The Latin American Studies Program (LASP) has been successfully led by our faculty since 1990 and more than 500 students have seen their lives transformed through this experience. Being a part of LASP means to cross the border to go meet your neighbor and establish meaningful personal and intellectual connections with their people and culture.
Classes will be held at the Universidad Iberoamericana, the Golfo-Centro Campus, a prestigious sister Jesuit university of about 5,000 students in Southwestern Puebla, where you as an SU student will attend classes conducted in Spanish for three hours daily. Apart from classes, an educational excursion to Mexico City is scheduled during winter quarter, and a required major one-week field trip as part of the course entitled SPAN 3500-Latin American History, Politics and Societies, is scheduled at the end of Spring quarter. Students are housed with Mexican families, bringing them especially close to the culture of the host country. The program requires at least one year of college-level Spanish prior to participation.
Please click the link below for more information about LASP:
Please click the link below to apply for LASP 2025:
If you have further questions about LASP, please email Professor Diana Luna at lunad@seattleu.edu.
The Latin American Studies Program will follow the regular Seattle University Winter and Spring Quarter schedules. Students are advised to arrive in Puebla at least 2 days before classes start. Students can earn credits toward a major or minor in Spanish, a minor in Latin American Studies, or a major in International Studies. During the spring quarter of LASP, credits can also be earned for UCOR 3400 and 3600.
Winter Quarter
Total: 15 credits
Spring Quarter
Total: 15 credits
Prerequisites
The prerequisites for enrollment in the winter quarter of this program are Spanish 2150 and Spanish 2910. These courses, 10 credits in total, will be offered during the fall quarter prior to the study abroad experience at Seattle University.
Every LASP participant must enroll in Spanish 2910, a mandatory class that will meet twice a week and in which a cultural and practical orientation will be provided in preparation for living in Mexico.
The prerequisites for enrollment in the spring quarter of this program are 15 credits of second year Spanish courses, or the equivalent as determined by the program director.
Puebla, city capital of Puebla State, central Mexico, was founded in 1535 as Puebla de Los Ángeles. It’s official name now is Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, and it was the place where the French forces were defeated in 1862. That battle is the event that gave origin to the now widely celebrated 5 de mayo in the United States, in recognition of the bravery of the poblanos who ousted the French and delayed the advance of the French troops toward Mexico City.
Located in a highland valley, it is an important agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing center, as well as a popular tourist spot. The site of Mexico’s first textile-producing factory, Puebla has cotton mills, an automobile factory, onyx quarries, pottery and food industries.