Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/llilas/

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.

The doctoral program in Latin American Studies provides flexible yet rigorous training for a select number of excellent students whose proposed doctoral program requires an interdisciplinary approach. Our doctoral students combine interdisciplinary training with a focus on practical applications, acquiring not only specialist knowledge of their chosen subject, but also a range of skills and expertise in problem solving and connecting ideas. Upon completion of the degree, students frequently enter academic and non-academic professions in which they apply theoretical and methodological knowledge to real-world problems. As part of this training, students are required to participate in a professional placement before defending their doctoral dissertation.

Graduate Handbook

Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Admission Requirements

Students must hold a master’s degree by the time they enter the doctoral program. On rare occasions, admission to the doctoral program may be granted to students without a master's degree; such students are required to earn the master's degree en route to the PhD.

Total Hours Required: 30

Requirements

Doctoral students must complete at least 30 semester hours of coursework beyond the master’s degree program, excluding hours in the dissertation courses (LAS 399W, LAS 699W, or LAS 999W). The only required course for the LAS Doctoral program is the Proseminar (LAS 384). Upon approval of the Graduate Advisor, the LAS 384 requirement may be waived only for those students that satisfactorily completed this requirement as part of their MA program in Latin American Studies at UT Austin. 

PhD Years 1 and 2

The first two years of the doctoral program are typically dedicated to coursework. Doctoral students must choose a major (15 semester hours of coursework), a first minor (nine semester hours), and a second minor (six hours) using this form. Major and minor fields may be: (a) any disciplinary areas that offer Latin American or relevant methodological content coursework, such as Anthropology, Community and Regional Planning, Economics, Geography, Government, History, Sociology, Public Policy, Literature/Culture, Art History, etc.; (b) any interdisciplinary areas with content relevant to the student's academic interests such as African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Religious Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, etc.; (c) general themes such as violence, feminism, the environment, media, LGTBQ studies, etc.; or (d) methodologies such as Statistics, Geographical Information Systems, Information Technologies, qualitative methods, etc.

Students may also organize their coursework to fulfill the requirements for one or more of the Portfolio Programs offered by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Typical Portfolio Programs that some Latin American Studies doctoral students complete include: African and African Diaspora Studies, Cultural Studies, Digital Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies. 

During the first year after admission, students will work to select one or two supervising professor(s) from within the Latin American Studies Graduate Studies Committee membership for their dissertation committee. The supervising professor(s) will serve as chair(s) of the dissertation committee and will be responsible for coordinating the program of study with the student and the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies graduate advisor. The supervising professor must be from the academic area about which the work is being written. Coursework  and other requirements for the degree are decided upon jointly by the student, the dissertation committee chair, and the graduate advisor.

PhD Year 3: Advancing to Candidacy

Students are required to take comprehensive examinations and to defend their dissertation prospectus by the end of the third year in residence. Students are admitted to candidacy upon passage of written and oral examinations conducted by a three-member examination committee. The three-member examination committee must be comprised of members of the Latin American Studies Graduate Studies Committee and are chosen by the student in consultation with the mentor(s) and graduate advisor. Upon a successful oral defense of the comprehensive exams, a fourth member (ideally from a unit outside Latin American Studies Graduate Studies Committee) will be selected by the student and the mentor to form part of the examining committee that will evaluate the student's dissertation research proposal (i.e., the dissertation prospectus). The prospectus should be submitted and be approved by the examination committee no later than one semester after the student has successfully passed the comprehensive exams. Doctoral students in Latin American studies must prepare a dissertation prospectus of an interdisciplinary nature. Approval of the proposal requires defending it in an oral forum.  More information regarding the doctoral examination and prospectus defense process can be found here.

PhD Years 4 and 5: Research, Dissertation Writing, & Defense

A dissertation committee of at least four professors will be selected by the student and the mentor before being approved by the graduate advisor and the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. This is required to complete the process of advancing to candidacy. Three of those members (including the dissertation chair) must be members of the Latin American Studies Graduate Studies Committee. The fourth member should be from a unit outside of Latin American Studies and could be either a faculty at UT-Austin or elsewhere (i.e., pending approval of dissertation chair and graduate advisor). Once the student has advanced to candidacy, the remaining of the doctoral program is centered on the preparation of the dissertation.

The dissertation format must be in accordance with the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies requirements and must also be approved by all members of the dissertation committee. Doctoral students who wish to write a dissertation in a language other than English must consult with their mentor(s) and the graduate advisor before submitting a formal petition to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Students are expected to develop a high level of competence in reading and speaking in Spanish, Portuguese, or an indigenous language. They must also attain reading-level competence in another language appropriate to the program of study and approved by the dissertation committee and graduate advisor.

Additional details on both the master’s and the doctoral degree program are available here or from the graduate advisor.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
All students must also follow the following requirements and policies:
Graduate Liberal Arts Requirements
Graduate University Requirements