New Program in Latin American Studies Debuts at Western

The growing importance of Latin America at Western Washington University has resulted in the creation of a new initiative: an interdisciplinary program in Latin American Studies.

Starting this fall, this new Program will be jointly housed in the Department of History and the Department of Modern Classical Languages, involving other departments and bringing together a variety of scholars of the highest quality from across the campus.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the program offers a rich set of courses, preparing students to not only have an in-depth understanding of Latin American histories, cultures, politics, sociologies, and languages, but also to explore Latin America’s connections with a globalized world.

As part of this new initiative, students are also highly encouraged to have an immersion experience in Latin America. The program in Latin American Studies is working very closely with Education Abroad to give students all the possibilities and resources available to maximize experiences abroad and to use those experiences to keep enriching our communities. For students who are also seeking leadership opportunities, the program will give the option to be part of the Latin American Studies Student Association to plan activities and be ambassadors of the program, giving talks about the major to other students across the campus.

Focusing on Latin American Studies at Western also pairs well as a second major to almost any degree program, including Spanish, History, Sociology, Business, Political Science, Journalism, and many others. As part of the program’s efforts to create and engage all students and Western faculty with multiple activities throughout the year, the program will sponsor a variety of events, including lectures of national and international experts, conferences, and exhibits. "

"We are proud to have already started a Latin American Art Collection at Western, thanks to the artists who have donated their work to our academic community," said Latin American Studies Program Director Luis Portugal.

If you are interested in joining the Program and being part of its community, please make an appointment with the Program Director Luis Portugal (luis.portugal@wwu.edu) who will navigate the catalog with you to review the requirements for our minor and our brand new Latin American Studies major.