Students interested in Latin America can now major in Latin American studies at Ball State.
The major is an interdisciplinary and multicultural major on campus, Marina Guntsche, director of Latin-American studies, said.
Studying Latin-American countries is as important as studying the United States because of the growing number of Hispanic population in the United States, Guntsche said.
"Latin-American culture has been a part of the American culture for long time," she said.
The United States has the fifth-largest Hispanic population in the world, according to the Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation.
"What is nice," Guntsche said, "is that students don't need to be fluent in Spanish to take the class because all the classes are taught in English."
The Latin-American studies program differs from Hispanic studies because it includes Brazil, where Portuguese is commonly spoken, and Haiti, which has a French-speaking population, she said.
With a Latin-American studies degree, students can find employment with the government, international banking and business, and non-governmental organizations that do business in Latin America, according to Ball State's Career Center's Web site.
The need of employments who have an understanding of Latin America is increasing everywhere in the United States, not to mention Indianapolis, she said.
As a required class for both Latin-American studies majors and minors, the Department of Modern Language and Classics started offering a new class called Latin American studies 101, which does not have any prerequisites, from this semester.
In the class, students learn variety of topics related to Latin-American countries, which include Spanish conquest, economic models, natural resources and political problems.
Students with different majors are in the class, Robert Fritz, who teaches LAS 101, said.
The class exposes students to speakers in different fields that have connections in Latin-American countries. Later this semester, students are doing their presentations that connect their majors and Latin-American studies, Fritz said.
Guntsche said that having Latin-American studies as a second major would benefit any student.
Lindsay Spaulding is one of the students to be in the new Latin American studies class this semester.
By taking the class, she wants to understand more about the Latin-American countries and hopefully find a job where she can use the knowledge in the future, Spaulding said.
The facts that the United States has strong political and economical relationship with Latin-American nations can explain why it will be essential for students to learn.
Latin-American studies "is a logical thing to pursue," Fritz said.
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