Why learn Spanish?
Expand and enrich your world.
Graduate with an edge in the job market.
Take courses on Latin American film and cultural studies in Spanish.
Study abroad for a full semester in Chile, Ecuador, or Spain for a life changing experience.

Keene State College has a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion. Having a strong Spanish program is essential to that commitment. In our program, students do not only learn Spanish language skills (speaking/writing/reading), but also an understanding of the rich and complex histories and cultures of Latin America and Spain.

Teaching these courses in the target language, builds fluency in Spanish and deepens students’ grasp of diversity and social empathy. Students grapple with their assumptions and gain depth of cultural and historical knowledge. If higher education at a public liberal arts college is, in part, about learning to interact within a pluralistic society, then our classes are a crucial component in achieving that goal. We make visible many cultures, ways of thinking, and ways of communicating.

Latinos have had a long history in New England and that population is only growing. Our department at Keene State College has worked with many heritage learners (HL), which are students who have already been immersed in Spanish at home but have not formally studied the language. These students interact with our non-native speakers in the classroom.

We serve Spanish majors and students with double majors in Education, Nursing and Public Health, Construction Safety, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Anthropology, and History among others. When students combine Spanish with other fields, they build language skills and cultural perspectives, which allows them to start their careers with a significant advantage.

Our Spanish Education students consistently find multiple employment opportunities after graduation. Registered nurses (RN) or public health professionals graduating with bilingual skills also find many job opportunities and, most importantly, make communication possible. The same is true for Construction Safety and Occupational Health Applied Sciences. With bilingual skills, students graduate with an edge in the job market and ensure workplace safety.

For more info on Spanish courses and other details, see the following links:

https://www.keene.edu/catalog/courses/explore/all/sp/

https://www.keene.edu/academics/programs/sp/

https://www.keene.edu/catalog/programs/detail/spanish-ba/