ACADEMIC PROGRAM:

The academic program depends on the specific needs and requirements of the College or University that establishes a program at the Center. The Center will work to help design a program which satisfies the specific preferences and requirements of the guest institution. In a very real sense the program becomes a program of the guest College or University.

Semester Program (95 days):

The semester program is ideal for students interested in deepening their training in Spanish language, history, literature and culture, yet the Centro also offers classes in a wide variety of academic disciplines such as Communications, Journalism, Psychology, Political Science, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Business (International), and studio art. Courses are taught in Spanish, but are adjusted according to the proficiency of the students. If necessary, some classes in the program could be taught in English. The cities, castles, churches and museums of Spain are used as “classrooms” by the program's professors. The program faculty is local, and all have impeccable qualifications in the fields they teach. The Center welcomes Universities that wish to have one of their own faculty members on site to teach one class, and to help supervise the program's activities.

In keeping with the goals of a liberal education, the Center promotes an intellectual environment in which students are able to explore the human condition. Students are exposed to unique opportunities to examine the fundamental, recurring questions about themselves and the world. Relevance, ethics, morality and tolerance are questions which the Center tries earnestly to place at the heart of academics, and in this way helping to integrate academics, life and values.

Some possible courses in the academic program:

• Intermediate Spanish.

• Spanish Conversation/Composition:
  These courses will emphasize conversational and written Spanish, grammar review, idiomatic expressions, and oral practice, using newspapers and magazines, discussions and oral presentations.

• Spanish Culture and Civilization:
  A study of Spain through history, the arts, customs, economics and politics up to 1900.

• Modern Spain:
  Spanish history from 1900 to the present. The course will focus on the “Ancien Regime”, the Second Republic, the Civil War, the Franco dictatorship, the transition to democracy, right up to its current political environment. The course will also take a close look at some of Spain's biggest challenges and opportunities: Basque nationalism and ETA terrorism, Immigration, and the European Union.

• Seminar:
  Contemporary Spanish Literature.
  Classical Spanish Literature
  Topics in Hispanic Literature: An in-depth study of a particular work, author, or theme or period in Spanish literature (Generation of 1898, Picaresque Novel, Spanish Golden Age Drama, Contemporary Fiction by Women, Civil War Narratives; Post War Novel, Miguel de Unamuno, etc.)
  
  
• Literature:
  Tthe full range of possible Spanish and/or Spanish American Literature classes can be offered.
  
  
• History of Spanish Art:
  A study of the development of art in Spain, during the following periods: Stone Age and Megalithic; Roman; Early Christian; Visigothic; Moslem; Mozarabic; Gothic; Renaissance; Baroque; Neoclassical; Romanticism; Modernist; Surrealism; contemporary painting, architecture and sculpture. Students will visit a local museum or monument as part of class at least once a week (usually every Friday afternoon).

• European Politics:
  Examines comparatively the political systems of Europe with particular emphasis on Western Europe in the context of Spain. In light of events at the end of the Cold War, the course includes the study of Easter Europe including the Balkans. European integration through the European Union will be a major focus of the course. Issues of political and social change will be explored including a study of violence and terrorism.

• The Spanish Civil War and its Aftermath:
  This course will examine a series of moral and ethical questions that issue from the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, and its aftermath.

Examples of other possible class offerings, but not limited to, the following:

Communication:

• Film Appreciation

• Advanced Film Studies

• Interpersonal Communication

• Rhetoric and Oratory

• Organizational Communication

• Mass Media Theory

• Argumentation

Psychology:

• Ethics in Psychology Social

• Communication

• History of Psychology

Political Science:

• International Relations

• European Politics

• Political Transformation of Spain: from Dictatorship to Democracy

Philosophy:

• Philosophy of Human Nature

• Social Philosophy

• Great Issues in Philosophy

Anthropology:

• Introduction to Anthropology

• Cultural Anthropology

Photography:

• For beginners

• Advanced