Masters Program Requirements

Designed to provide students with an exposure to qualitative and quantitative decision-making methods, focusing on the Mexican American population. Graduate-level requirements include a research project.

A critical examination of Mexican American culture as portrayed in the social sciences. An assessment of the social, political, and economic factors influencing representations of Mexican Americans.

Traditional Indian Medicine, or TIM, is a concept that refers to Indigenous knowledges expressed through the varied healing systems in Indigenous communities. This course will pay particular attention to American Indian nations and healing knowledges that are intersecting and intertwined relationships with the natural world, the Indigenous body and the sacred. We will examine both how Indigenous healing systems have persisted as well as responded to social conditions, such as genocide, colonization and historical, as well as contemporary, forms of oppression. Topics include intergenerational trauma as well as how resilience is expressed in practices of wellbeing, healing and self-determination. We will also explore TIM as containing systems of healing that may/may not operate in conjunction with allopathic medicine. This course takes a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating readings from American Indian/Indigenous studies and health to explore a complex portfolio of American Indian/Indigenous wellbeing.

This course will examine immigration from Mexico to the U.S. The course focuses on current immigration issues such as the economic assimilation of immigrants, as well as other social issues.

This course provides and in-depth exploration on how social and cultural factors influence the health of racial/ethnic groups and underserved populations in the United States. The Socio-Cultural Determinants of Health are social, political, economic and cultural conditions, forces and factors that influence how health is distributed among entire groups and populations. The examination of socio-cultural influences is an interdisciplinary field of study that draws on research and scholarship from many areas including medical sociology, medical and cultural anthropology, public health, political science, public policy studies, epidemiology, and critical gender and race studies. This course introduces important concepts found in the scientific literature and then examines fundamental determinants of health, including income and social class, ethnicity and racism, place and space on specific determinants (e.g. segregation, racism) and health conditions (e.g. infectious and chronic diseases). 

Graduate-level requirements include facilitating class discussion and organizing class lectures based on selected topics in Latino Health Disparities. Graduate students will submit two questions for discussion to the instructor that draw on materials outside of the course and also lead the class discussion for that topic.

A public health perspective in examining health and mental health issues affecting Latinos residing in the U.S., with particular emphasis on Mexican Americans.

This course addresses adolescence from cultural-ecological and socio-ecological approaches to understanding developmental processes and outcomes among Latino youth, with special attention to the multiple contextual factors associated with ethnic identity.  Students explore developmental theories with the goals of an integrated understanding of physical development, social behavior, and belief structures. This course also addresses social and psychological issues of particular interest for Latino adolescents: sexuality, discrimination, ethnic and gender identity, conflict and violence, academic/career aspirations, resilience and positive youth development, and individual, familial, and socio-historical context. This course includes reviews of empirical studies that utilize quantitative and qualitative approaches in order for students to recognize and identify rigorously designed and conceptually driven studies that will contribute to our understanding of Latino adolescents' developmental processes and outcomes.

This is a course in the historical writing on the ethnic Mexican experience. It deals with a) the succession of authors, books, and schools on the subject; b) the development of historical writing within a social and political framework; and c) the changing attitudes to the question and nature of history itself. It is designed to encourage students to understand and to challenge past and present historians and to reflect upon their own ideas of history.

Targeted for graduate students across campus, this course will focus on the study of Chicana/Latina perspectives that include feminisms, womanisms, and standpoints. The course will engage these perspectives from (her)storical, theoretical, empirical, and literary texts. The course will ground the application of these perspectives in educational research so as to enable participants to subsequently relate the ideas to their respective research areas like in public health or history.

Worldwide human migration and displacements are at an all time high because of political, economic, and environmental upheavals. In the Americas, in particular, there has been a steady increase in migration to the U.S. from Mexico and Latin America since the 1960s. The most significant change has been the greater participation of women due in part to the negative impact of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) resulting in the impoverishment of agricultural sectors and lack of employment opportunities, a combination known to produce the feminization of migration. In this class, we will explore this phenomenon and the various challenges borne by women and youths. We will consider relevant theories, such as structural violence, as well as a wide range of perspectives, combining demography, history, ethnography and public policy analysis to better understand issues of borders, transnational identities, human rights, labor rights, and responsibilities of host and sending states.

This course will provide an overview of the theories, policies, and practices related to the education of Latinos. We will focus specifically on the social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors, within and outside the school context, that contribute to Latino students' underachievement, failure, and negative educational outcomes. In addition, transformative practices that promote student achievement, learning, and critical consciousness will be discussed. Readings will cover various issues in education as well as introduce course participants to a broad collection of primarily Latino scholars interested in developing new methods and policies that will improve the educational experiences of Latino students.  Graduate-level requirements include more demanding guidelines for essays.

Historical survey and sociological analysis of past and present experiences of Mexicanas and Chicanas in the United States. Graduate-level requirements include a longer writing project and an additional class presentation.

Students choosing to complete a thesis will enroll in 6 units of MAS 910 (thesis coursework). 

**If you are looking to register in thesis units (MAS 910), you will need to connect with the department's program coordinator and your advisor for registration. 

Students choosing to complete an oral examination will enroll in 6 additional elective units.

The Responsible Conduct of Research Statement is submitted on GradPath. The form will need to be submited in order to continue on to the other forms. 

Students in the M.S. program must complete a "Master's Plan of Study" form by the end of the first year in consultation with their Major Advisor. The form is submitted on GradPath.

Students can also use this template to outline your plan to discuss with your advisor before filling out the form on GradPath.You can also visit the FAQs page on the Graduate College page. 

If you are writing a thesis (i.e., you are taking course number 910), you must report your thesis committee. The requirements for a thesis committee are detailed at https://grad.arizona.edu/gsas/degree-requirements/masters-degrees#thesis-committee.

A student completing a thesis is REQUIRED to submit the thesis to be archived by the UA Campus Repository and in the national archive maintained by ProQuest/UMI. Please see the information about thesis archiving at https://grad.arizona.edu/gsas/degree-requirements/masters-degrees#thesis-archiving.

The student will start the form by submiting it and will move on to the committee members to confirm a successful completition.