In order to ease the enrollment crunch in Spanish classes, the Spanish department received a $50,000 grant from University President John T. Casteen III to hire new instructors for its 100-level and 200-level courses.
Several Spanish department faculty members are on leave this year, placing the Spanish department in immediate need of funding, Spanish Dept. Chairman Joel Rini said.
According to Rini, officials spent the $50,000 on four additional instructors to teach eight new sections of Spanish this semester. There currently are 12 sections of 100-level courses and 34 sections of 200-level courses.
To graduate from the College, all students must take either four semesters in a 100 and 200 level language sequence, or place out of the requirement.
The Spanish department's popularity, however, means the grant lends the department only a temporary respite from the pressing problem of how to deal with the increasing demand for classes.
"This grant is only intended to tide us over," Rini said. "We're struggling to meet demand semester by semester."
As a long-term solution, Rini proposed a restructuring of Spanish 101 and 102, to be supplemented by a Web-based program that would allow students to access class materials from their home computers.
Graduate students are limited to teaching either one class five days per week or two classes three days per week. Currently, the 100-level classes are worth four credits and meet five days a week, thus limiting teaching assistants to teaching only one section.
Rini proposed restructuring classes to meet two or three times a week. This change would allow teaching assistants to double the number of courses they instruct.
Emily Scida, assistant professor of Spanish and director of the Summer Foreign Language Institute, is planning to purchase a Web-based program to compensate for the loss of class time.
"Materials formerly only available in the classroom or the language lab would be online," Scida said. "About two hours of work on the Web program per week would allow the 100-level courses to retain their four-credit value."
In addition, Rini and Scida both encouraged participation in the Summer Foreign Language Institute to fulfill language requirements. The program allows students to fulfill the entire 12-credit foreign language requirement through a summer immersion program.
"It's a unique opportunity," Scida said. "It's possible we are the only school in the country that offers a program like this."
But Rini made clear that the department's recent popularity most likely does not stem entirely from more College students' looking to fulfill language requirements in Spanish, nor is the demand for classes likely to ease in the near future.
"An interesting fact is that the number of Spanish majors has doubled over the past fifteen years," he said. "More and more people are finding Spanish to be invaluable in their careers"
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