LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STUDIES

Director: Norman Whitten

Academic Programs Coordinator: Nan Volinsky

Correspondence and Admission Information: Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 201 International Studies Building, 910 South Fifth Street, Champaign, IL 61820; E-mail: latam@uiuc.edu

URL: www.uiuc.edu/unit/lat

Graduate Program

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies administers a program of language and area courses leading to an interdisciplinary master of arts degree. The master's program facilitates studies in the languages, cultures, and affairs of the region for three constituencies of students: those seeking to match area expertise with professional training; those proceeding to disciplinary-based doctoral work; and those for whom the degree would stand on its own. The center also administers graduate minors in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with various departments.

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies

A candidate must complete ten units of graduate credit which include: (1) completion of the core interdisciplinary seminar (one unit); (2) one to two units in 300-400 level courses in theory or research methods appropriate to the student's objectives and primary discipline; (3) five to seven units in 300- and 400-level courses that focus on Latin America or the Caribbean, of which at least two units must be taken in one (primary) discipline; (4) completion of at least two substantial research papers on Latin American topics as part of coursework or completion of a master's thesis, for which two units of thesis research may be used; and (5) demonstration that a communicative competence i n Spanish, Portuguese, or other language indigenous to the area (excluding English) equivalent to six semesters' (undergraduate) work has been achieved.

Graduate Minors

Graduate minors in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are administered by the director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Candidates for the master's degree who elect a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies must complete two units from the courses prescribed by the center. Doctoral candidates who elect a minor in this area must complete four units for one minor or two units for a split minor. Courses must be taken in at least two departments; a list of courses fulfilling the minor is available from the center. A specialization in agricultural economics and foreign areas studies (in this case, Latin American and Caribbean Studies) is also available.

Students in technical and professional colleges and schools of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who seek knowledge of the Lat in American and Caribbean region and languages are invited to consult with the director of the center or with their advisers in order to develop programs suited to their individual needs. Such a program may often be adopted as a special minor under existing regulations if the student so desires. These courses are of particular value to students who intend to undertake technical or professional work in the Latin American and Caribbean area for government, private business, publishing, or religious organizations.

A high level of proficiency in one or more languages of the region (Spanish, Portuguese, and Indian languages) is required. For course information, requirements, and methods used to establish the level of proficiency, contact the center's academic programs coordinator.

Language Instruction

The center offers Quechua, the native language spoken by 13 million people in the Andean republics.

library and information science

Fin ancial Aid

The center is a recipient of Federal Government Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships for Graduate Studies in any discipline that includes a minor in Latin American Studies and an intensive program of language instruction. Summer fellowships for intensive language courses abroad or in the United States are available. Small travel grants for graduate students wishing to do research during the summer are also available on a competitive basis. Both these programs depend on outside funding and thus cannot be guaranteed in any given year.