Introduction to Statistics provides a basic foundation in descriptive and inferential statistics, including constructing models from data. Students will learn to think critically about data, produce meaningful graphical and numerical summaries of data, apply basic probability models, and utilize statistical inference procedures using computational tools. Topics include basic descriptive and inferential statistics, visualization, study design, and multiple regression.

(Offered as STAT 108 and ECON 108) This course will provide a rigorous presentation of fundamental statistical principles and ethics. We will discuss standards for relationships between statisticians and policymakers, researchers, the press, and other institutions, as well as the standards for interactions between statisticians and their employers/clients, colleagues and research subjects.

The senior seminar is offered every fall semester and fulfills the capstone requirement. It is designed for Spanish majors to reflect, integrate, and apply what they have learned and accomplished in the major. At the beginning of the semester, students will prepare a portfolio of work created throughout the major, including during their study abroad experience, to share and discuss with classmates. The rest of the semester will be devoted to individual or collaborative projects.

The Department calls attention to the fact that Special Topics courses may be offered to students on either an individual or group basis.

Students interested in forming a group course on some aspect of Hispanic life and culture are invited to talk over possibilities with a representative of the Department. When possible, this should be done several weeks in advance of the semester in which the course is to be taken.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

(Offered as SPAN 451 and LLAS 451) This course highlights literary connections between the United States and the Spanish-speaking world via translation. Through a study of texts from the late nineteenth century to the present, we will look at the role of translation in literary histories and current literary activities. We will examine how writers have translated in order to practice and enhance their creative writing. We will use translation as a way to access and analyze literary texts. We will also think about translation as professional and collaborative activities.

(Offered as SPAN 426 and EUST 426) Spanish Antifa heroes, saboteurs, and spies have driven the longest anti-fascist resistance in Europe. Spaniards have been at the vanguard of anti-fascism from the time of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, to the fight against Nazi genocide during World War II, to opposition to the populist Trump-inspired Vox party of the twenty-first century. This course will consider the men and women of diverse left-wing political beliefs who risked their lives to put down fascist movements in Spain and throughout Europe.

(Offered as SPAN 415 and EDST 415) Bilingualism is very common in homes throughout the United States, yet remains controversial in public discourse and especially in public education.

(Offered as SPAN 357 and LLAS 357) Spanish is the second-most widely spoken language in the world. With more than 400 million native speakers, it has official status in 21 countries. In the United States more than 40 million people use Spanish in their daily lives. What exactly is the Spanish language? What do you actually know when you speak Spanish? These questions are at the heart of this course.

Taught simultaneously at Amherst and Bowdoin, the course is designed as a cultural history of Hispanic civilization through its dictionaries. What authority do they exert? Who collects them? In what way do dictionaries change? The focus will be on the role words have played in history and their political, social, and commercial value. Starting with lexicons of indigenous, slave, and immigrant languages, students will engage in an in-depth exploration of figures like Antonio de Nebrija, Sebastián de Covarrubias, Andres Bello, and Maria Moliner.

Language is an integral part of identity performance and perception. Paying special attention to the topic of race, this course examines the power of language and language ideologies as exclusionary and inclusionary social tools, permitting or denying group membership. Via the analysis of literary and historical texts, linguistic and anthropological research, and digital media, students learn about the role of language variation in various Hispanic socio-political contexts.