The master’s degree program provides students with the opportunity to study the major movements and writers in Iberia and Latin America, acquire the critical and theoretical tools necessary to engage literary and cultural analysis with sophistication, and develop communicative competence through pedagogical and scholarly formation.

For more information about our graduate programs, please see our Graduate Handbook. 

Admission to Graduate Studies

Admission Requirements

• All applicants must meet the requirements outlined in the Admission to Graduate Study policy. 

• Bachelor’s degree: A copy of official transcripts showing proof of a bachelor's degree (and any post-bachelor’s coursework or degrees) from a regionally accredited institution, or a foreign university with equivalent bachelor's degree requirements is required.  

• English proficiency: Proof of English proficiency for non-native or non-native-like English speakers is required. There are two bands of English proficiency, including Admission and Full proficiency. For applicants to online programs, Full proficiency is required. 

Graduate Admission

• In addition to the general admission requirements from the Office of Graduate Studies, which includes holding (or anticipate completing by the time of admission) a B.A. or B.S. degree from an accredited U.S. college or university or the equivalent degree from a foreign university, the applicant must have 15 semester hours of literature courses at the survey level or above in Spanish or the equivalent of the undergraduate major in Spanish at KU. 
• The selection committee gives strong consideration to letters of recommendation, the breadth and depth of preparation, and Graduate Record Examination* scores, if available. Deficiencies in preparation specified by the selection committee may be made up early in the graduate program, although the time required to complete the degree is correspondingly greater.

Departmental Admissions Requirements:

• A statement of academic objectives in English describing your intellectual development, previous academic training, and areas of academic interest. The quality of this statement is an especially important factor in the decisions of the admissions committee. It would also be helpful if you identified the faculty member(s) with whom you intend to work. The statement should not exceed two single-spaced pages.
• A curriculum vitae
• Copies of official transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate programs
• An academic writing sample in Spanish (not to exceed 30 double-spaced pages)
• Three letters of recommendation with the appropriate waiver form
• A video file (mp4) or a sound file (mp3) in spoken Spanish and English. Your recording should describe your background with Spanish, your reasons for seeking a graduate degree in Hispanic Studies, and the goals you intend to achieve as a student and instructor at the University of Kansas. Please speak spontaneously and be yourself; record 5 minutes for each language. The committee is trying to get a sense of your oral communicative abilities.

Admission to the graduate program is competitive and based on an evaluation of the entire dossier of materials submitted by the student. Particular attention is paid to the student’s self-presentation, so care should be taken in writing the personal statement and in choosing the essay sent as a writing sample. The Admissions Committee considers each applicant’s statement, academic accomplishments, letters of recommendation, audio recording, and writing samples to assess the applicant’s potential for graduate studies. The committee uses the video-sound file to evaluate candidates for GTAships.

Submit your graduate application online. 

*GRE scores are not required; applicants are encouraged to include GRE scores only if available. 

M.A. Degree Requirements

Students must complete a minimum of 30 hours of graduate credit in literature, including one seminar in Peninsular literature or in Spanish-American literature. At least 50% of coursework for the master’s degree must be taken at the 700 level or above.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
SPAN 801	Teaching Spanish in Institutions of Higher Learning (required of all GTAs during their first semester of teaching)	3
Medieval/Early Modern Peninsular (choose one)		3
SPAN 730	Topics in the Literature of 13th- and 14th-Century Iberia: _____
SPAN 733	Print Culture in Early Modern Spain
SPAN 739	Topics in Early Modern Spanish Drama: _____
SPAN 940	Seminar in Trans-Atlantic Literatures and Cultures: _____
SPAN 745	Don Quixote
SPAN 961	Seminar: Medieval Literature: _____
Colonial Latin America: prior to 19th Century (choose one)		3
SPAN 940	Seminar in Trans-Atlantic Literatures and Cultures: _____
SPAN 781	Colonial Identities
Modern/Contemporary Peninsular: 19th-21st Century (choose one)		3
SPAN 940	Seminar in Trans-Atlantic Literatures and Cultures: _____
SPAN 762	The Spanish Novel Since the Civil War
SPAN 764	Modern Spanish Poetry
SPAN 922	Seminar in Spanish Literature and Culture: _____
Modern/Contemporary Latin/o America (choose one)		3
SPAN 785	Special Topics in Spanish-American Literature: _____
SPAN 922	Seminar in Spanish Literature and Culture: _____
SPAN 940	Seminar in Trans-Atlantic Literatures and Cultures: _____
SPAN 985	Seminar in Spanish American Literature and Culture: _____
One Seminar (900 level)		3
SPAN 922	Seminar in Spanish Literature and Culture: _____
SPAN 940	Seminar in Trans-Atlantic Literatures and Cultures: _____
SPAN 961	Seminar: Medieval Literature: _____
SPAN 985	Seminar in Spanish American Literature and Culture: _____
Two elective courses in the department (700 or above) from categories above or additional courses listed below		6
PORT 742	The Brazilian Novel
PORT 760	Contemporary Brazilian Literature
PORT 780	Special Readings in Portuguese and Brazilian Literature
SPAN 722	Special Topics in Spanish Literature: _____
SPAN 780	Introduction to Hispanic Studies
SPAN 795	Literary Theory and Criticism
Two courses may be taken outside of the department with the approval of the graduate advisor		6
Total Hours		30

Additional department requirement:

Language Requirement

Students are required to posses reading knowledge of two other languages as approved by the Department; students can satisfy this requirement in the following ways:

• Enroll in PORT 611 and earn a grade of B or higher in the course. Recommended by the Department.
• Enroll in one semester of an indigenous Latin American language and earn a grade of B or higher.
• Enroll in a reading knowledge language course approved by the DGS in a chosen language at KU.
• Enroll in a graduate course in a language approved by the DGS. Graduate students must earn a grade of B or higher in the courses toward fulfillment of this requirement.
• Present third semester college course work approved by the DGS from another institution with an average grade of B or better.
• Pass an examination in the chosen approved language administered by the corresponding department at KU.

Additional department recommendations:

• Students in the MA considering pursuing a Ph.D. should enroll in SPAN 795, or an alternative course with a focus in literary theory.
• Students should take at least one course with a focus on film studies or/and cultural studies.

Degree Completion Options:

Portfolio or MA Qualifying Exam

Portfolio

• Introduction and Personal Statement
  • This section is to be completed in the student’s language of choice and consists of an Introduction and Personal Statement. As part of your general academic growth, you might be interested in writing the personal statement in the language with which you are least comfortable. The introduction should provide essential context, identify your topics, and indicate the particular focus of the portfolio. The personal statement of a maximum of six pages in length should serve as a reflection on the student’s learning experience, intellectual engagement, and professional growth during the graduate program.
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
  • You must turn in a copy in English, and optionally, a copy in Spanish.
  • Your CV should include education, work experience, awards, community outreach, grants and fellowships, language abilities, and experience abroad among other possible categories. Students are encouraged to seek assistance from the KU University Career Center (https://career.ku.edu). Students should make an appointment with the center, visit the center, and follow their guidelines for CV preparation. However, it is often easier to use one of the CVs of our faculty as a model, available on the website of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
• Teaching Statement
  • The portfolio should include a 700–800-word teaching statement in English which reflects on teaching and pedagogical practice. This statement should include specific examples from classroom experiences. Students should also demonstrate familiarity with current pedagogical methods and should be able to articulate how they have employed these methods effectively in the classroom. Students are encouraged to draw from what they learned through SPAN 801.
  • In addition to the teaching statement, students have the option to include supplementary materials such as lesson plans, instructional materials developed for courses, experiences as GTAs in Study abroad, or assessment work.
• Three course essays in Spanish
  • Students must include three examples of a paper/project that they have written during the MA program. You can use one of them to write your culminating project (see below). The papers should be at least 8-10 pages in length without works cited lists. Each should center its analysis on one of the four areas of concentration in the MA program (Peninsular I or II, Latin America I or II). One of the three essays should be a research paper developed in a 700-level course or a seminar research project.
• Culminating Project
  • For the culminating project, students are encouraged to select what they consider to be their strongest paper, which they should revise and expand the paper based on feedback from the faculty members for whose course it was originally written. The Culminating Project should explore questions of ongoing academic interest and demonstrate the student’s intellectual growth throughout the program. The culminating project should follow MLA style, be written in Spanish, and show evidence of critical thinking and an ability on the part of the student to synthesize material.
• Oral Defense of Portfolio
  • The primary faculty advisor in consultation with the student is responsible for establishing a committee. After the student has formed the committee, the Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Program Coordinator will work with the faculty and students to schedule a time and date for the Oral Defense. The advisor should make sure that all arrangements for the oral defense are set by two weeks before Stop Day.
  • At least three weeks before the scheduled oral examination, the student should submit the final draft of the portfolio to each member of the examining committee. Upon completion of the oral defense, the primary academic advisor will send an email to the Graduate Program Coordinator and the Director of Graduate Studies with the results of the oral examination. The Oral Defense of the Portfolio will be evaluated on a Pass/Fail basis. The committee may have recommendations that the advisor should communicate to the advisee who should incorporate the recommendations to successfully complete the defense. 

​MA Qualifying Exam

The M.A. written and oral examinations are based on the M.A. reading list. It evaluates the student’s knowledge and understanding of the M.A. reading list. Portions of the written exam may be devoted to materials which candidates have not covered in graduate courses taken while in the program. Each portion of the written examination must be deemed passing before the student can proceed to the Oral Examination.

The written exams consist of four areas with ninety minutes allocated to each area. There are two questions for each area:

• Medieval and Early Modern Iberia 
• 19th-, 20th -, and 21st -Centuries Spain
• Colonial through 19th-Century Latin America
• 20th- and 21st-Centuries Latin America

Students can opt out of ONE of the four areas by taking two courses in any one area and passing them with a grade of B or higher. To opt out, the student must inform the Director of Graduate Studies in writing anytime in the semester prior to taking the exams.

​For additional information please see our Graduate Handbook.

At the completion of this program, students will be able to: 

• Gain an in-depth understanding of the cultural and literary production of Iberia and Latin America, including their historical context and interconnectedness.
• Develop proficiency in critical and theoretical approaches essential for advanced literary and cultural analysis.
• Cultivate effective communication skills, both written and verbal, for scholarly research, teaching, and professional pursuits.

Study Abroad

The department offers summer programs in Barcelona, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. KU offers semester/academic year programs in San José, Costa Rica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Salamanca, Spain. More information is available from the Office of Study Abroad.

Graduate students have the opportunity to teach and conduct research during summer sessions in Buenos Aires, Argentina; or Barcelona, Spain. The department also has a graduate exchange agreement with the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain.