Spanish
Become a global citizen. Study Spanish language and literature.
As a Spanish major, you'll develop the linguistic and cultural skills necessary to function in a foreign language setting. You'll learn how to apply such skills in practical settings, including employment, and acquire the advanced language skills needed to pursue graduate study. You can also choose to pursue teacher licensure, which prepares you to teach Spanish grades K-12.
The Spanish major at Meredith is unique because it offers a range of courses in language, literature and culture taught by a large and diverse faculty. Students benefit from small classes and individual attention from their professors. Students learn among native and non-native Spanish speakers alike.
Students also have the opportunity to enhance their learning through study abroad (including faculty-led programs in Costa Rica and Spain), service learning, and a variety of activities sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and La Tertulia, Meredith’s Spanish club. Qualified students may also choose to join Sigma Delta Pi, the Spanish honor society.
Meredith's Spanish program offers numerous and varied research and internship opportunities. Recent examples of internship placements and service-learning partner organizations include:
- Neighbor to Neighbor
- Wake County Schools
- North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals
- Trilogy School
- Telamon Corporation
Students are expected to demonstrate skills in planning, executing and presenting research, including at the annual Celebrating Student Achievement event held at Meredith. Recent research topics presented include:
- The Effects of Gender, School, and Residence on Achievement in the Argentine University
- Cinemexicanidad: Representations of Mexican National Identity in Two Films
- Reality is in the eye of the beholder: Perception of reality vs. dream in two Argentinian short stories
A Spanish major/minor is a valuable addition to students coming from any number of disciplines/career paths, including pre-med, pre-law, dentistry, business and education. Those who have graduated from Meredith with a major in Spanish in recent years have gone on to graduate school, immediate employment, and other opportunities. Professional positions held and graduate programs attended by recent graduates of Meredith's Spanish program include pursuing an M.A. in Spanish literature at University of Virginia and becoming a Spanish teacher at Gates County High School.
Meredith’s student/faculty ratio of 11:1 and average class size of 17 ensure that students get to know their professors. In turn, our faculty know students by name and, just as important, are familiar with each student’s unique strengths and interests. This allows faculty to identify interesting research and internship opportunities for students, to write meaningful letters of recommendation, and to support students as they conduct in-depth undergraduate research. In fact, students and faculty frequently work together on such projects—more than 140 were conducted by student/faculty teams last year.
The Spanish faculty at Meredith has lived, traveled and conducted research in the Spanish-speaking world, including Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. Faculty received degrees from top educational institutions, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt University, the University of Rochester and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Below you will find a list of all full-time Spanish faculty as well as their areas of specialty:
- Astrid Billat, Ph.D. – 20th and 21st century short fiction; representations of women in modern Spanish novels; foreign language pedagogy
- Vilma Concha-Chiaraviglio, Ph.D. – linguistics, language acquisition and foreign language pedagogy
- Callie DeBellis, A.M. - contemporary Latin American novel and short story; 20th century Latin American and Chicano theater; adult foreign language acquisition
- Kevin Hunt, Ph.D. – 20th century Mexican literature and culture; indigenismo; film
- Debora Maldonado-DeOliveira, Ph.D. – Caribbean and U.S. Latino literature and culture; postcolonial theory; feminism; film and visual arts
- Jonathan Wade, Ph.D. – Early modern Spanish and Portuguese literature
For more detailed information about the Spanish major, please go to the program website.
For information about other majors at Meredith, return to the Admissions majors page.
