Red and yellow painted stairs and buildings in Old Town, Calp, Spain

Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Welcome! ¡Bienvenidos! Bem-vindos!

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers a full range of undergraduate and graduate courses. While the major emphasis of the Department is literature, we also offer courses in Spanish language, linguistics, and culture, as well as Portuguese language, Brazilian literature and cultural studies. We recognize the integral relationship between teaching and research, and all members of the faculty are both active scholars and dedicated teachers.

Department Spotlight

Spanish Majors

2024 Graduate Recognition Ceremony

Congratulations to all of our graduating students! Photos and award info are now available on our website.
Colorful building in Brazil

Course Descriptions

Learn more about courses that will be available this summer and in Fall 2024!
Uruguay street with fruit market

Summer Courses Online

Earn credits online this summer! SPAN 104, 108, 212, and 216 all have online sections available for Summer 2024.

News Articles

Spain still struggles over interpretation of its Golden Age

“If you want to understand the chaos of Spain, pay more attention to how they're using their classics, because that gives you a sense of the current state of things,” said Robert Bayliss, University of Kansas professor of Spanish and author of the new book “The Currency of Cultural Patrimony: The…

Contemplating eco-catastrophe through Spanish science fiction lens

LAWRENCE – The “deep, existential malaise” stemming from fear of impending ecological catastrophe has permeated science fiction around the globe, a University of Kansas professor writes in a new scholarly journal article.

Study shows long-standing links among disease, race, class, infrastructure

LAWRENCE — Links — both real and imagined — between race and disease are far older than the COVID-19 pandemic.

International Collections Librarian forging a path as a scholar, connector, mentor

Milton Machuca-Galvez understands the merit of self-sufficiency, a quality that has proven worthwhile throughout a career that has included transporting essential supplies into remote mountain ranges, as well as decades of research, teaching, and academic leadership in sometimes new and unfamilia

By the Numbers

100
undergraduates majoring in Spanish
300
undergraduates seeking a Spanish minor
40+
books and edited volumes published by current faculty

By the Numbers

15
faculty members dedicated to scholarship and teaching
5
study abroad programs in Argentina, Brazil, and Spain
3
in-house publications, Latin American Theater Review, LATR Books, and La corónica

Department Highlights

  • Fiske Guide to Colleges calls Spanish & Portuguese one of KU's strongest programs
  • Consistently ranked among the most distinguished graduate programs in Spanish by the National Research Council
  • 2007 Departmental Award for Exceptional Teaching and Learning from KU's Center for Teaching Excellence
  • 2012 Access to Language Education Focus Award from the Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO) for Acceso
  • Comprehensive undergraduate program in Spanish language, literature and culture, as well as Portuguese language and Brazilian literature and cultural studies
  • Comprehensive graduate program in Spanish language, literature and culture

KU Students studying abroad in Brazil

Portuguese and Brazilian Studies

The University of Kansas has had a long tradition of interdisciplinary research and teaching in the field of Brazilian studies. Classes in Brazilian history, geography, literature, cinema, and music populated KU curriculum even before Brazilian studies became such an avid area of academic interest and inquiry as it is now in the United States. KU students have consistently learned the Portuguese language and about Brazilian culture for decades. We currently offer graduate and undergraduate level courses on Brazil and with significant Brazil content through different KU departments and the university’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Visit the Brazilian Studies homepage

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