Return to: Undergraduate Departments and Programs

Christian Michener, Ph.D., Chair

The department of Language, Literature, and Culture houses the interdisciplinary major in Health Humanities. Offering an intellectually stimulating curriculum for a variety of learners, the department of Language, Literature, and Culture aims to challenge and support students in their intellectual, spiritual, personal, and professional development, especially in nurturing students’ appreciation for, and understanding of, the diverse literatures, languages, histories, and cultures of our world.  Almost every student at Saint Mary’s takes several classes offered by the department of Language, Literature, and Culture.

English

Offerings in English engage those skills that are at the heart of a liberal arts education and essential to lifelong learning and success beyond the entry-level job.  English courses help students develop the capacity to read and view texts with appreciation and insight; understand the significance of writers and works in their social and historical contexts; consider how such writers and works reflect and express diverse cultural perspectives; assess the value of various critical approaches to literary and humanistic questions; do research efficiently and honestly; organize and curate complex information; and write effectively across academic, professional, and popular genres.

English offerings prepare students for a lifetime in which their facility as readers and writers not only helps them succeed and advance professionally, but also, by allowing them to engage with the cultural discourse surrounding them, prepares them to deal with ambiguity and complexity in a changing world.

English Goals

The English curriculum is designed to help students:

• Read with comprehension and aesthetic appreciation, think critically about texts from a variety of genres, periods, and cultural contexts, and articulate why readers respond the way they do to various works.
• Produce written documents that demonstrate an understanding of the roles that audience, context, modality, and purpose play in determining rhetorical choices.
• Conduct, assess, and make use of research done through a variety of media.
• Cultivate professional skills that can be adapted and applied in situations beyond the classroom.

English Study Abroad

English offers a short-term study abroad program in England through the Saint Mary’s University study abroad office on an alternate year basis.

History

The history program supports the mission of the university by providing education in history, a discipline which is a core component of the liberal arts. As such, it seeks to instill in students a thirst for lifelong learning, a commitment to participation in the civic culture of a democratic society, an appreciation for context and contingency, an inclination towards critical thinking and an appreciation for evidence in making judgments, and the ability to communicate those judgments and other ideas.

Spanish

John Reed, Ph.D., Coordinator

Offerings in Spanish provide a comprehensive study of the language, literature, and cultures of the Hispanic world designed to prepare students for a professional career in international business, a career in teaching, or graduate study in Spanish. The use of proficiency-based methodologies and audio-visual tools in the study of culture and language bring students to an understanding and an active command of Spanish in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. All Spanish courses are conducted in Spanish. A full complement of courses for a Spanish minor is available on the Winona campus.

Spanish Goals

Upon completion of their studies, majors are able to demonstrate:

• The ability to engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions;
• The ability to understand and interpret both spoken and written language on a variety of topics; and
• The ability to present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of readers on a variety of topics.

These goals are based on the ACTFL’s World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages:

1. Communication: Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes.

2. Cultures: Interact with cultural competence and understanding.

3. Connections: Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations.

4: Comparisons: Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence.

5. Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.

Credits by Placement

• All students who have taken Spanish in high school must have an interview with a Saint Mary’s University professor prior to continuing in that language at Saint Mary’s University. The interview facilitates placement at an appropriate level and is given prior to registration each semester. Upon completion of one semester of study with a final grade of B or above, a student earns 2 credits for each class bypassed in the language sequence (courses numbered 101, 102, 201, 202). If a student earned a 3 or higher through the CEEB AP program, she/he may receive 4 100-level credits. A maximum of 8 credits may be earned that count toward a Spanish minor, and as elective credits that count toward graduation.
• Native/Heritage speakers may test out of SP301 Advanced Spanish Conversation with consent of coordinator.
• Native speakers who have completed high school in their home country may test out of SP302 Advanced Grammar/Composition with consent of coordinator.

Spanish Studies Abroad

Saint Mary’s University has an affiliation with Spanish Studies Abroad, which offers courses and internships in Spain (Seville, Alicante, Barcelona), Argentina (Cordoba), Cuba (Havana), and Puerto Rico (San Juan).  These are semester or academic-year programs as well as short-term options during the winter, spring, or summer.  Saint Mary’s University also partners with the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), which offers semester-long internship opportunities in Ecuador.  Spanish also offers short-term study abroad programs in Buenos Aires and Mexico through the Saint Mary’s University study abroad office on an alternate year basis.

Spanish Distinction & Awards

Spanish awards distinction at faculty discretion to graduating seniors.  These honors are to inspire and reward students who have completed outstanding work within the major.  Students must have a minimum 3.700 major GPA and a 3.300 cumulative GPA.  Students must complete a superior senior capstone project with a grade of A, present some piece of their work in a public forum, and demonstrate truly distinctive ability and performance in the Spanish major.

Alpha Mu Gamma is a national foreign language honor society. Eligible seniors majoring or minoring in Spanish are annually inducted into the Eta Delta Chapter. Spanish also sponsors Cineclub, which is open to the university community. Films from both Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries are screened throughout the year, providing a venue for both artistic and cultural reflection. 

Programs

Minor

• Spanish Minor  

Return to: Undergraduate Departments and Programs