The graduate program in Spanish and Latin American literatures offers driven and highly independent students the opportunity for advanced graduate work specifically tailored to their own intellectual interests. The internationally visible faculty consists of four senior members, complemented by a regular stream of visiting scholars from top universities in the U.S. and abroad.

Flexibility and interdisciplinary are the Spanish section’s signature qualities. While students have the option of concentrating in Latin American or peninsular literatures, they may also design a research program in conjunction with their adviser that would include two or more of the languages and cultures represented by the department or outside the department, as well as any theoretical concern that arises from their research.

Students normally take five semesters of graduate courses and take a series of comprehensive examinations during their sixth semester in the program. A normal course load consists of three seminars per semester, and a minimum of 15 seminars is required.

Coursework encompasses pre-conquest, colonial, and modern Latin American literatures as well as medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and modern literatures of Spain, along with whatever other coursework the student and adviser deem necessary for the chosen course of study.

Conducting research abroad is expected, and is usually undertaken in the fourth year, although students with a compelling reason to conduct research at another institution in the U.S. may do so.

While in residence, our students also learn to be teachers. Each graduate teaching assistant teaches a section of Spanish language, ranging from Elements to more advanced subjects, under the guidance of our world-class Spanish language pedagogy staff. Students in their last years are eligible to propose courses on their research topic to be taught under the Dean’s Teaching Fellows program.