The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures offers two programs at the graduate level: (1) a 30 credit hour non-thesis program leading to the Master of Arts in Spanish and (2) an 18 credit hour post-baccalaureate certificate program in Hispanic Studies.
MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN SPANISH
The goals of this program are: (1) to raise the level of communicative competence of native and non-native speakers of Spanish; (2) to provide critical and practical skills necessary for analyzing, assessing and addressing academic and societal issues related toHispanic language and culture; (3) to provide knowledge and advanced skills in Spanish language and Hispanic culture necessary for higher-level graduate work; (4) to increase, improve and promote cultural understanding and awareness ofregional, national and internationalSpanish-speaking communities; and (5) to produce professionals capable of dealing with the demands brought by the ever-increasing U.S. Hispanic population and by the global job market.
Admission Requirements
Applicants are required to submit the following materials to the Graduate School:
(1) An application for graduate admission.
(2) Official transcripts of all college work (undergraduate and graduate).
(3) Three letters of recommendation.
(4) Two recorded speaking samples, one in English and one in Spanish, in which the applicant introduces her/himself, describes a person she/he admires, or describes a trip she/he took.
(5) A 500-word written statement of objectives in English.
(6) A 500-word writing sample in Spanish in which the applicant states and defends an opinion.
Applicants seeking admission to the master’s degree program in Spanish must hold a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from an accredited college or university with an overall 3.00 GPA or its equivalent (determined by a personal interview with the faculty or an officially recognized test procedure, such as an “intermediate high” rating on the ACTFL proficiency scale). Admissions decisions are based upon the examination of several factors, and where other indicators of success warrant, individuals who fall below the established criteria may still be considered for admission.
The application deadline for fall admission is April 1 (March 1 for consideration for financial aid and assistantships); for spring admission, the application deadline is November 1.
Degree Requirements
The M.A. program requires a minimum of 30 semester of graduate study (only six of which may be transferred from another institution) and the successful completion of capstone written and oral individualized comprehensive exams based on coursework. The 30 hours of coursework must be distributed as follows:
1. Required writing course (3 hours): SPN 500 Advanced Writing Techniques.
2. Required literature/civilization pair. The student must choose one pair (6 hours): (a) SPN 511,Topics in Spanish Civilization, and SPN 522, Studies in Spanish American Literature, or (b) SPN 512, Topics in Spanish American Civilization, and SPN 521, Studies in Spanish Literature.
3. Electives chosen from any of the remaining SPN graduate courses (21 hours). [SPN 511, 512, 521, 522 (variable topics) may be taken to satisfy this requirement provided they are not used to satisfy the literature/civilization requirement. These four courses may be repeated for elective credit if the topic is different from the topic used to satisfy the literature/civilization requirement.]
A student must maintain no less than a 3.0 GPA on all graduate-level courses and has five calendar years to complete his/her master’s degree program. This five-year period begins with the student’s first term of work after formal admission to the program.
POST-BACCALAUREATE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM IN HISPANIC STUDIES
The specific goals of this 18-hour cerficate program in Hispanic Studies are: 1) to prepare qualified candidates for cross-cultural professions; 2) to enable students to function at a high level of linguistic proficiency in Spanish; and 3) to prepare community college, four-year college or university instructors, who, according to SACS guidelines, must have at least 18 hours of graduate credit in order to teach Spanish. Courses are taught by faculty with specializations in Hispanic linguistics, film, literature, culture, business, translation, and foreign language pedagogy.
Admission Requirements:
Applicants seeking admission to the graduate certificate program must hold a bachelor’s
degree in Spanish from an accredited college or university with an overall 3.00 GPA or its equivalent (determined by a personal interview with the faculty or an officially recognized test procedure, such as an “intermediate high” grading on the ACTFL). Applicants are required to submit the following to the Graduate School:
1. An application for graduate admission
2. Official transcripts of all college work (undergraduate and graduate)
3. Three references
4. A 500-word essay in Spanish in which applicant describes her/his reasons for wanting to
pursue graduate work in Spanish
5. An audio recording in which the applicant introduces her/himself, describes a person she/he
admires, or describes a trip she/he took in Spanish
*These admissions requirements apply only to the graduate certificate program in Hispanic Studies. Students interested in combining the certificate program with a master’s degree will have to meet all admission criteria for that degree.
Certificate Requirements:
I. 9 hour core (choose one from each category)
a. SPN 500 Advanced Writing Techniques (3)
b. SPN 511 Topics in Spanish Civilization (3)
or
SPN 512 Topics in Spanish American Civilization *(3)
c. SPN 521 Studies in Spanish Literature (3)
or
SPN 522 Studies in Spanish American Literature *(3)
*Students must choose at least one Spanish and one Spanish-American related course from these two categories.
II. 9 hours of electives (choose three or more classes from this list)
No more than three hours of SPN 591(offered on a limited basis) and SPN 598 will be accepted for credit.
a. SPN 501 Translation Techniques & Practices (3)
b. SPN 505 Conversation & Composition (3)
c. SPN 595 Seminar in Hispanic Studies
(Topics will vary but will include Business Spanish, Linguistics, Film, Performance Spanish, Spanish for Professionals, and Second Language Acquisition) (May be repeated for up to 6 hrs.)
d. SPN 591 Directed Individual Study (3)
e. SPN 598 Internship (3)
N.B. If a student has taken SPN 401 or SPN 405 at the undergraduate level, she/he must
meet with the graduate director in order to be permitted to enroll in SPN 501 or SPN 505.
For more information contact:
R. Terry Mount
Coordinator, Graduate Programs in Spanish
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
UNC Wilmington
Wilmington, NC 28403
mountt@uncw.edu
Phone: (910) 962-3344
FAX: (910) 962-7712
Or contact:
Graduate School Admissions, UNCW, Wilmington, NC 28403-3297
Contact person: Kimberly Goerne
goernek@uncw.edu
www.uncw.edu/grad_info
Phone: 910-962-7449
Fax: 910-962-3787
