In 1876, Mount Holyoke was among the first colleges in the nation to require the study of a modern foreign language for graduation. At this time, Mount Holyoke offered a course of study in French or German. In the 1894/1895 academic year, courses in both Italian and Spanish were introduced at the College. These courses were not offered regularly until 1901 when the College acquired a permanent professor of romance languages. At this time, Mary Vance Young became the chair of the Romance Languages Department. Included in the Romance Languages Department were French, German, Italian, and Spanish. In the 1936/1937 academic year, the department expanded to become the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. This department remained until the 1942/1943 academic year when it split into three departments, including the French Department, the Italian Department, and the Spanish Department. The Spanish Department and the Italian Department existed as separate entities for many year but merged in the 1975/1976 academic year to form the Department of Spanish and Italian. Recently, the goal of a department major has been described as the achievement of fluency in the language and knowledge of the literature and culture of Italy and Spain or Latin America.