Aerial view of a Spanish city

Graduate Program Spanish


Degree Details

  • Masters (M)
    Total Credits
    45
    Start Term
    Any
    Delivery Method
    On campus

Learn more about our academic program delivery methods



Spanish Master's Degree Overview

Our master's degree in Spanish immerses you in the language and its rich cultures and provides you with the tools to excel in both scholarship and teaching.

The Spanish graduate program offers an exciting and rigorous education in research, writing, and teaching that prepares you to pursue doctoral studies, teach, or succeed in another career.

PSU's faculty hold a broad range of expertise and experience and will provide you with mentoring that acts as a guide throughout your time in the program.

Our program offers relevant electives on a breadth of topics, like literature in the Franco era, dialectology, indigeneity in film, cognitive science and early modern literature, Latin American colonial and decolonial studies, and underground spaces in Mexican visual and literary culture.

As you go further into the Spanish master’s program, you’ll also gain practical teaching experience that puts you at the front of a classroom and familiarizes you with the landscape of language instruction.

Spanish Master's Degree: Why PSU?

Our Spanish faculty bring a wide range of expertise to their classes at Portland State, offering you a wealth of knowledge and research across a diverse range of cultural phenomena in Spain and Latin America, as well as in applied linguistics.

With our small, engaging courses, you'll develop a broad and critical knowledge of cultural, linguistic, and literary studies, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. You will enhance your academic fluency, and gain an appreciation of the cultural and historical events that have shaped the Hispanic world and its artistic and literary movements.

Faculty work closely with you, mentoring you from your acceptance into the program until graduation. They will guide you in selecting your courses, honing your critical skills, and developing your research. You will get to know your professors in your courses and seminars while writing term papers, one of which will serve as the basis for an extensive research project that caps your master's degree.

You will also learn about best practices in language teaching and learning, and gain valuable experience leading your own classroom.

With weekly guidance and curricular support from faculty and peers, you'll have the opportunity to develop your own teaching style and prepare for a possible career teaching Spanish.

What can I do with a master's degree in Spanish?

Most of our alumni have pursued careers as Spanish teachers in K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities, or have gone on to work with organizations that require fluency in Spanish.

Other recent graduates have continued on to doctoral programs. They have been accepted to programs at Arizona State University, Indiana University, Universidad de Salamanca, University of British Columbia, University of California at Davis, University of Connecticut, University of Georgia, University of Houston, University of Kentucky, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Georgetown University, and University of Texas.