Launched in 2000 after years of preparatory work by members from various departments at The University of Scranton, Latin American Studies (LAS) has grown from a concentration comprised of six faculty members, two students and six courses into a major and a concentration with 12 faculty members, 35 current students and 26 courses. Seventy-eight students have graduated from the program as of May 2011. LAS majors and concentrators must study either Portuguese or Spanish and take an array of structured courses in history and political science, philosophy and theology/religious studies, biology, anthropology, geography, and literature. They typically combine the LAS major and concentration with majors and minors in international language/business, international business, secondary education, Spanish, biology, English, international studies, political science, psychology and philosophy, among others. LAS alumni have launched successful careers in teaching, business, law, medicine, journalism and the priesthood.

In keeping with the mission of the University, LAS prepares students to confront the responsibilities and challenges of our increasingly interdependent world. As such, the program seeks to provide both broad, general knowledge of the Latin American region as a whole and to advance students’ understanding of specific countries, regions and cultures. This need is reinforced by the significant movement of peoples and ideas globally and especially among the American nations. Demographic trends in the United States, moreover, point to a strengthening of the U.S. Latino population, which is approximately 80 percent Catholic and destined to play an important role in shaping parishes, student bodies in parochial schools and Catholic universities, Catholic life and values in the United States, and the regional and national influence of the church.

LAS’s spectacular growth and multidisciplinary nature led, in 2009, to its partnership with the University’s Women’s Studies Program and the subsequent creation of the Department of Latin American Studies and Women’s Studies (LA/ W/S). The operating agreement of these separate programs delineates how each complements the other: students acquire "knowledge about society, culture, identity, politics, power, and social justice ... [and] share a commitment to the interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary study of political, social, and cultural issues …"

LAS consistently schedules cultural programming for members of the University and greater community, including guest speakers, musical concerts and instructional film series. Nearly 80 movies (four per semester) have been shown during the past decade around themes such as the martyrdom of the Jesuits and their housekeepers in El Salvador, the 125- year anniversaries of Mexican independence and revolution, and indigenous rights. Specific examples of LAS programming follow:

In fall 2009, LAS commemorated the 20th anniversary of the vicious murders of six Jesuits at El Salvador’s University of Central America (UCA). Since 1999, The University of Scranton has forged strong ties to the UCA via its "Bridges to El Salvador" program. In fact, more than 100 Scranton professors and administrators, including nine LAS faculty, have traveled to the UCA. Classroom lectures in LAS classes focused on El Salvador’s brutal civil war and the deaths of Monsignor Oscar Romero, the Jesuits and churchwomen. LAS’s four instructional films that semester provided students with different perspectives on these same events: "Enemies of War," a 2001 documentary on U.S. military assistance to the Salvadoran government during the civil war and the deaths of the Jesuits by that country’s military establishment; "Romero," a 1989 film that examines the archbishop’s calls for peace and justice and his subsequent murder by right-wing forces; "Roses in December," a 1992 documentary that focuses on U.S. foreign policy during the Reagan administration and the rape and murder of four Maryknoll missionaries; and "Salvador," a 1986 movie on Romero and the preferential option for the poor as espoused by some church members at that time. LAS also co-sponsored a talk by Christine Wade, Ph.D., from Washington College, who addressed the topic of democracy in post-civil war El Salvador.

LAS programming in 2010 focused on Mexico. Members invited Alejandro Quintana, Ph.D., of St. John’s University to speak to students in an advanced class on Latin American politics and to address the greater community on "Pancho Villa and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution." Instructors offered four instructional films that integrated various aspects of recent Mexican history and culture into their classes: "The Violin," "Rudo y Cursi," "7 Soles" and "Alamar." María Dolores Aguilar Vaca of Guadalajara, Mexico, performed traditional Mexican music, most notably ranchera and bolero. She described these different musical genres, provided in depth explanations of native and imported musical instruments in Mexico, and then sang 10 songs while dressed in a traditional traje de charra.

Programming during spring 2010 allowed students to better comprehend indigenous peoples and their struggles for human rights in Latin America. This theme was selected, in part, because of the success of a LA/W/S travel course to Puebla, Mexico, which allowed students to visit women’s economic cooperatives and understand the challenges of development in Latin America in general and the burdens on women in undeveloped nations in particular. Farid Samir Benavides Vanegas, a renowned expert on indigenous peoples in South America, gave a public lecture on "Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia: Between Litigation and Active Resistance," and a presentation in a course on Latin American culture and civilization. Benavides’ observations about his native Colombia were complemented by the perspectives offered in LAS’s four instructional films that semester: "Indigenous Peoples of Amazonia" (Brazil and Ecuador), "The Ache Indians of Paraguay," "Tree of Knowledge" (Mexico) and "Scars of Memory" (El Salvador). The Peruvian group Inkas Wasi performed at the University later that same semester. The three members of this gifted musical ensemble performed a wonderful blend of traditional Andean and popular Spanish music. Their performance began with a 15-minute educational program that described Andean instruments such as the bombo (wooden drum), sampoño or siku (panpipes), toyos (bass panpipes) and charango (a small stringed instrument similar to the mandolin). The artists also set up a colorful display of Andean alpaca weavings, musical instruments, indigenous children’s toys and masks, which they encouraged audience members to examine. Members in attendance included children from a local inner-city youth group, University students and professors and members of Scranton’s increasingly diverse Hispanic community.

LAS has on three occasions (2008, 2009 and 2011) invited musicians from the Philadelphia-based "Asociación de Músicos Latino Americanos" (Association of Latin American Musicians or AMLA) to provide our students, faculty and members of the local community with the opportunity to learn about the history of salsa and meringue, to sample the music, and to dance. This group began their performances by describing and demonstrating the different indigenous, African and European elements in the musical traditions of the Caribbean. Reticent at first to try the dance moves demonstrated by the AMLA members, most members of the audience quickly let their hair down and danced these nights away.

Funding for these and other events was provided by the Provost’s Office, the Dean’s Office of the College of Arts and Sciences, and by grants received from Scranton’s Office of Equity and Diversity and its Education for Justice program.