Why Study Spanish?

With over 400 million native speakers, Spanish is one of the most common languages spoken in the world today.  In the United States it is the second most used language after english and it is spoken throughout Europe and most of South America. 

In the U.S. Spanish-english bilingualism increases employment opportunities as the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. continues to grow.  Many business require or prefer employees to speak both Spanish and english and the translation and interpretation fields are growing.  Health care, law, government, military, law enforcement, education and many other occupational fields are in need of professional translators and interpreters.

Studying the Spanish language leads to a better appreciation of Hispanic art, music, literature, film, and culture and enhances your travel experiences throughout South and Central America and Europe. 

As a Romance language, Spanish has Latin roots and knowing Spanish leads to a better understanding of English and the other romance languages, as well as better comprehension of many scientific, medical, and legal terms.  After learning Spanish French, Italian, and Portuguese will be a breeze!

What Degrees Are Offered?

UTSA offers a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, a Spanish minor, a Master of Arts in Spanish, and a Graduate Certificate in Spanish Translation Studies.  For more information about the degree requirements for each area, use these links:

BA in Spanish

Spanish Minor

Master of Arts in Spanish

Graduate Certificate in Spanish Translation Studies

Graduate Certificate in Linguistics

Advising and Faculty

For general academic advising questions, contact the UTSA Academic Advising office located in room 4.01.50 in the Multidisciplinary Sciences Building at 210-458-6513. 

For questions specific to the Spanish program you are enrolled in, contact one of our department advisors:

Spanish Undergraduate program advisor, Dr. Michael Rushforth, Graduate Certificate in Spanish Translation Studies advisor, Dr. Melissa Wallace, Graduate Language Certificate advisor, Dr. Whitney Chappell

Professor, Jack Himelblau (Ph.D.) Professor, Francisco Marcos-Marin (Ph.D.), Professor, Malgorzata Olezkiewicz-Peralba (Ph.D.)

Lecturers: Lilian Cano (M.A.), Marcela Lopez (M.A.), Elizabeth Olvera (M.A.), Gilberta Turner (M.A.)

photos courtesy of UTSA Dept of Modern Languages & Literatures and wikimedia commons