Romance Language department to hire new Latin American Studies professor

The Department of Romance Languages is looking for a new Latin American Studies professor to satisfy the growing number of students taking Spanish and related classes at Tufts.

The search process, which will seek a professor on the tenure track, may take as long as a year, but the department is hoping to have a new professor who can start work next fall, Romance Languages Chair Elizabeth Howe said.

The Romance Languages department has seen an increase in the number of students who want to take Spanish over the past few years, Howe said. Demand for both Latino Studies and Latin American classes has also increased.

The department's Spanish division is understaffed and therefore cannot offer as many upper-level classes as it would like to, Howe said. "No matter how many we offer they always want more," she said. "It is not a question of turnover [within the department], rather an increasing demand," she said.

The overwhelming popularity of the Spanish major in comparison to French, the only other language offered as a major in the department, may be attributed to an increasing interest in Latin American Studies, Dean of Academic Affairs Kevin Dunn said.

A limited number of classes means some students are closed out of opportunities, Senior Carson Osberg said. "I've seen a lot of people in my Spanish classes get shut out, both last semester and this semester. There are at least ten to 15 extra people trying to get in to a 20-person class," she said.

Many of the Spanish classes are offered at inconvenient times, Osberg added. "[The department] needs to offer more classes at different times during the day because a lot of the classes meet at the same time as other classes students need," she said.

Students majoring in International Relations also put a strain on the Romance Languages department because they often choose to take classes in Spanish and related field, and are required to take several upper-level classes.

Many Spanish students are feeling the effects of an inadequate number of professors. This semester, the University offered 12 100-level classes in Spanish. Fewer professors may affect the number of classes being offered, and the number of students who can get in to the classes, Senior Clare Dooley said. "I went to a Spanish 32 class and had to bring in a chair to start the third row of seats in the room," she said.

Dunn agreed that students have increased their demands for Spanish classes and said that there is, "a lot of pressure on the Spanish side to hire more professors."

A small number of class offerings causes many students to worry that a poor registration time will prevent them from getting in to the classes they want to take, said Senior Sarah Dale. "With all the stresses of senior year, the last thing I needed was to worry that I wouldn't be able to finish my graduation requirements simply because classes weren't being offered," she said.

There is also a growing disparity in ability levels of the students in the classes, sophomore Jessica Soto said. A fluent Spanish speaker, Soto said that students in her classes appear to have very different abilities to speak the language.

"There is only so high up you can get in the department here before you run out of classes to take," she said. "My ability level is completely different from someone who has only been trained to study the grammar of the language," she said.