The Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Announcements
Chris Clark receives U of MN's President's Award for Outsanding Service!
Congratulations to Christopher Clark, our wonderful Folwell Hall building maintenance staff person, who has been awarded the University of Minnesota President's Award for Outstanding Service! This award recognizes exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments and service units by faculty and staff.
"This award recognizes exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments and service units by any active or retired member of the faculty or staff. Such service must have gone well beyond the regular duties of a faculty or a staff member, and demonstrate unusual commitment to the University community."
All of us in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies are thrilled on behalf of Chris Clark, and thank him for his part in making Folwell Hall the winner of this year's "Beautiful Building" award in Facililties Management as well. Thank you, Chris!
Founded in the 1960s, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, is widely recognized as a pioneer in the study of language, literature and, more broadly, cultural expressions from interdisciplinary perspectives grounded in socio-historical consciousness and political urgency. We offer B.A. degrees in Spanish and in Spanish and Portuguese; M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, Hispanic Linguistics, and Lusophone Literatures and Cultures. Our faculty have strengths in the colonial, postcolonial and globalization triad; gender and sexuality studies; memory and witnessing; human rights; and border cultures. In Linguistics, our strengths are in the study of language in its context(s) with a focus on interdisciplinary approaches to language contact, phonology, pragmatics, second language acquisition, sociolinguistics and syntax. At present we are undergoing an exciting moment of renovation and growth, and are looking forward to further enhancing both undergraduate and graduate learning experiences through a series of presentations, lectures, films, workshops, and opportunities for professional development and for community outreach.
The department also has strong institutional ties with important research communities across campus such as the Institute for Advanced Study, European Studies Consortium, CARLA (Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition), Center for Medieval Studies, and ICGC (Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change).