The reputation of the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Kentucky is based on the department's long-standing history of excellence and a tradition of exciting and innovative scholarship on the part of its faculty. The newly revised program in Hispanic Studies aims to prepare students for successful careers as scholars and teachers by providing them with a strong background in Spanish language and linguistics and Spanish and Spanish American letters and a wide variety of other cultural forms that is supported by a strong critical foundation and informed by an emphasis on interdisciplinarity. 

The connections of the Department of Hispanic Studies to the university's most prestigious and productive programs paired with an active faculty with wide-ranging interests and theoretical approaches allows us to offer an innovative curriculum and a wide range of courses. The department's strengths are reflected in current courses that approach the language and culture of the Hispanic world from the viewpoints of general linguistics, applied linguistics/second language acquisition, cultural and urban studies, border theory, feminist theory, psychoanalysis and post-structuralist poetics, just to name a few. Ph.D. candidates are strongly encouraged to take at least two courses outside of the department in a field of related interest. Many opt to earn a Graduate Certificate in one of the University of Kentucky's renowned interdisciplinary programs, such as Social Theory, Gender and Women's Studies, Latin American Studies, or other Area Studies programs, College Teaching & Learning, and Teaching English as a Second Language. The department strongly encourages graduate students to study and conduct research abroad by participating in either the exchange programs with any of our international partners in the Spanish-speaking world.  

The faculty’s high research productivity, students’ time-to-degree and student diversity are some of the reasons the program has achieved national and international recognition.