Degree Requirements
Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online at https://utexas.box.com/v/UTAustinGraduateHandbooks. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.
Master of Arts
The Master of Arts (MA) degree is available only to students enrolled in the PhD degree program in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies. Details are available from the graduate advisor.
Doctor of Philosophy
Students pursuing the Doctor of Philosophy degree are required to complete 45 credit hours of coursework including six credit hours of dissertation. A coursework checklist can be found on the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies website.
The PhD program requires completion of a minimum of 45 credit hours of coursework. With the approval of the Mexican American and Latina/o Studies Graduate Studies Committee, this may include up to 33 credit hours of coursework completed in satisfaction of MA program requirements at UT Austin and up to 6 credit hours of graduate-level coursework transferred from another institution. Students must earn a minimum grade of B (3.0) in all coursework taken in satisfaction of PhD program requirements.
Required Courses (not including dissertation) include: Mexican American Studies 390, Introduction to Mexican American and Latina/o Studies; Mexican American Studies 395C, Theories in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies; and Mexican American Studies 395M, Interpretive Methods
Required Dissertation Courses include: Mexican American Studies 399W, Mexican American Studies 699W, and Mexican American Studies 999W.
Required for Students Seeking Employment as Assistant Instructors: Mexican American Studies 398T, Supervised Teaching in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies (may be taken outside the department with the permission of the graduate advisor when not offered in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies)
In addition to the required courses, Report/Dissertation, and prescribed electives, students in the PhD program must complete 27 credit hours of elective coursework, including at least four graduate-level courses offered by Mexican American and Latina/o Studies and up to five graduate-level courses offered by other departments or interdisciplinary programs/institutes, selected in consultation with the student’s primary advisor and the graduate advisor. In addition, of these nine courses, at least one should be a humanities course (primarily concerned with critical theory, cultural analysis [including the analysis of literature, film, performance, and/or visual art]), historical research, or the analysis of political and judicial systems), and at least one should be a social sciences course (one that interrogates or employs quantitative and/or qualitative methods as a primary frame of analysis).
Students with a master’s degree from another institution may elect to take up to a maximum of six credit hours of conference coursework in preparation for the qualifying exam and Mexican American Studies 398T, Supervised Teaching in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
In addition to completing all of the requirements for the PhD required by those with the master’s degree, students without a master’s degree have additional requirements; namely, they must write a master’s report.
Master’s Report Courses for students who enter without a master’s degree: Mexican American Studies 398R
Students entering the doctoral program without a master’s degree may elect to take up to a maximum of nine credit hours of conference coursework in their third year to prepare for the qualifying exam.
Students must complete a qualifying exam prior to advancing to candidacy and continuing in the program. If a student does not pass the examination, they will not continue onto candidacy and their doctoral degree program will be terminated. If a student is given a conditional pass, they will have one month to make the corrections and/or edits requested by the committee. Failure to meet the one-month deadline or implement the requested changes will result in termination from the PhD program.
Before completing the program, all students must demonstrate competence in one language in addition to English (preferably Spanish, Portuguese, or a relevant Indigenous language) by means approved by the Graduate Studies Committee.