Undergraduate Degrees
Latin American Studies offers an exciting and diverse undergraduate major. The major requires 43 credits; an undergraduate minor is also offered with a 30-credit requirement. Depending on individual students’ interests, it can include courses in the following departments:
- Anthropology
- Economics
- History
- Political Science
- Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
- Department of Art History in the College of Arts and Architecture
- Department of Geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
There are also a number of LAS-related Education Abroad programs. If you have any questions regarding the suggested courses or would like to know if a certain course would be approved for the major or minor, email the program director, Professor Matthew Restall, or any of the faculty on the Latin American Studies Steering Committee.
The major and minor in LAS are designed to be combined with other majors and minors to create a multidisciplinary degree that will enrich the student’s educational experience at Penn State and be appealing to potential graduate programs and employers. Most LAS majors go on to law school or graduate school; others find jobs with corporations that have Latin American interests or with US government agencies such as the NSA and State Department.
Required Courses – 22 Credits
Students completing the Latin American Studies major must complete the following courses with a grade of C or better as a part of their degree path.
- ANTH 45N: Cultural Diversity: A Global Perspective
- HIST 178: Latin-American History to 1820
- HIST 179: Latin-American History Since 1820
- PLSC 456: Politics and Institutions of Latin-American Nation
- PORT 1: Elementary Portuguese I
- SPAN 131: Ibero-American Civilization
- SPAN 200: Intensive Grammar and Composition
Additional Courses – 18 Credits
Students completing the Latin American Studies major must choose at least 18 credits from the below list of classes and complete the courses with a grade of C or better to complete their degree path.
- AFAM/SPAN 132: Afro-Hispanic Civilization
- ANTH 8: Aztec, Inca, Maya
- ANTH 422: Meso-American Archaeology and Ethnography
- ANTH 424: Andean Ethnology and Archaeology
- CMLIT 405: Inter-American Literature
- ECON 333: International Economics
- ECON 433: Advanced International Trade Theory and Policy
- HIST 467: Latin America and the United States
- HIST 468: Mexico and the Caribbean Nations in the Twentieth Century
- PLSC 422: Comparative Urban Politics
- PLSC 442: American Foreign Policy
- PORT 2: Elementary Portuguese II
- PORT 3: Intermediate Portuguese
- PORT 405: Advanced Composition and Conversation
- SPAN 300: Advanced Grammar and Composition Through Reading
- SPAN 305: Spanish for Social Services
- SPAN 410: Advanced Oral Expression and Communication
- SPAN 412: Translation
- SPAN 472: The Contemporary Spanish American Novel
- SPAN 476: Masterpieces of Spanish American Literature