Languages and Cultures
MacLean Hall 279, (218) 477-2912
Chair: Annette Morrow
Faculty: Tsuo-Wen Chao, John Hall, Linda Houts-Smith, Takanori Mita

East Asian Studies
The department offers a B.A. major and minor in East Asian Studies. Students who major in East Asian Studies may select one of three areas of emphasis: business, humanities, or language and culture. The core requirements for this program consist of:

1. Four semesters of Chinese or Japanese;
2. Chinese 132 (Chinese Culture) and Japanese 142 (Japanese Culture);
3. Two East Asian history courses.

For detailed requirements, see B.A. Degree in East Asian Studies. Three year courses of study are offered in Japanese and two years in Chinese.

Student Learning Outcomes (East Asian Studies)

• Ability to assess their knowledge of Asian history
• Ability to demonstrate listening comprehension skills, writing skills, and reading skills in Japanese and Chinese.

Spanish
The department offers B.A. and B.S. majors and minors in Spanish. In our Spanish program, students first focus on becoming proficient in their use and understanding of the language then they begin to take courses in culture and civilization, literature, linguistics, and translation.

The Department of History, Languages, Critical Race and Women's Studies is affiliated with Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. Our chapter of the Society, Upsilon Sigma, has been nationally recognized for Honor and Merit.

Proposed course of study for B.A. Spanish majors:
1st year
Fall semester SPAN 201 and SPAN 211 
Spring semester SPAN 202 and SPAN 212 

2nd year
Fall semester SPAN 301 and SPAN 311 
Spring semester SPAN 302, SPAN 321 (odd years) or SPAN 322 (even years)

3rd year
Fall semester SPAN 340 and SPAN 401
Spring semester SPAN 341 (even years) or SPAN 342 (odd years), SPAN 351

4th year
Fall semester any 3rd or 4th year elective
Spring semester any 3rd or 4th year elective

Students who are seeking a B.S. degree in Spanish Education will need to work closely with their advisor in order to make the proper adjustments to the program outlined above. Students who begin their Spanish studies at a level below Spanish 201 will also need to make adjustments to the above schedule, in consultation with their faculty advisor.

Admission to SPAN 301 has the following prerequisites:

• Transfer students or incoming freshmen must take a placement exam before enrolling in Spanish 301.
• Students who have taken Spanish 201 and 202 at MSUM must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in those two courses in order to enroll in Spanish 301.

Student Learning Outcomes (Spanish)

• Listening Proficiency: Students are able to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics in different times; demonstrate emerging awareness of culturally implied meanings.
• Reading Proficiency: Students are able to follow the main ideas or facts of written discourse.
• Writing Proficiency: Students are able to meet most practical writing needs.
• Oral Proficiency: Students can initiate and maintain communication for most uncomplicated social tasks.

Other Languages
Students may obtain minors in French, German, Norwegian, and Scandinavian Studies through Tri-College coursework.

Study Abroad
Students who are studying in the department are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad. We have exchange programs and connections with other study abroad programs in Japan, Spain, and Ecuador. Students who wish to study abroad should work closely with their faculty advisor in order to plan a course of study that will apply to their major or minor coursework. For further information, contact the department. Organized trips usually take place in the spring or right after spring semester.

General Information
Several departments/programs, —including Art History, Biology, Chemistry, English, History, Mass Communications, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology—either require or strongly recommend that their B.A. majors study at least one foreign language, especially if they intend to pursue graduate degrees. International Business and International Studies require two years of a foreign language.

Previous Instruction
Students with one year or less of foreign language at the secondary level should enroll in a beginning language course (101). Students with two years of high school language study should ordinarily enroll in 102. Most students who have had three to four years of high school language instruction should enroll in an intermediate course (201 and 211 or 202 and 212).

There is a required, online placement exam for incoming Spanish students. Consult with the department chair if you have questions concerning placement.

Teaching Foreign Languages
Students who plan to teach foreign languages in elementary or secondary public schools should elect the B.S. major or minor.

All students, including transfer students, who apply for the B.S. degree with a language major must have completed a minimum of 14 credits of upper-level coursework in the department, including LANG 471 and LANG 472. Candidates for teaching licensure must be able to pass a number of proficiency tests that meet the standards of the State Board of Teaching before the application for teaching licensure can be approved. All students seeking a B.S. major or minor in the department should establish and maintain close contact with a departmental advisor to be certain that satisfactory progress is being made toward the degree. Consult with the department chair concerning an advisor.

Graduate Study in Foreign Languages
A reading knowledge of a second foreign language is essential to graduate study in languages. A student who expects to seek a graduate degree is advised to plan an undergraduate curriculum with a minor in a second language or with a double major. It is also advisable to take more than the minimum credits required for the major.

American Multicultural Studies
Bridges 359, (218) 477-2196
Faculty: Phyllis May-Machunda, Kim Park-Nelson

American Multicultural Studies courses develop students' knowledge and understanding of the diverse heritage of the United States in the past and present. Grounded in the historical experiences, cultural practices, literary traditions, artistic production, intellectual contributions, political struggles, and voices of Native American Indian, African American, Chicano/Latino and Asian American peoples, American Multicultural Studies courses provide an increased level of knowledge about the multicultural foundations of the United States. By emphasizing these perspectives, we challenge misperceptions derived from the social construction of race and use interdisciplinary methods to situate these histories and viewpoints into contexts that highlight interactions with the American mainstream. As a result, students learn theoretical and applied skills central to a liberal studies education, while cultivating a greater respect for the diversity of our common humanity.

American Multicultural Studies courses are particularly appropriate for career fields where a broad and diverse knowledge of American society is desirable, such as in history, education, human and social services, public service, business, communications, sociology, health professions, women's studies, global studies, law and the arts.

• Recognize the status, concerns, achievements, representations and experiences of African Americans, Native American Indians, Chicanos/Latinos, and Asian Americans.
• Examine and apply key concepts from multicultural American experiences, values, beliefs and behaviors to core visual, aural and literary texts.
• Comprehend and critique humanistic and social scientific texts within their historical and cultural contexts.
• Identify, analyze and discuss complex issues and policies in American society from critical interdisciplinary, comparative, and multicultural perspectives.
• Interpret and synthesize research materials using interdisciplinary methodologies and skills.
• Create and critically evaluate oral, written, and visual presentations of multicultural research.

Women’s and Gender Studies
MacLean Hall, 175 (218) 477-4075
Program Director: Kandace Creel Falcon
Program and Affiliated Faculty: Anna Arnar, Laurie Blunsom , Steve Bolduc, Marilea Bramer, Karen Branden, Ellen Brisch, Layna Cole, Rebecca Gardner, Brittney Goodman, Paul Harris, Geri Hendrix-Sloan, Susan Humphers-Ginther, Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson, Phyllis May-Machunda, Terry Manno, Katherine Meiners, Annette Morrow, Carol Okigbo, Raymond Rea, Larry Schwartz, Sherry Short, Chris Walla, Patricia Wisenden, Deborah White

Women’s and Gender Studies Curriculum
The Women’s and Gender Studies program at MSUM has been ongoing since 1971. Students can earn a major or minor in Women’s and Gender Studies, a minor in Women’s Health, and a certificate in Women and Science. Women’s and Gender Studies uses diverse historic and contemporary sources to examine the intersections of gender with racism, classism, heterosexism and other oppressions. Courses in the program use theoretical frameworks from social science, history and humanities plus other disciplines grounded in anti-oppression and social justice work to analyze the social and political locations of diverse identities. The program combines an interdisciplinary understanding of social structures with specific analyses of women’s experiences both locally and globally. Students are challenged to understand and analyze complex current and historic realities and to enact social change through activism.

For further information about the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, please visit our website:
web.mnstate.edu/women/.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Describe how identities are socially constructed along intersecting axes of gender, race, class, sexuality and ability.
• Demonstrate knowledge of issues facing women and the movements that have responded to those issues both historically and globally.
• Recognize and analyze dynamics of social power, including relations of oppression and privilege between men and women as well as between women of different social groups.
• Evaluate issues utilizing the tools of multiple disciplines (multidisciplinarity) and by moving between disciplines in ways that bring those disciplines together (interdisciplinarity).
• Examine the relationship between theory and practice by applying knowledge gained in the academy to circumstances, experiences and activist work outside of the academy.