Undergraduate Program

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers undergraduates the opportunity to develop proficiency in the four essential language skills—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—in both Spanish and Portuguese. Students also engage with the rich literary, cultural, and linguistic traditions of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds, including the Iberian Peninsula, the Americas, and global contexts.

We offer Bachelor of Arts degrees in Spanish and Portuguese. Our curriculum covers a wide range of topics, including literature, culture, linguistics, and language pedagogy. UC Santa Barbara was one of the first universities in the United States to offer instruction in all five of the Iberian Peninsula's languages and literatures: Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, Catalan, and Galician.

Students interested in majoring or minoring in Spanish or Portuguese are encouraged to meet with department advisors at the beginning of each quarter. Qualified staff in the department office are also available to assist with academic planning and guidance.

The department strongly supports study abroad. Students may spend a semester or year at UC Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) centers in Madrid, Barcelona, Córdoba, Granada, Mexico City, San José, Santiago (Chile), Rio de Janeiro, or Bahia.

Graduates of the Spanish or Portuguese major are well prepared for careers in education, public policy, international trade and finance, translation and interpretation, travel, publishing, public relations, and communications. They may also pursue further study in fields such as medicine, law, or graduate programs in the humanities. Students with these goals are advised to meet with a faculty or departmental advisor early in their academic journey.

Students interested in obtaining a California Teaching Credential should contact the credential advisor in the UC Santa Barbara Graduate School of Education as soon as possible. Those planning to teach at the community college level should note that a master’s degree in Spanish is required. Students pursuing this path should consult with the credential advisor before the fall quarter of the year in which their advanced degree will be completed.

 

Graduate Program

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers M.A./PhD and Ph.D. programs in Hispanic Languages and Literatures. Graduate students can specialize in:

  • Spanish and Spanish American Literature

  • Portuguese and Brazilian Literature

  • Iberian Linguistics

Optional emphases are available in Applied Linguistics, Feminist Studies, Medieval Studies, and Translation Studies.

Our graduate program is supported by an internationally recognized faculty whose expertise spans Peninsular and Latin American cultures and literatures, Portuguese and Brazilian studies, U.S. Latino studies, translation, drama, critical theory, popular culture, linguistics, language pedagogy, and new media. The program regularly collaborates with other departments and units, such as Linguistics, Latin American and Iberian Studies, Comparative Literature, Chicano/-a Studies, Film and Media Studies, and Theater and Dance.

The National Research Council has ranked our graduate program among the top ten in the nation, reflecting the department’s commitment to research excellence, interdisciplinary collaboration, and global engagement.