Graduate instruction in Spanish and Portuguese has been taught here at The University of New Mexico since 1937 and the University's first PhD was awarded in Hispanic Linguistics. Many of the world's greatest Hispanists and writers have taught at the University of New Mexico. Ortega Hall is named after one distinguished colleague, the Robert Duncan Reading Room after another. Aurelio Espinosa, who wrote one of the earliest comprehensive descriptions of a Spanish dialect about Northern New Mexico Spanish, once taught in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, as did Rubn Cobos, author of the definitive dictionary of New Mexico Spanish. Garland Bills and Neddy Vigil published an Atlas of the Spanish spoken in New Mexico and Southern Colorado. The Department has also been home to several other writers of worldwide fame: ngel Gonzlez, poet and winner of many prestigious literary awards, Dinko Cvitanovic, an Argentine literary critic, Ramn Sender, Gustavo Sainz, and Sabine Ulibarr. Graduates of our programs have added to the faculty of many of the nation's finest universities and are also found in other professional positions. Our conferences on literature and language of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds have been resounding successes. Many of our faculty members have directed important research projects, and other professors have won prizes for creative writing, translation, teaching, and scholarly research.