Penn State » Summer Education Abroad » Mexico » Courses Offered

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Courses Offered

Students are required to take 9 credits.

The following course is mandatory for ALL students.

SPAN 497 Special Topics: Central Mexican Culture and Civilization (3 credits)
This course will provide an introduction to Mexican culture and art from pre-Columbian to contemporary. In addition, the course will provide students with experiential learning opportunities via service learning in Puebla. In this way the course will provide both a historical overview and an experiential cultural component in contemporary Mexican society. As part of the course, we will take three multiday cultural trips and visit a number of major archeological sites.

Language (select one)

SPAN 099 Foreign Studies (3 credits)
Course offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.
Prerequisite: None

SPAN 199 Foreign Study — Beginning Conversational Spanish (equivalent to SPAN 003) (3 credits)
Grammar review and practice in oral expression and aural comprehension.
Prerequisite: SPAN 002 or equivalent proficiency

SPAN 399 Foreign Study — Spanish (3 credits)
Intermediate or advanced grammar and language development. This course involves intensive conversation and reading.
Prerequisite: SPAN 003 or equivalent proficiency

SPAN 499 Modern Mexican Short Story (3 credits)
This course is a study of short narrative fiction produced by a selection of Mexican authors of note during roughly the middle third of the twentieth century, or what corresponds, in national terms, to a period of economic development and modernization known (not without controversy) as “el milagro mexicano” (1940–1968). Texts by authors including José Revueltas, Juan José Arreola, Juan Rulfo, Rosario Castellanos, José Emilio Pacheco, Elena Garro, Elena Poniatowska, and Carlos Fuentes will be considered from the standpoint of form, discourse, and cultural context.

Studio Arts (select one)

ART 297 Special Topics (3 credits)
Supervised instruction in the studio arts, focusing on one or more of the following areas: painting, drawing, photography, and collage/assemblage. There will be visits to the studios of artists who are working in contemporary art as well as traditional crafts.

ART 497 Special Topics (3 credits)
Supervised instruction in the studio arts for advanced and graduate students, with independent projects.
Prerequisite: 3 credits of 300-level art courses

Eligibility

The program is open to all Penn State students and students from other institutions with a minimum 2.5 grade-point average. Applicants are considered on a first-come, first-served basis. Students are encouraged to apply early, as enrollment is limited.

Faculty

Roxana Gearhart is a lecturer in the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese at Penn State. She graduated with honors, as a lawyer from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and continued her studies in the field of education. She established a law firm and worked as a lawyer for the public and private sectors in Mexico City. She has taught English as a Second Language in many prestigious universities in Mexico, as well as Spanish at Penn State and at The University of Georgia. She has been an award-winning teacher of Spanish at Penn State since 2001. She has worked with a bilingual agency as a translator and interpreter. Ms. Gearhart is a member of the Centre County Association of Latino Professionals (ALPs) in State College, Pennsylvania, and she volunteers in several local organizations. 

Dr. Matthew J. Marr is an associate professor of Spanish at Penn State, where he teaches courses in Hispanic literature and culture. He holds a doctorate and a master's degree in Spanish from the University of Virginia, and, as an undergraduate at the College of William & Mary, studied abroad at the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile) and the Universitat de València (Spain). Before coming to Penn State, Professor Marr held faculty positions in the Spanish programs at Middlebury College, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University.

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