Dalhousie University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies

Corporate body (Dalhousie University)

Dalhousie University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies

• Dalhousie University. Faculty of Arts and Science. Department of Spanish (1973-2008)

1973-

The Spanish Department was established in 1973 and in 2010 its name and teaching mandate expanded to include Latin American Studies.

As early as 1843, the Dalhousie Board of Governors hired a professor of modern languages—French, Italian and Spanish. However, the newly appointed Lorenzo Lacoste met an untimely death shortly before Dalhousie College itself floundered and shut down. When the college reopened in 1863, only French and German were offered under the heading of modern languages. Spanish 1 first appears as a course in the 1921/22 university calendar, although a lecturer in Spanish was hired the year before. It remained a singular course for some time: Spanish 2 was added in 1928/29 and Spanish 3 in 1932/34. Around 1930 the university calendars started to group Spanish along with German and French—and later Russian—under the Department of Modern Languages, which in 1957/58 became the Department of Romance Languages, a department not recognized officially by Senate until 1970. Soon after that a proposal to organize Spanish as an independent department was passed by Senate and the Department of Spanish is first listed in the 1973/74 calendar.

The Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies is located in the Marion McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building on Dalhousie’s Studley Campus.

The Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies offers majors and minors and combined honours leading to a BA degree, with a focus on Spanish, Hispanic Culture, Hispanic Literature, and Latin American Studies. The department also administers international study programs, with placement options located in Spain, Mexico, Peru and Cuba, as well as
awards and scholarship opportunities.

The basic statute relating to Dalhousie University is Chapter 24 of the Acts of 1863. This statute replaced earlier statutes, and the 1863 statute itself has been amended and supplemented several times over the years. The provisions of these various statutes provide for the establishment and regulation of the university, the membership of the Board of Governors and its rights and powers, the authority of senate for the internal regulation of the university (subject to the approval of the board), and various other matters.

The Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies is within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. In 2021, there are nine faculty members, including a limited-term chair, professors, associate professors, lecturers and instructors, who are supported by an administrative coordinator and an department secretary.