Faculty
Distinguished Professor Emerita
Edna Acosta-Belén, Ph.D., Columbia University (Collins Fellow and O'Leary Professor)
Professors Emeriti/ae
Christine E. Bose, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University (Collins Fellow)
José Cruz, Ph.D., City University of New York
Colbert I. Nepaulsingh, Ph.D., University of Toronto
Leonard A. Slade, Jr. Ph.D., L.H.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Collins Fellow)
Professors
Pedro Cabán, Ph.D., Columbia University
Alejandra Bronfman, Ph.D., Princeton University (Undergraduate Director)
Michelle Harris, Ph.D., University of Michigan (Graduate Program Director)
Walter Little, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Department Chair)
Associate Professors
Gabriel Hetland, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Marcia E. Sutherland, Ph.D., Howard University
Assistant Professor
El-Ra Radney, Ph.D., Michigan State University
Lecturers
David Agum, Ph.D., Temple University
Jennifer J. Thompson Burns, Ph.D., University at Albany, SUNY
Affiliated Faculty
Jesús Alonso Regalado, MA., University of Pittsburgh
Jeanette Altarriba, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University (Collins Fellow)
Jennifer L. Burrell, Ph.D., New School for Social Research
Alexander Dawson, Ph.D., SUNY Stony Brook
Joanna Dreby, Ph.D., CUNY Graduate Center
Matthew C. Ingram, J.D., Ph.D., University of New Mexico
Ilka Kressner, Ph.D., University of Virginia
Tom Narins, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Carmen Serrano, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
Barbara Sutton, Ph.D., University of Oregon
Elizabeth Vásquez, DrPH., New York Medical College
Francisco Vieyra, Ph.D., New York University
Adjuncts (estimated): 4
Graduate Assistants (estimated): 2
The Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies takes a multi-disciplinary approach that fosters a critical understanding of history, culture and politics. Programs explore how peoples from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as their descendants in the Americas, have constructed and interpreted their own lives, cultures and histories.
Africana Studies
Objectives of the Africa Studies program are to provide a multi- and interdisciplinary education in African/African American studies and related fields. Students are expected to possess the knowledge and skills necessary to understand the social, political, economic, psychological, and historical consequences of institutional arrangements as they affect the life experiences of African/African American people.
Full programs leading to the B.A. and M.A. degrees are offered. Students may specialize in African studies and African American studies. Sub-areas in African studies are the history, economics, politics, and culture of the following regions: Eastern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa. Sub-areas in African American studies include: African American history and culture, urban economic development, central city politics and institutions, African American literature and criticism, and urban planning. Though the major concentrations are Africa and the United States, students may design programs that will enhance their knowledge of other Black cultures, e.g., the Caribbean and Haitian.
Students are prepared for careers in teaching, counseling, state and local social welfare programs, urban planning, administrative program direction, and international relations.
Special Programs and Opportunities
Undergraduate students in the program are provided an opportunity to apply theory through community projects, both within formal courses and other such special programs that may be designed by the department. Students participating in the latter may work directly with New York legislators or legislative committees. For further information contact the Department. Students are also provided an ongoing colloquium series featuring locally and nationally known African and African American scholars. The senior seminar enables students and faculty to explore common research interests.
Degree Requirements for the Major in Africana Studies
General Program B.A.:
A minimum of 36 credits to include three of the following five courses: A AFS 101, 142, 219, 286, 287; A AFS 490; additional 24 credits with department courses as advised, to include at least 21 credits at 300 level or above.
Africana Studies Honors Program
The Honors Program in Africana Studies is designed to enhance the academic excellence of its majors, to forge closer intellectual relationships between students and the faculty, and to prepare students for graduate studies and for their professional careers.
Admission Requirements:
- Minimum Overall GPA: 3.25
- Minimum GPA in major: 3.50
To be eligible for a degree with honors, the student must have a cumulative grade-point average in University courses of at least 3.25, with a 3.50 minimum grade-point average in the major. Students may apply for admission to the Honors Program as early as the spring semester of the sophomore year. Applications must be submitted to the Director of the Honors Program. The Director of the Honors Program and the Departmental Honors Committee will review the applications.
Required Courses
Students must complete any two of the following courses in Africana Studies: A AFS 325 (Introduction to Research Methods); A AFS 345 (The Black Novel); A AFS 375 (Black Popular Culture); A AFS 355Z (Introduction to African and African American Poetry), A AFS 320 (Black Nationalism: Political Perspective in Africa), and A AFS 322 (Developing African Nations). Students must complete A AFS 490 the Senior Seminar for Africana Studies majors as part of the Honors program.
Required Honors Project
The Director of the Honors Program will assist students in the selection of their faculty advisor for their Honors thesis. Students must submit their written Honors project proposal to their faculty advisor for approval. Students will work on a major research project under the careful supervision of their faculty advisor. Students are expected to engage in a critical and in-depth analysis on their chosen topic. The Honors project should be between 40 and 60 pages in length. Students will begin their Honors thesis in A AFS 490. Students must also take A AFS 498 (Topics in African Studies) or A AFS 499 (Topics in African American Studies) to complete the Honors thesis. The thesis will be graded by the faculty advisor. The Honors thesis must be approved by the Director of the Honors Program and at least one other professor on the Honors Committee. Students will make an oral presentation of their thesis at a departmental seminar. The Honors course credits will be counted toward the 36 credits required for majors in Africana Studies.
Honors students in Africana Studies are required to maintain the minimum grade-point average of 3.50 in the major and at least a 3.25 minimum grade-point average in University courses. The Departmental Honors Committee will review the academic performance of each candidate at the completion of the junior year. Students who fail to meet the Honors program’s academic standards during their senior year will be ineligible for a degree with Honors. Students who have successfully completed the program requirements will be recommended to the department by the Departmental Honors Committee to receive the degree with honors in Africana Studies.
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies has a cross-disciplinary faculty prepared to train undergraduates for research, service, and applied careers dealing with the U.S. Latino communities and with the Caribbean and Latin American regions.
The interdisciplinary major in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies is designed to prepare students for professional and research careers; domestic service with federal and state governmental agencies; careers in the United States foreign service; careers with business and educational organizations, public and private foundations, and other private or public agencies engaged in developing, improving, and promoting trade and the social, political, and economic life of the peoples of Latin America; editing and journalism; and paramedical and paralegal careers.
This major requires interdisciplinary course work with Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino content. Undergraduate students in the department are also provided with opportunities for community-oriented research, community service, and study abroad. LACS majors who study abroad to any country in Latin America or the Caribbean have the opportunity for their overseas credits to count toward graduation requirements in LACS.
The department also offers two minor sequences in either Latin American and Caribbean Studies or U.S. Latino Studies.
Courses focusing on cultures, peoples, and history of Latin America, the Caribbean, and U.S. Latina/os are also offered in the courses in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; History; Geography and Planning; Anthropology; Sociology, Africana Studies, Education, Economics, Political Science, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Careers
An undergraduate degree in LACS provides students with the flexibility to pursue a wide variety of business, education, and government occupations, as well as for graduate or professional study in specific disciplinary interests in the social sciences, the humanities, or professional areas. Moreover, LACS majors can easily combine their culture and language interests and skills with a commitment to issues of diversity, civil and human rights, and social justice. Many students with a LACS degree pursue careers in law, journalism, marketing, business, social welfare, higher education administration, government, or education. LACS students have also pursued the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program, Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps. Faculty are available to consult with students about their career interests throughout their time in the department.
Degree Requirements for the Major in Latin American, Caribbean, & U.S. Latino Studies
General Program B.A.:
A minimum of 36 credits, 24 of which must be at or above the 300 level, as follows:
- Required core courses (9 credits): A LCS 100, A LCS 300, and one of the following capstone seminars: A LCS 411, A LCS 412, or A LCS 413.
- Electives (27 credits): 27 additional credits, 18 at the 300 level or above, in Latin American, Caribbean & U.S. Latino Studies with A LCS prefix courses or any courses cross listed with A LCS from other departments.
Students may take up to 4 versions of A LCS 330.
The Undergraduate Director will assist students with an individually designed and cohesive curriculum comprised of these electives.
Latin American, Caribbean, & U.S. Latino Studies Honors Program
Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies (LACS) Honors Program provides highly motivated undergraduate majors in LACS advanced training to enhance their research, writing, and analytical skills. Honors Students conduct original, independent research and write a thesis (project) that is topically relevant to LACS as an interdisciplinary discipline.
The Honors Program offers personalized mentorship to students planning to enter graduate or professional school. Students in the program acquire the knowledge and an array of skills that are essential to succeed in a wide range of professional endeavors. By working closely with active research scholars, LACS honors students learn to identify an original research topic, how to conduct a literature review on the subject, distinguish between primary and secondary sources and how they are used, develop an original research design, and conduct independent research. The projects are invariably interdisciplinary and tend to have broad appeal. LACS encourages students to contemplate undertaking research that is grounded in social justice and that offer unique perspectives on issues of contemporary relevance.
Admissions and Administrative Procedures
LACS majors who are interested in enrolling in the Honors Program must have (and subsequently maintain upon entry) an overall GPA of at least 3.25 and a 3.50 in their major (LACS). Students must email the Director of the LACS Undergraduate Program to be considered for admission into the LACS Honors Program.
Students enrolled in the LACS Honors Program will need the following 12 credits that are designed to enhance and intensify the undergraduate experience:
A LCS 300, Research Experience in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (3 credits)
This course is designed to build undergraduate research skills by exposing students to methods from both traditional disciplines (e.g., Anthropology, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, etc.) as well as transdisciplinary fields of study (e.g., Latin America Studies, Latinx Studies, Africana Studies, Globalization Studies, Languages Literatures and Cultures, etc.) Students will design a research proposal in a topic of interest relevant to Latin American, Caribbean, or Latinx Studies, but they will not be carrying out the actual research itself for this course. Students will apply information literacy and critical thinking skills, become familiar with different research methodologies, and learn how to develop, write, and professionally present components of an academic research proposal that is topically relevant to Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies. Prerequisite(s): junior or senior standing.
A LCS 411, 412, or 413 (3 credits)
Recommended to enroll in the spring of the student's junior year or fall of their senior year. This course includes the successful completion of an annotated bibliography that is associated with the project the student is completing for A LCS 495.
A LCS 495, LACS Departmental Honors Project (6 credits)
Recommended to enroll in the spring of the student's senior year. This independent study is designed under the supervision of the LACS Undergraduate Program Director and/or their LACS Departmental Honors Project Advisor (i.e., a faculty member of the student's choosing). Students will present drafts, periodic progress reports, and present their projects upon successful completion of a working draft and/or their finished project either at the LACS Student Research Symposium (held every fall semester) and/or the annual Showcase Event (held every spring semester). The goal of this project is to create a high-quality research document (and/or other creative endeavor of the student's choosing) to add to job portfolios that represents the best work of the undergraduates' career. This project can be used as a writing sample in any field entered. LACS encourages students to submit their projects to different competitions, journals, and conferences that may come up throughout the year and to stay in touch with the department after students graduate. In addition, students will receive special recognition at the commencement awards ceremony and will be able to include this distinction on their resumes.