In the Fall of 1967 Professors Keller, McCrary, Reedy, Jones, J., and Jones, M., Sturm, H., and Sturm, S., joined the staff of the University of Kentucky from the University of North Carolina to form the Department of Spanish and Italian, now Department of Hispanic Studies. At that time only Professor Gerardo Sáenz represented Spanish Studies at the University at the senior staff level. Also transferring from UNC were some twenty five graduate students all of whom were engaged in work leading either to the Ph.D. or M.A. degree and all of whom were experienced teaching assistants. In addition to this number some eight new graduate students were added to the departmental rosters. Thus all programs, activities, and achievements of this Department date from that year. The M.A. and Ph.D. programs as they were initially set forth reflected the collective experience of the above named faculty members whose careers included service at the Universities of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Illinois. In a word, the department incorporated the best ideas from all of these institutions with specific ideas of its own. In the 1966 Carter Report, the Spanish half of the Department of Romance Languages of the University of North Carolina, comprised primarily of the seven named individuals above, was rated sixth in the nation, preceded by California (Berkeley), Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Harvard in that order. (Source: Departmental Files, 1974 Report).

After several decades with a predominately literary and cultural studies focus, the undergraduate and graduate curriculum was expanded toward the end of the first decade (circa 2008) of the 21st century to include more courses in linguistics and applied linguistics with concomitant faculty hires in those fields of study. Students could now take beginning and advanced translation, general linguistics, interpretation, and a variety of Spanish for specific purposes courses. Even within the traditional areas of literary and cultural studies, the department’s course offerings and faculty expertise expanded to include the area of Latinx studies.   

The Department of Hispanic Studies is proud of its legacy and is committed to maintaining a high degree of its excellence while evolving to meet the needs of its students and larger trends in each respective field. The Department has a reputation for the quality of its students, for its plurality of theoretical approaches to the study of Hispanic linguistics, literature, and culture, and for its vibrant intellectual environment.