Graduate Program

Graduate Advisor
Ronda Brulotte
Associate Director for Academic Programs
brulotte@unm.edu

Application Deadlines:

Fall semester:	Ph.D.: January 1 (with departmental financial aid consideration) M.A.: February 1 (with departmental financial aid consideration)
	M.A. and Ph.D.: April 1 (without financial aid consideration)
Spring semester:	M.A. and Ph.D.: November 1 (without departmental financial aid consideration)

Degrees Offered

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (M.A.)
Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American Studies (Ph.D.)

In collaboration with the Honors College, Latin American Studies offers a Shared-Credit Degrees program in which Honors College students can earn both the Bachelor of Arts in Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies in five years. For more information, please refer to the Honors College-Undergraduate Program section of this Catalog.

M.A. in Latin American Studies

Prerequisite: The Bachelor’s degree is required. Background work in the social sciences and humanities related to Latin America is preferred. At least two years of undergraduate course work (or equivalent language training) in either Spanish or Portuguese is required prior to admission. Applicants with otherwise strong qualifications but with limited Spanish competence may be admitted on the condition that they complete SPAN **352 Advanced Grammar, within their first year of graduate study.

Degree Requirements

Plan I (thesis option): 36 credit hours. Students must take LTAM 510 Pro-Seminar in Latin American Studies, and select two areas of concentration within the degree program. Students have the option of completing 9 credit hours in one concentration and 15 credit hours in the other concentration or completing 12 credit hours in each concentration. The remaining 9 credit hours are divided between 3 credit hours of program electives and 6 credit hours of thesis credits.

Students under the Plan I option must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours in graduate seminars numbered 500 or above (excluding 551 or 552 Problems courses) and 6 credit hours of thesis numbered 599. Students should consult with the Associate Director to determine which courses are considered seminars. Students are required to present an oral defense of the thesis, which integrates the two concentrations, before a thesis committee composed of at least two faculty members in one concentration and one faculty member from the second concentration.

Plan II (non-thesis option): 36 credit hours. Students must take LTAM 510 Pro-Seminar in Latin American Studies, and select two areas of concentration within the degree program. Students have the option of completing 9 credit hours in one concentration and 15 credit hours in the other concentration or completing 12 credit hours in each concentration. The remaining 12 credit hours are comprised of electives. In lieu of the thesis, students complete one exit option for each concentration. Students can choose the same option for each concentration or choose a combination of options from the following: complete a professional paper overseen by a Committee on Studies composed of two faculty members from the concentration; complete a written comprehensive examination administered by a Committee on Studies composed of two faculty members from the concentration.

Under the Plan II option, students must complete a minimum of 12 credits in graduate seminars numbered 500 or above (excluding 551 or 552 Problems courses). Students should consult with the Associate Director to determine which courses are considered seminars.

To maintain and improve language proficiency during graduate studies, students under both Plan I and II who are not concentrating in Brazilian Literature and Culture, Spanish American Literature, or Spanish Linguistics are required to take at least one appropriate language course. Students may choose from SPAN 307 or above; PORT 276 or above; or a course in one of Latin America’s indigenous languages. If the course is available for graduate credit, it can count as one of the student’s elective courses. This requirement is also applicable to dual degree students.

Concentration/Emphases Requirements

Students concentrate in two areas chosen from the following: Anthropology (with an emphasis in either Archaeology, Ethnology, or Human Evolutionary Ecology); Art History (with and emphasis in either Pre-Columbian, Colonial, or Modern); Brazilian Literature and Culture; Brazilian Studies; Communication; Economics; Gender Studies; Geography and Environmental Studies; History; Human Rights; Indigenous Studies; International Management; Political Science; Public Health; Religion and Philosophy; Sociology; Southwest Studies; Spanish American Literature; Spanish Linguistics; Urbanism and Community Development.

Students may also petition for approval of other thematic areas of concentration (such concentrations cannot be transcripted). The combination of concentrations must ensure that the program is interdisciplinary. For example, students selecting Anthropology with an emphasis in Archaeology as one concentration may not select Anthropology with an emphasis in Ethnology as the second concentration. Students also are required to have no more than one interdisciplinary concentration. For example, a student may not choose both Human Rights and Gender Studies.

Select from the following list of courses for each concentration/emphases. Substitutions for these courses are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Anthropology
Archaeology: ANTH 522, 524, 529, 574, 579.
Ethnology: ANTH 524, 530, 532, 533, 537, 539, 546, 547.
Human Evolutionary Ecology: ANTH 562.

Art History
Pre-Columbian: ARTH 500, 511, 512, 560.
Colonial: ARTH 500, 549, 550, 580.
Modern: ARTH 500, 529, 583, 585, 588, 590, 594.

Brazilian Literature and Culture
PORT *461, 514, 516, 517, 521, 557, 558, 570; SPAN 502.

Brazilian Studies
ANTH 532, 540; GEOG 515, 564; HIST 500, 576, 687, 688, 690, 692; PORT *461, 514, 516, 521, 557, 558, 570; SPAN **439, 639.
Courses without forty percent Brazilian content require consultation with the instructor and prior approval by the Associate Director.

Communication
Select one from: CJ 506, 566.
Choosing remaining courses from: CJ 517, 518, 519, 555, 569, 604.

Economics
ECON **315, *320, *321, *331, *335, *343, *410, *421, *423, *424, *427, *429, *442, 542, 584.

Gender Studies
CRP 528; HIST 628, 652, 686, 687, 692; SPAN **439, 639.

Geography and Environmental Studies
GEOG *445, *481L, *499, 501, 502, 514, 515, 517, 525, 561, 562, 564, 567, 580L, 581L, 583L, 584L, 585L, 586L, 587L, 588L, 591.

History
HIST 518, 560, 571, 573, 574, 576, 643, 644, 645, 648, 650, 652, 653, 654, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 692.
Students generally take HIST 686 and/or HIST 687. The course(s) may be substituted upon approval from the Associate Director.

Human Rights
ANTH 530, 539; ECON *423; HIST 500, 574, 648, 652, 653, 690, 692; LAW 505, 541, 626, 628, 667; LTAM 500; POLS 521; PORT 514, 570; SPAN 639.

Indigenous Studies
ANTH 524, 530, 532, 540, 570; HIST 500, 653; LAW 593, 628; SPAN **439.

International Management
MGMT 511, 524, 574, 583, 594, 595, 597.

Political Science
POLS 511, 512, 520, 521, 525, 540, 541.

Public Health
ANTH 620; CJ 553, 555; ECON 564; HIST 610; PH 502, 508, 533, 554, 556, 565, 579, 583; SOC 540; SPAN **439.

Religion and Philosophy
ANTH 533; SOC 532; and other courses upon approval.

Sociology
SOC 506, 510, 513, 520, 528, 584.

Southwest Studies
AMST 558, 560; ANTH 521, 537, 576; ARTH 576; CRP 569, 586; ENGL 565, 574; HIST 563, 643, 644, 645, 684, 685; LLSS 566, 583; PH 579; POLS *308; SOC 520, 528; SPAN **479, 546, 547, 578, 579.

Spanish American Literature
SPAN **430, **431, **432, **433, **435, *438, **439, 502, 504, 531, 532, 536, 633, 639.

Spanish Linguistics
SPAN 545, 546, 547, 549; and other courses upon approval.
Students with limited background in Spanish Linguistics are encouraged to take SPAN **350L and **352.

Urbanism and Community Development
ARCH 550, 621, 662; CRP 500, 503, 513, 527, 531, 535, 537, 567, 569, 570, 574, 576, 578, 586; LA 512.

Variations may occur from year to year in the availability of faculty members to support concentrations. Such changes in faculty availability are beyond the control of the Latin American Studies program. Thus, it may occasionally be impossible for students to obtain sufficient coursework and advisement in one or more concentrations described herein. Therefore students’ choices of concentrations require the prior approval of the Associate Director.

M.A. in Latin American Studies Dual Degrees

The Interdisciplinary Committee on Latin American Studies coordinates the five dual degree programs noted below:

M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.B.A.
M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.C.R.P.
M.A. in Latin American Studies/J.D.
M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.A. in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies
M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.P.H.

The student applying to any dual degree program is required to meet entrance and other requirements of both programs.

Students wishing to add one of these dual degree options after their initial enrollment must apply to that program within three semesters. Acceptance into the second program establishes dual degree status for the student.

In addition to the above guidelines for the M.A. in Latin American Studies degree, dual degree students have to meet additional guidelines and requirements as detailed below. Dual degree students are required to take 6 credit hours of graduate seminars in addition to LTAM 510.

M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.B.A.: Offered jointly with the Robert O. Anderson School of Management (ASM), this program is designed to train management professionals with special expertise in Latin America. The dual degree reduces requirements to complete the two degrees by approximately 12 credit hours, to a minimum of 57 credit hours and a maximum of 72 credit hours past the Bachelor’s, depending on the number of waivers granted by ASM for core requirements. Competency in Spanish or Portuguese is required for admission to the dual degree. Applicants must meet entrance requirements for both programs; applications should be submitted simultaneously to both programs.

In order to meet the M.B.A. requirements, a student must complete 48 credit hours of study, unless the student is eligible to waive some of the courses. If waivers are granted, a total of 33 credit hours must be completed. M.B.A. core requirements include MGMT 501, 502, 504, 506, 508, 511, 520, 522, 526, 598. Students must complete 30 credit hours of core courses or be waived from these courses (with the exception of MGMT 598). Students must also complete 18 credit hours of elective management courses.

For the Latin American Studies component, students are required to complete 24 credit hours, including a minimum of 9 credit hours in each of two concentrations. The remaining 3 credit hours may be used for thesis (under Plan I) or electives (under Plan II).

Two fellowships are available specifically for students in this dual degree program: Bank of America M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.B.A. Fellowship and Wells Fargo M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.B.A. Fellowship. Both fellowships provide $2000 for one year and can be renewed.

M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.C.R.P.: The joint master’s program in Latin American Studies and Community and Regional Planning is designed for students who are interested in the professional practice of planning in a Latin American context.

The Community and Regional Planning Program at the University of New Mexico is dedicated to planning and advocating for sustainable communities and ecosystems throughout the Southwest region and Latin America. Graduates of this dual degree program possess the knowledge and skills necessary to support planning by diverse human communities throughout the Western Hemisphere. Students in this dual degree program learn to assist Latin American communities to create community-based plans and programs that sustain and enhance their culture, resource base, built environment and economic vitality. The program promotes participatory processes that respond to community identities and development needs.

Prerequisites to the program are competence in either Spanish or Portuguese (at least two years of undergraduate course work or equivalent language training) and basic course work in economics (micro and/or macro) and statistics. Deficit courses in economics and statistics may be made up after admission to the program.

The program requires a minimum of 54 credit hours of graduate credit (compared to 72 credit hours if the two degrees were pursued separately). The required graduate credit hours include: 1) CRP 578, a 3 credit hour bridge seminar; 2) 22 credit hours of course work, which includes thesis or capstone studio, in Community and Regional Planning; 3) 24 credit hours of course work in Latin American Studies; and 4) 5 elective credit hours of either CRP or LTAM graduate course work. For the 22 credit hours in Community and Regional Planning, students must complete CRP 500, 510, 511, 545 or 580, 588; and 597 or 598 or 599. Students must also demonstrate capacity in two Community and Regional Planning competency areas, as determined in consultation with their advisors: 1) Providing a real-time professional deliverable to a client, and 2) Using spatial analysis to analyze planning problems and develop planning solutions. For the 24 credit hours in Latin American Studies, students must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours in each of two concentrations. Each candidate is required to complete the relevant M.A. in Latin American Studies and C.R.P. exit requirements.

M.A. in Latin American Studies/J.D.: This dual degree program is intended to prepare legal professionals for work in Latin America or with Hispanic peoples in the United States by combining legal training with Latin American language and area studies. The program enables students to develop professional skills directly applicable to Latin American nations and populations. Prerequisites to the program are competence in either Spanish or Portuguese (at least two years of undergraduate course work or equivalent language training). The program requires 80 credit hours of Law course work that must include 9 credit hours of international law, 24 credit hours of Latin American Studies course work, and a 3 credit hour bridge course containing subject matter linking Law and Latin American Studies.

The first-year Law curriculum consists of required courses that emphasize methods of legal reasoning, policy analysis, and the analysis of legal institutions. During their second and third years, students can choose from approximately 100 elective courses in developing individualized programs suited to their career goals.

The Latin American Studies component requires that students complete a minimum of 9 credit hours in each of two concentrations.

To meet the exit requirements for the Latin American Studies component, students must 1) sit for the comprehensive examinations in both concentrations. The examinations are administered by a Committee on Studies composed of two faculty members from each concentration; or 2) sit for a comprehensive examination in one concentration and complete an article length professional paper (jointly supervised by one member of the Law faculty and one non-Law Latin American-specialized faculty member) in the student’s other area of concentration.

All students follow Plan II (non-thesis).

M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.A. in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies: The Latin American Studies Program and the College of Education's Department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies (LLSS) offer a dual degree program leading to master’s degrees in Latin American Studies and Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies. This program is intended to allow education professionals to enhance their secondary school teaching with Latin American topics in the humanities and social sciences. The program combines advanced professional development in education with advanced interdisciplinary study of Latin America and is designed to help students integrate the two fields through coordinated advisement and bridge courses.

The program requires 51 credit hours of course work for students who already hold teaching licenses. It includes three components: 1) 21 credit hours of LLSS courses with a concentration in social studies; 2) 21 credit hours of Latin American Studies course work, including at least 9 credit hours in each of two areas of concentration. The remaining 3 credit hours may be used for electives; and 3) 9 credit hours of bridge courses.

Each candidate must meet the relevant M.A. in Latin American Studies and M.A. in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural exit requirements.

Students pursuing this program must meet admissions requirements of both the College of Education and Latin American Studies. It is expected that applicants have already completed the licensure requirements for secondary teaching. Students who are not licensed upon admission may pursue licensure through the Master of Arts in Secondary Education with licensure. This licensure requires 36 credit hours of course work at the undergraduate and/or graduate level in the social studies, and 24 credit hours of professional education course work. Students should contact the College of Education Advisement Center for individual advisement.

M.A. in Latin American Studies/M.P.H.: The Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Master of Public Health dual degree program is intended to prepare graduates to improve the health of Latin American populations and Latin populations in the United States, with a primary focus on New Mexico, the Southwest, the United States/Mexico border region, and regions south of the border. It supplements the M.P.H. program with in-depth study of languages, cultures, and societies that helps prepare graduates to work effectively either in Latin America, or with Latin American immigrant populations within the United States.

The dual degree reduces requires 63 graduate credit hours, as compared to the 78 graduate credit hours required to complete the two degrees separately. A minimum of 42 credit hours are required in Public Health courses, and a minimum of 21 credit hours are required in Latin American Studies courses. At least 13 credit hours of the M.P.H. component must have significant content related to Latin America or Latin American immigrant communities in the United States, to enable the student to integrate the content and practice of the two degrees.

Applicants for the dual degree program must apply separately to and meet the entrance requirements of each program. Preference is given to students who have public health experience, which may be community development, research, health education, health science, health promotion, or other health-related work. Experience can be paid or voluntary.

The M.P.H. component of the dual degree requires a minimum of 42 credit hours as follows:

PH 501, 502, 506, 508, 511, 513, 538, and 552;
PH 507, 533 or 555;
M.P.H. studies with Latin American Studies content (13 credit hours) as follows: PH 579, 583; 596 or 597; 598; and Public Health courses with Latin American/U.S. Latino content or courses throughout the university with demonstrated content on Health and Latin America (3 credit hours);
Related Electives (10 credit hours) to complete the 42 credit hour M.P.H. requirement: Must include 3 credit hours of shared Public Health/Latin American Studies content.

Courses that may be taken as shared content electives, depending on specific content when taught, include PH 560; CJ 550, 553, 555; SOC 540, 595. Students may seek approval from the M.P.H. program Director and the LAII Associate Director for Academic Programs to count other graduate courses toward their elective credit hours. Students are strongly encouraged to discuss with their Public Health advisor their particular interests, for example: policy, management, or epidemiology, and relevant courses offered throughout the University.

Coursework for the M.A. in Latin American Studies component of the dual degree includes a minimum of 9 graduate credit hours in each of two areas of concentration.

Exit requirements for the dual degree include a comprehensive examination in one area of concentration in Latin American Studies, a master's exam in Public Health and either PH 596 Professional Paper or PH 597 Public Health Integrative Experience. The Integrative Experience or the professional paper must address a public health topic related to Latin America or Latin American populations in the U.S. The professional paper is supervised by a committee of three faculty members, including at least one Latin American Studies faculty member from outside the M.P.H. program.

Ph.D. in Latin American Studies

The Ph.D. in Latin American Studies is a small and highly selective program designed to prepare students for a limited number of targeted careers that are best advanced by an interdisciplinary doctorate. Such students include individuals who seek employment in areas where the ability to research and teach across disciplines would be an advantage, and where having skills in two disciplines, combined with Latin American area expertise, would be more useful than extensive training within one discipline.

Degree Requirements

General University rules and regulations pertaining to graduate study at the University of New Mexico are detailed in the The Graduate Program section of this Catalog. The Latin American Studies Handbook is updated each year and provides more in-depth information to students in the Latin American Studies program. Students are responsible for knowing and abiding by the rules laid out in the UNM Catalog and the Latin American Studies Handbook.

The Ph.D. in Latin American Studies requires a minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate course work, plus an additional 18 dissertation credit hours, for a total of 66 credit hours.

Students choose two concentrations for a total of 42 credit hours, plus 6 credit hours of elective courses. The concentrations include Anthropology, Art History, Brazilian Literature, Built Environment (School of Architecture and Planning), Communication, Economics, Geography and Environmental Studies, History, International Management (Anderson School of Management), Political Science, Public Health (College of Population Health), Sociology, Spanish-American Literature, and Spanish Linguistics. Students can choose 21 credit hours in each concentration, so that both concentrations have equal weight, or 15-27 credit hours in each, with a primary and secondary concentration.

Of the 48 total credit hours required for the Ph.D., a minimum of 24 credit hours must be taken after admission to the doctoral program. The Associate Director for Academic Programs must approve any course work taken at the master’s level and applied towards the Ph.D.

Competence is required in one Latin American language by the time of degree completion. Competence in more than one Latin American language may be critical in certain areas of study. As such, some concentrations may require competence in a second language. For details, see the Latin American Studies Handbook. Competence is considered to be successful completion of advanced-level course work, or passing a language proficiency examination. Students who have completed an undergraduate or graduate degree in Latin America or Iberia satisfy the language requirements.

A Committee on Studies (COS) must be formed at least one semester before the student plans to take comprehensive examinations. The COS is composed of at least two members from each concentration. The student creates a reading list in consultation with all members of his or her COS, and the committee approves the list the semester prior to the scheduled exam. The comprehensive examinations are coordinated and administered by the Latin American Studies program in conjunction with the student’s COS. Upon successful completion of the comprehensive examinations, an M.A. in Latin American Studies is conferred and students are advanced to candidacy within the doctoral program.

Concentration Requirements

Students select two concentrations from the following:

Anthropology, Art History, Brazilian Literature and Culture, Built Environment, Communication, Economics, Geography and Environmental Studies, History, International Management, Political Science, Public Health, Sociology, Spanish-American Literature, Spanish Linguistics.

Select from the following list of courses for each concentration, in consultation with the Associate Director for Academic Programs and the COS. All courses must contain at least 40% Latin American content; exceptions may be approved by the Associate Director and COS.

Anthropology
ANTH 510, 511, 522, 524, 529, 532, 533, 537, 539, 546, 547, 574, 579, 585.

Art History
ARTH 500, 511, 512, 529, 549, 550, 560, 580, 583, 585, 590, 594.

Brazilian Literature and Culture
PORT *461, 514, 516, 517, 521, 557, 558, 570; SPAN 502.

Built Environment
ARCH 500, 501, 502, 516, 517, 523, 524, 527, 550, 563, 564, 570, 590, 591, 621, 623, 633, 652, 661, 662, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695;
CRP 500, 503, 508, 510, 511, 513, 516, 520, 521, 527, 528, 530, 531, 532, 533, 535, 537, 543, 545, 551, 562, 567, 569, 570, 573, 574, 576, 577, 578, 580, 582, 583, 585, 590, 591, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695;
LA 501, 502, 503, 505, 508, 511, 512, 521, 531, 556, 558, 559, 560, 561, 563, 580, 581, 582, 586, 590, 591, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695.

Communication
CJ 506, 517, 518, 519, 555, 566, 569, 604.

Economics
ECON *410, *421, *423, *424, *427, *429, *442, *445, *466, *478, 508, 509, 510, 533, 534, 538, 540, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 560, 564, 565, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 595.

Geography and Environmental Studies
GEOG *445, *481L, *499, 501, 502, 514, 515, 517, 525, 561, 562, 564, 567, 580L, 581L, 583L, 584L, 585L, 586L, 587L, 588L, 591.

History
HIST 518, 560, 571, 573, 574, 576, 629, 643, 644, 645, 648, 650, 652, 653, 664, 665, 673, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 692.

International Management
MGMT 511, 524, 574, 583, 594, 595, 596, 597.

Political Science
POLS 510, 511, 512, 520, 521, 525, 540, 541, 551, 552, 570, 580, 581, 582, 584, 585, 681.

Public Health
ANTH 620; CJ 553, 555; ECON 564; HIST 610; PH 502, 508, 533, 554, 556, 565, 579, 583; SOC 540; SPAN **439.

Sociology
SOC 506, 507, 510, 514, 520, 528, 532, 584.

Spanish American Literature
SPAN *438, 502, 504, 531, 536, 601, 639.

Spanish Linguistics
SPAN 541, 545, 546, 547, 549.

Relevant electives outside of the Department may be taken only if pre-approved by the departmental Graduate Committee.

Latin American Studies (LTAM)

Latin American Studies is an interdisciplinary program. In addition to the courses listed below, Latin American content courses can be found in a variety of departments, including the following: Anderson School of Management (International Management), Anthropology, Art History, Community and Regional Planning, Economics, History, Law, Philosophy, Political Science, Portuguese, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Spanish.

Keys and Symbols Reference