Latin American Studies Certificate

Requirements for Certificates

CLAS offers two graduate certificates: the Certificate in Latin American Studies and the Certificate in Latin American Social and Public Policy. Requirements for each are detailed below. GPA requirement is 3.0 for all courses to be counted toward any Latin American Studies Certificate. For a list of approved courses, click here.

• Graduate students should complete a minimum of 6 unique credits of coursework. In other words, at least 6 credits of the course work used to complete the requirements of any graduate level certificate in UCIS must be in addition to the credits used to complete the student’s primary degree program. In consultation with the academic advisor, students may fulfill these standards through one of the following options:
  • Students may contextualize non-credit bearing internships that are required in various graduate degree programs as credit bearing experiences for UCIS certificate programs. Prior approval must be received from the academic advisor to pursue this option.
  • Students who can add content courses without affecting their tuition bill will be encouraged to do so.  
  • Students who are exempt from the language requirement because of previous coursework or heritage language skills may use language course credits towards the requirement for “additional work beyond the graduate degree.
• The 6 credits may be comprised of the following combinations:
  • Two language courses (* see notes below)
  • A language course (* see notes below) and a content course
  • Two content courses

* Language courses may be used in the following circumstances: 

For certificate programs that require three years of language proficiency, students may count language courses in the third year (i.e. grammar, conversation, courses taught in target language) that are above the intermediate level.

For students in any certificate program who are exempt from the language requirement due to previous coursework or as a heritage speaker, the introductory courses in a second language (either LCTLs, or a commonly taught language with a clear and stated relevance to their research or professional goals) will count.

For students completing two graduate level UCIS certificates, at least nine (9)credits of the course work used to complete the certificate requirements must be in addition to the credits used to complete the student’s primary degree program. At least 3 of these credits must be in content coursework. All 9 cannot be language course credits.

Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies

To fulfill the requirements for this certificate, students must complete six Latin American area studies courses: two courses in the student’s major department or school and four courses in at least two departments/schools other than that in which the student is receiving the advanced degree. The courses should total 18 credits. In addition, students are required to be proficient in a language of the area and to submit a research paper as detailed below.

Graduate Certificate in Latin American Social and Public Policy

To fulfill the requirements for this certificate, students must complete six courses focusing on social and public policy issues of Latin America: three courses should be in the student’s major department or school and three courses should be in at least two departments/schools other than that in which the student is receiving the advanced degree. The courses should total 18 credits. In addition, students are required to be proficient in a language in their area and to present a research paper as detailed below.

Language Proficiency

The certificates in CLAS require three years, or the equivalent, of college-level Spanish, Portuguese, or an Amerindian language of the area. Students must have adequate proficiency to converse and conduct research in Latin America. A standardized examination is given to each candidate by a faculty member of the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures.

Interdisciplinary Research Paper

Students in CLAS certificate programs must complete a research paper on Latin America that reflects competence in at least two disciplines. The master’s thesis or a revised research paper may be used to fulfill this requirement.