The decade of the 1980s saw a shift in paradigm in American trade and commerce, the serious beginning of a movement away from anachronistic and unwise ethnocentrism and nationalism and toward a more practical globalization of American business consciousness. The notion of business conducted in English and according to American norms began to yield to internationalization. Higher education responded by creating interdisciplinary programs combining study of business with study of languages and cultures of potential business partners and co-workers. Within the new educational epistemology created by this movement, Spanish is a particularly important element, as a major world language, the dominant language of the hemisphere of the Americas, and an emerging major language in the United States. Business Spanish will and must play an increasingly important role in preparing graduates for the national, hemispheric, and global challenges and opportunities ahead. (MSE)