373
Topics in Latino Literature in English:
Select three electives at the 400-level or above: 19
SPANISH 443
Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
SPANISH 444
Spanish Syntax and Morphology
SPANISH 446
Hispanic Sociolinguistics
SPANISH 470
Survey of Hispanic Literature and Civilization
SPANISH 472
Survey of Spanish-American Literature and Civilization
SPANISH 474
Survey of Spanish Literature and Civilization
SPANISH 491
Topics in Hispanic Culture:
Select one course at the 500 level (fulfills L&S Research Requirement): 33
SPANISH 506
Seminar in Spanish Literature:
SPANISH 507
Seminar in Spanish-American Literature:
SPANISH 508
Seminar in Hispanic Literature:
SPANISH 541
History of the Spanish Language
SPANISH 545
Seminar in Hispanic Linguistics:
SPANISH 570
Seminar in Spanish Golden Age Literature:
SPANISH 572
Seminar on Cervantes:
SPANISH 578
Seminar in Modern Spanish Literature and Civilization:
Total Credits33
1

Students may always use a higher-level course to satisfy lower-level electives. For example, to satisfy the "three 300-level or above electives" requirement, a student may take one 300-level course and two 500-level courses.

2

We encourage our Spanish majors to build on their proficiency in Spanish in order to develop their language skills in Portuguese, a language closely related to Spanish historically, geographically and linguistically. Because of this, PORTUGS 202 also counts towards the Spanish major, as a 300-level elective, and prepares students to continue their study of Portuguese if they are interested in completing a minor.

3

Students must complete the L&S research experience in a 500-level course. All of these courses include a research component that serves to develop students’ ability to do independent research in a specific field of interest. Both the oral presentation and the written research paper will be evaluated and rated in the areas of language acquisition/usage as well as research ability/synthesis. Students who complete a second 500-level course as one of their electives and fulfill other GPA requirements can apply for Honors in the major.