Portuguese Studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Situated in the region that boasts the oldest and largest Brazilian, Cape Verdean, and Portuguese community in the United States, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has, over the years, developed a strong commitment to Portuguese Studies. The teaching of Portuguese language at UMD began in the mid-sixties, and an undergraduate major was approved shortly thereafter. The first teacher of Portuguese was Gregory Rocha, a graduate of Harvard University, who was joined soon after by António Felix from the same institution. The latter ran a summer program in Lisbon in the 1970s. The first Portuguese lector from the Instituto Camões—then the Instituto de Alta Cultura, soon to become the Instituto de Língua e Cultura Portuguesa (ICALP)—arrived in 1969, launching a productive relationship that continues to the present day. Over the years and while located in the Department of Foreign Literature and Languages, the Portuguese program had on average 20 to 25 majors at any given time and between 150 and 200 enrolled in Portuguese classes students per semester.