Latin American Studies

Degrees Offered

Master of Arts
Doctor of Philosophy

Facilities for Graduate Work

The Benson Latin American Collection is the most complete library of its kind in the United States, containing more than 645,000 volumes of printed material in addition to manuscripts, maps, newspapers, and microfilms. Of special interest are the 20,000 reels of microfilm copies of archival materials located in Mexico, Spain, England, and Washington, DC. The Population Research Center has extensive census data from Latin America, and other campus libraries contain additional Latin American materials.

About 65 faculty members regularly teach courses dealing with Latin America, and some 125 additional faculty members have Latin American interests in a wide variety of fields.

Areas of Study

Graduate work toward a degree in Latin American studies may be concentrated in any academic area in which courses with Latin American content are offered.

Graduate Studies Committee

The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee in the spring semester 1998-1999.

Rosental Alves
Jacqueline E. Barnitz
Frank D. Bean
Gerard H. Behague
Robert Brody
John W. Brokaw
Jonathan C. Brown
Karl W. Butzer
Gilberto Cardenas
Jose A. Cerna-Bazan
Harry Cleaver
Peter S. Cleaves
Susan Deans-Smith
Rodolfo O. de la Garza
Enylton J. de Sa Rego
Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte
Henry A. Dietz
William E. Doolittle
John D. H. Downing
John W. F. Dulles
David J. Eaton
Cristina Ferreira-Pinto
Enrique Fierro
Lawrence E. Gilbert
Kate Gillespie
William P. Glade
Miguel Ergio Gonzalez-Gerth
Edmund T. Gordon
Lawrence S. Graham
Richard Graham
Sandra Lauderdale Graham
Robert T. Green
Terence Grieder
Charles R. Hale
Barbara J. Harlow
Aline Helg
Frederick G. Hensey
Thomas R. Hester
Virginia Higginbotham
John C. Higley
R. Rolando Hinojosa-Smith
Julius O. Ihonvbere
Terry D. Kahn
Orlando Rene Kelm
Gregory W. Knapp
Dale April Koike
Sonia Labrador-Rodriguez
Tomasz Lenartowicz
Jose E. Limon
Naomi Lindstrom
Lily Litvak
Marta Lujan
Joseph Francis Malina Jr.
Joseph H. Matluck
James D. Mauseth
Martha Menchaca
David Montejano
Lisa J. Montoya
James A. Neely
James R. Nicolopolos
Yolanda C. Padilla
Francisco Perez
Joseph E. Potter
Charles E. Ramirez-Berg
R. Robert Robbins
Bryan R. Roberts
America Rodriguez
Victoria Rodriguez
Ricardo Romo
Charles R. Rossman
Cesar Augusto Salgado
George D. Schade Jr.
Richard P. Schaedel
Henry A. Selby
Joel Sherzer
Nicolas Shumway
Carlos A. Sole
Yolanda R. Sole
Chandler Stolp
Brian M. Stross
Federico Subervi
Melbourne Tapper
Mauricio Tenorio
Benigno L. Trigo

Admission Requirements

The entering master's degree student must have a bachelor's degree, with a major in any discipline. Reading and speaking knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is required.

Students must hold the master's degree by the time they enter the doctoral program.

Degree Requirements

Master of Arts

Three degree plans are available; one requires a thesis, while the others require two substantial research papers, one in the major field and one in the minor. The major and minor fields may be any academic areas that offer Latin American content coursework, such as anthropology, economics, government, history, sociology, public administration, literature, and art history. Most plans require the completion of at least thirty-three semester hours of coursework, including either the thesis course, Latin American Studies 698, or the primary and secondary report courses, Latin American Studies 397R and 398R. Joint degree programs may require a different number of hours.

Under all of the Master of Arts degree plans the student must develop a proficiency in either Spanish or Portuguese. Examinations are held each semester, and the student may repeat them until proficiency is indicated. Students are strongly encouraged to study both languages.

Doctor of Philosophy

The doctoral degree program provides flexibility for the small number of students who wish to prepare themselves broadly and with sufficient depth to work in areas requiring multidisciplinary competence, such as the study of hieroglyphic writing from both an archaeologist's and an art historian's perspective. Students wishing to pursue a doctoral degree are urged to consider carefully the advisability of a program in an appropriate discipline.
Doctoral students must complete at least thirty semester hours of coursework beyond the master's degree program, excluding hours in the dissertation courses. Once admitted, each student must form, in consultation with the graduate adviser, a program committee that will supervise the student's work until he or she is admitted to candidacy.

The student must demonstrate a high level of competence in reading and speaking either Spanish or Portuguese, and must be able to read the other language or some alternate language appropriate to the chosen program that has the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. Working with a program committee approved by the Graduate Studies Committee and the graduate adviser, the student develops a coherent interdisciplinary program of graduate study designed to provide both competence in depth in a particular discipline or disciplines and complementary strength in related fields. Within the concentration, students must acquire the level of competence in the theories and methods of research demanded of students pursuing the doctoral degree in that department. Graduate credit accumulated for the master's degree may, when deemed appropriate by the program committee, be included in the proposed doctoral degree program. The student's proposed Program of Work must be submitted to the program committee, which may endorse the program as submitted or require modification to improve it.

The graduate student is admitted to candidacy upon passage of written and oral examinations conducted by the program committee. A research proposal for the dissertation should be submitted by the student to the program committee and the graduate adviser. Evaluation of the proposal is in the hands of the program committee, which may, if appropriate, incorporate the proposal into the oral examination. The doctoral dissertation is submitted to a dissertation supervising committee appointed by the graduate dean. The supervising professor must be from the academic area in which the work is being written. All dissertations submitted for Latin American studies doctoral degrees must be of an interdisciplinary nature, clearly drawing upon at least two academic disciplines.

Details on both the master's and the doctoral degree program are available from the graduate adviser.

Joint Degree Programs

A student seeking admission to a joint degree program must apply through the Graduate and International Admissions Center. He or she must be accepted by each individual program in order to be admitted to the joint program. Like all other graduate applicants, the student is responsible for submitting any additional information required by the Graduate Studies Committee for each program.

Master of Arts/Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning

The joint program in Latin American studies and community and regional planning is designed to train qualified students in the skills necessary to work toward solving the urbanization and regional development problems that lie at the forefront of contemporary policy concerns in Latin America.

A student must complete a combined total of at least sixty-six semester hours of graduate coursework in the Latin American studies and community and regional planning programs. In addition, it may be necessary for some students to enroll for an additional semester or summer session to complete all requirements of the joint program.

Master of Arts/Master of Business Administration

The objective of the joint program in Latin American studies and business administration is to provide students with a graduate education that will prepare them for business positions involving Latin America. A student must complete a total of at least sixty-nine semester hours in the Language and Area Center for Latin American Studies and the Graduate School of Business.

Upon admission to this joint degree program, the student must pay a nonrefundable enrollment deposit of $450 to indicate that he or she accepts the offer of admission. The deposit serves to confirm the student's intention of enrolling in both programs and is applied to the payment of fees when the student enrolls. Students who demonstrate financial need may qualify for assistance to cover the deposit.

Master of Arts/Master of Arts with a Major in Communication

This joint degree program allows students to study the relationships between the theories and processes of communication and issues pertinent to an understanding of the histories and current policies of the societies and cultures of Latin America. It is designed to meet the need for specialists with multidisciplinary knowledge of Latin American affairs and mastery of one of the disciplines of communication.

Each student must complete thirty-three semester hours of coursework in the College of Communication and thirty hours of work in Latin American studies; the program must include a summer internship in Latin America and a thesis on a topic involving both fields. Departments in the College of Communication may require additional background work relevant to the student's major.

A joint committee composed of graduate advisers from the College of Communication and the Language and Area Center for Latin American Studies selects students for admission. For more information about the joint program, write to the Office of the Communication/Latin American Studies Program, College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1094.

Master of Arts/Doctor of Jurisprudence

The joint program in Latin American studies and law is designed for students who wish to study law and Latin American issues in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner and who expect to be involved in government service or legal practice with a Latin American focus.

Including the normal first-year coursework in the School of Law, the student must complete eighty-six semester hours of work for the JD and thirty-three hours for the MA. Law courses to be counted toward the Master of Arts must be taken at the School of Law.

To enter the MA/JD program, the student must apply for admission both to the Graduate and International Admissions Center and to the School of Law. The student may submit these applications simultaneously, or he or she may apply to the joint program during the first year in law school.

Master of Arts/Master of Public Affairs

The joint program in Latin American studies and public affairs combines advanced policy studies with interdisciplinary area studies, responding to an increasing need in both the public and the private sector for policy specialists with a thorough understanding of Latin America.

A student must complete a combined total of at least sixty-nine semester hours of coursework in Latin American studies and public affairs, including a master's report and a summer internship. In addition, it may be necessary for some students to enroll for an additional semester or summer session to complete all requirements of the joint program.

For More Information

Campus address: Sid Richardson Hall (SRH) 1.310, phone (512) 471-5551, fax (512) 471-3090

Mailing address: Graduate Program, Language and Area Center for Latin American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1284

E-mail: ilas@uts.cc.utexas.edu

URL: http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/ilas/

Latin American studies courses: LAS

Contents |  Chapter 1 |  Chapter 2 |  Chapter 3
Chapter 4 |  Chapter 5 |  Appendix

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