The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers a wide range of courses in the language, culture, and literature of Spain and Spanish America and is well known for its program in Portuguese and Brazilian studies. Intensive Elementary Catalan is also offered.
The department offers programs of concentration in both Spanish and Spanish and Portuguese. Majors take courses in language, literature, linguistics, and culture. An interdisciplinary major is available in Spanish and European Studies. Qualified Spanish majors may elect to take graduate courses in their senior year or participate in honors work. Minors in Spanish and in Portuguese are also offered.
The department serves majors from the Center for Latin American Studies and the Max Kade Center for European and German Studies. On the graduate level, the department offers a doctoral program in Spanish and a combination doctoral degree in Spanish and Portuguese.
Many students participate in Vanderbilt programs in Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, and Palma de Mallorca in Spain; Argentina, Chile, and Brazil in South America; and Cuba and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. Maymesters in Spain and Peru are also offered. Activities organized by the department include lectures, films, symposia, and Brazil Week. The department has a chapter of the national honor society Sigma Delta Pi for students of Spanish.
Students are encouraged to apply for living space in the Spanish Hall of McTyeire International House.
Note for all programs: An AP score of 5 on the Spanish literature test, with a proctored departmental placement score of 460 or greater, may substitute for SPAN 3301W. An AP score of 5 on the Spanish language test, with a proctored departmental placement test of 460 or greater, may substitute for Spanish 3302. A student who earns an AP score of 5 on both tests and receives a proctored departmental placement score of 460 or greater may choose only one substitution.