The Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) today approved a new Master of Arts degree in Spanish to be offered by Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP).

The program was designed largely for Spanish teachers, who, under new requirements developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, essentially must hold a master’s degree after three years in the field in order to receive the appropriate certification.

Those enrolled in the new program will be required to complete 30 credits of courses plus a thesis or 36 credits without a thesis. The five core courses will be taught in Spanish. The program expects to enroll approximately 20 full- and part-time students annually.

IUP’s Department of Spanish recently was awarded special recognition by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which lauded the department as “the new face of language teacher education.”

For more information, please contact the university.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Approximately 454,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.