Spanish Language & Culture Minor

Minor Information:

The Spanish Language & Cultures Minor enhances graduates' marketability because they have the social, academic, and professional skills needed in a multilingual and culturally competent marketplace. As the second most spoken language in the U.S. and fourth worldwide, Spanish is widely used across industries such as healthcare, business, education, and international relations. Spanish proficiency opens doors to diverse career opportunities. Employers increasingly seek candidates who can engage with Spanish-speaking communities, both domestically and abroad, making a Spanish minor a strategic advantage that differentiates job applicants and enhances their versatility in multicultural environments.

Through SLC coursework, students may participate in service-learning projects and other community immersion experiences to use Spanish in authentic contexts. Students are encouraged to participate in an immersion experience in a Spanish-speaking country. This might be a study-away program for a summer or a semester, an internship, or one of the short-term travel courses to Spain or Latin America taught by Alverno faculty. SLC minor students have studied Spanish in Spain, Chile, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. 

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Enlist understanding of disciplinary frameworks and provide solutions to specific challenges that arise out of cultural and linguistic contexts (ANALYSIS, PROBLEM SOLVING, SOCIAL INTERACTION)
  2. Research, investigate, compare, explain, and present a comprehensive understanding in Spanish on a range of topics (ANALYSIS, COMMUNICATION)
  3. Recognize and describe cultural forces as a way to define their professional behaviors and practice in specific cultural settings, both distinct and hybrid. (DGP, VALUING)
  4. Assess own behaviors and perceptions to create a professional demeanor and adapt to specific linguistic and cultural challenges that require engagement in subtle and complex communications (AESTHETIC ENGAGEMENT, EFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIP)
  5. Demonstrate understanding and respect for the subtleties of cultural expressions in Spanish by creating linguistic environments that apply their linguistic and cultural knowledge in a unique way (DGP, AESTHETIC ENGAGEMENT)
  6. Demonstrate leadership by enlisting disciplinary frameworks and articulating professional goals in effective interpersonal and group interactions within linguistic and cultural Spanish contexts (VALUING, EFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIP)

Abilities:

Students who earn a Spanish Language & Cultures minor have demonstrated the ability:

  • to demonstrate communicative competence in the Spanish language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing;
  • to develop an informed response to diverse voices in Hispanic cultures and histories; and
  • to apply linguistic analysis and draw relationships between syntactical usage and meaning.

Goralski-Cumbajin, Brook Dr., PhD, Assistant Professor of Spanish & Director of Hispanic Student Initiatives, ESL/Bilingual Teacher Education & Practicum Supervisor, brook.goralski-cumbajin@alverno.edu

Spanish Language & Cultures (SLC.D.SUP.2025) Minor Requirements  25-26 Catalog

Beginning Requirements
SLC-100Bilingual Assessment I0
SLC-103Beginning Spanish I3
SLC-104Beginning Spanish II3
SLC-203Intermediate Spanish I3
Intermediate Requirements
SLC-204Intermediate Spanish II3
SLC-304Spanish Reading, Writing & Conversation3
SLC-403Advanced Grammar, Composition & Linguist3
Advanced Requirements
Choose one of the following courses4
SLC-410
Spanish for Business & the Profession Professions
SLC-466
Hispanic Languages, Cultures & Civiliztn
HUM-356
Latin American Civlizatns & Lit in Span.
Total Credits22
1

Only needed if student has prior Spanish experience or learning and wishes to assess into a higher level course and receive credit for prior learning.

Students testing out of SLC-103, SLC-104, SLC-203, SLC-204 must complete SLC-304, SLC-403 in addition to one of the following SLC-410, SLC-466 or HUM-356.