This information is part of the Colgate University catalog, 2025-26.
Major Requirements
A major in Spanish is a program of study of Hispanic language and literature. It consists of a minimum of eight courses at the 300 and 400 levels.
350-level Electives
- Two SPAN courses at the 350-level
NOTE: These courses must be taken before any 400-level literature course. Exceptions to this rule can be made only with the approval of the department chair.
Advanced Composition and Stylistics
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SPAN 361 - Advanced Composition and Stylistics
Note: This course may be taken for major credit on campus only. An exception is made forstudents who have received credit for this course by scoring 5 on the AP language exam
400-level Electives
Five 400-level electives
- At least two must come from the Pre-1900 (category 1) list
Pre-1900 (category 1)
Courses fulfilling this requirement have an attribute of SPC1 in the course offerings.
Spanish majors must take at least two courses from category 1.
- SPAN 459 - 'Nuns Having Fun' in Colonial Latin America
- SPAN 460 - Spanish Renaissance and Baroque Poetry
- SPAN 461 - Theater of the Golden Age
- SPAN 462 - Cervantes' Don Quijote
- SPAN 467 - Latin American Romanticism
- SPAN 468 - Vision/Revision: Span Conquest
- SPAN 476 - Linguistic History of Spain
- SPAN 481 - Major Hispanic Authors
- SPAN 483 - Spanish American Modernismo: Spleen, Femme Fatales, Artificial Paradises
Post-1900 (category 2)
Courses fulfilling this requirement have an attribute of SPC2 in the course offerings.
- SPAN 470 - Subject and the City: Imagined and Real
- SPAN 473 - Women and Censorship in Contemporary Spanish Novels
- SPAN 474 - Contemporary Short Fiction in Spanish
- SPAN 475 - Spanish as a Global Language
- SPAN 478 - Literature of the Caribbean
- SPAN 479 - Spanish in the United States
- SPAN 482 - Major Hispanic Authors
- SPAN 483 - Spanish American Modernismo: Spleen, Femme Fatales, Artificial Paradises
- SPAN 485 - Latin American Novels Before the Boom (1910-1950)
- SPAN 486 - Latin American Dictatorship Theater
- SPAN 487 - Postdictatorial Transatlantic Theater
- SPAN 488 - Latin American Women Dramatists
Regulations
The following regulations apply:
- With some restrictions, only 300- and 400-level courses in language and literature may be counted.
- SPAN 361 may be taken for major credit on campus only. An exception is made for students who have received credit for these courses by scoring 5 on the AP language exam.
- A student who has completed a 400-level course may not take a 300-level course.
- No course with a grade of less than C– is credited toward a major. For graduation, the minimum GPA required in courses counting toward a major is 2.00 (C); all departmental courses taken in the major are used to calculate this average.
- No more than two departmental courses counting toward a major may be taken in any one term.
- Independent study courses are permitted only when the major distribution requirements are met.
- SPAN 490 is open only to candidates who are studying independently for honors.
- Majors who qualify are strongly encouraged to participate in the Madrid Study Group.
Honors and High Honors
Students interested in pursuing honors can find the additional requirements on the Romance Languages and Literatures department page.
Romance Languages and Literatures Department
For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, etc., please visit the Romance Language and Literatures department catalog page.