Contact Information:
Jeremy Sanchez
Department of Communications & Humanities Chair
Contact Information:
Kate Edgar
Department of Communications & Humanities Associate Chair
Spanish & Foreign Languages
The AA Foreign Language - Spanish offers the fundamentals of Spanish Language with a functional focus. Spanish college courses build from foundational language skills to communicative proficiency, incorporating culture, literature, and practical use for heritage speakers or the workplace, focusing on listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with advanced levels exploring Hispanic cultures and complex texts.
Communicative and academic instruction through listening, reading, speaking, writing, and contact with the Hispanic world. Learning Spanish for a degree builds powerful transferable skills like critical thinking, cross-cultural communication, complex problem-solving, research, analysis, written/oral communication, and adaptability, which are vital across all industries, enabling you to understand diverse perspectives, manage ambiguity, and connect globally in fields from business and tech to healthcare and diplomacy.
Key transferable skills gained include, but are certainly not limited to:
- Critical Thinking & Analysis: Deconstructing language structures builds analytical
abilities applicable to any complex problem.
- Problem Solving: Figuring out how to express complex ideas in a new language sharpens
problem-solving skills.
- Research: Learning about Hispanic cultures involves deep research, a key employer
demand.
- Attention to Detail: Mastering grammar and nuance trains meticulous observation.
Professional, Cognitive, & Personal Benefits:
- Increased Employability: Bilingual candidates are highly sought after in diverse sectors
like healthcare, law, social work, tourism, tech, and government.
- Higher Earning Potential: Spanish proficiency can lead to better-paying roles and
increased salary, especially when combined with another skill set.
- Versatile Career Paths: Opens doors to translation, interpretation, international
business, education (high demand for teachers), diplomacy, and media.
- Global Market Advantage: Facilitates communication with major trading partners and helps companies expand into Spanish-speaking markets.
- Enhanced Brain Power: Improves memory, attention, focus, problem-solving, and adaptability.
- Deeper Cultural Insight: Moves beyond grammar to include art, history, music, and
literature, changing your worldview.
- Stronger Communication Skills: Develops powerful written and oral communication in
both Spanish and your native language.
- Rich Travel & Study Abroad: Makes travel easier and more immersive, with opportunities for firsthand cultural experience.
Earning a Spanish degree is beneficial for boosting career opportunities in a globalized world (healthcare, business, teaching, etc.), enhancing cognitive skills (memory, focus, problem-solving), deepening cultural understanding, and providing personal growth through immersive experiences like study abroad, making you a more versatile, competitive, and globally-aware individual. It's especially powerful as a double major, pairing language fluency with another field to unlock unique job prospects.
How Spanish Benefits Specific Major Fields of Interest:
- Access growing Latin American markets, communicate with global clients, understand diverse business etiquette, and excel in import/export.
- Unlocks international markets, global teams, and opportunities with diverse clients; boosts earning potential.
- Connects with vast Spanish-speaking patient populations, improving care and trust (e.g., EMTs, PAs, doctors).
- Communicate effectively with Spanish-speaking patients, improving care and building trust; essential in many U.S. regions.
- High demand for bilingual teachers, allowing you to teach Spanish or other subjects to diverse student populations.
- Essential for bilingual classrooms, teaching, and connecting with diverse student families.
- Opens doors in diplomacy, foreign service, and working with global communities.
- Serve diverse communities, work in immigration, international law, or diplomacy; vital in U.S. legal and public sectors.
- Helps serve diverse communities and understand global legal contexts.
- Report on global events, connect with international audiences, understand cultural nuances in media, and work in publishing or PR.
- Collaborate with international research teams, work in global manufacturing/engineering, and navigate diverse workforces.
- Useful for global product support, marketing, and international teams.
- Understand diverse cultural perspectives on mental health, community dynamics, and social issues.
- Deepens understanding of literature, film, history, and cultural studies.
Getting to Know Your Instructors:
Elizabeth Garcia
Faculty Instructor - Foreign Language ESOL
Email: egarcia@odessa.edu
Phone #1: 432.335.6473
Office: WH 128
Become a Wrangler Today!
Scholarship Opportunities:
Positively OC Presidential Scholarship
The Positively OC Presidential Scholarship at Odessa College offers a 2-semester tuition & fee waiver, developing student leaders who share positivity online & in the community, featuring leadership workshops & mentorship; it's part of OC's mission to uplift the Permian Basin and foster student success through campus/social media engagement.
Click Here To Complete The Positively OC Application
Student Financial Aid Scholarships
Odessa College annually awards more than $500,000 in academic scholarships to recognize scholastic merit. This is a partial list of the scholarships awarded through OC Student Financial Aid. Unless otherwise specified, students may apply for any of these scholarships with Awardspring. Students must reapply each spring for the next school year.
Click Here to Complete the Student Financial Aid Application
Strong Start Scholarship
The Strong Start Scholarship helps cover tuition and standard fees for your first credit class (up to 3 credit hours) at Odessa College during the summer term immediately following your high school graduation. (Note: Continuing education and workforce non-credit classes are not eligible.)
Click Here To Complete The Start Strong Application
Free Tuition Opportunity:
Wrangler Promise
Odessa College offers free tuition through programs like the Wrangler Promise, covering tuition/fees for eligible local high school grads to earn an associate degree, and the one-time First Class Free Scholarship for first-time students taking their initial credit class. Other aid includes Pell Grants, loans, and specific scholarships, but the core free opportunities are for new students or local residents under the Promise program, requiring FAFSA completion.