Romance Languages and Literatures Department

Our global society values people who can communicate in several languages. Cabrini’s Department of Romance Languages and Literatures prepares students with instruction in Italian and Spanish.

Majors and minors of foreign language studies are analytical and articulate professionals with a global perspective whose language skills can be transferred to many rewarding careers.

The department's programs are useful not only to future language teachers, but also for students preparing for careers in business, communications, history/political science, government, medicine, psychology, public relations, religious studies, social work, and fine arts.

Spanish majors may become certified in secondary education and prepared to teach Spanish at the secondary level.

In addition to oral and writing proficiency in the foreign language, students acquire listening comprehension skills, learn structure, phonetics, and idiomatic use of the language, and study the cultures, civilizations, and literary masterpieces. Special attention and emphasis are given to the study of Latin American culture, its socio-political factors, and cultural and literary studies. Careful analysis of literary texts from both Spain and Spanish America engages the minds of students in a way that prepares them to be life-long critical thinkers.

State-of-the art computer classrooms feature interactive technology  for practice and acquisition of the languages.

The learning outcomes of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures include:

• The ability to interact cross-culturally  with knowledge of cultural diversity and American pluralism
• The ability to  effectively converse in the target language and to interpret the spoken language
• The ability to write with clarity in the target language to provide information, concepts and ideas and to understand and interpret the written language.

Areas of Study
The Department offers these various areas of study of Spanish that can be combined in order to enhance the many career paths of students. The Department’s local community partner school district provides real-world experience for Cabrini students and Spanish-speaking middle and high school students to interact weekly.

• The Spanish major (33 credits)*
• The Spanish minor (18 credits)
• The Latin American Studies Minor (18 credits)
• A Certificate in Spanish (12 credits)

*This program is not accepting incoming students as new majors. The minor is open to all students.

Spanish Honors Program
Students who meet the following Department requirements in Spanish will graduate with honors:

1. a minimum cumulative GPA in Spanish of 3.5
2. a minimum cumulative overall GPA of 3.0
3. active membership in Phi Sigma Iota, the international foreing language honor society
4. presentation of the student’s capstone paper or some other independent research project in a public forum

The public presentation may include, but is not limited to, an oral presentation at Cabrini’s Academic Symposium, publication of creative work in the Cabrini undergraduate journal or the Forum published through Phi Sigma Iota.

Spanish Links

• Yahoo in Spanish - www.espanol.yahoo.com
• Directorio online de Espana - donde.uji.es 
• La pagina del idioma espanol - www.el-castellano.com 
• Instituto Cervantes - www.cervantes.es 
• Centro Virtual Cervantes - cvc.cervantes.es/portada.htm 
• Prado Museum - museoprado.es 
• Flamenco Page - www.andalucia.com/flamenco 

Italian Links

• Italy online - www.initaly.com
• Ancient Rome - ancienthistory.miningco.com
• Imperial forums - capitolium.org

Latin American Links

• Latin American Network Information Center - www.lanic.utexas.edu
• Cuba - www.cubaweb.cu
• Honduras - www.hondunet.net
• Diego Rivera Virtual Museum - www.diegorivera.com