Tulane University is home to one of the country’s leading Ph.D. programs in Spanish and Portuguese. Our faculty consists of nationally and internationally recognized scholars and teachers in the literatures and cultures of Spain, Portugal, Northern Africa, Spanish America, Brazil, and Lusophone Africa, in addition to linguistics. Tulane’s Howard-Tilton Library contains extensive holdings that support our respective fields, including the Latin American Library, one of the largest collections of its kind in the United States. Tulane is also home to the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, a renowned center of comparative and interdisciplinary study on Latin America, which has also been a generous source of research support for Tulane graduate students.

The goal of the Ph.D. program is to prepare students to become scholars and teachers of the highest quality. Alongside their coursework (see our recent course offerings page), graduate students participate in an extensive teaching and pedagogy development, which entails taking a course in modern language pedagogy and teaching at most one course per semester in the department’s basic language and literature curriculum. Additionally, the department offers a yearly course on grant writing, the academic job market, and other key topics of professional development. Our Ph.D.’s have consistently obtained tenure-track appointments at leading colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.

All students in the graduate program are admitted to the combined M.A./Ph.D. track and receive a tuition waiver and five years of stipend support. After year one, students teach one course per semester. All students admitted take the M.A. exam, normally in the spring semesters of year two. Those who enter the program with an outside M.A. in Spanish and/or Portuguese literature have the option of taking the M.A. exam in the spring semester of year one and beginning the Ph.D. phase of the program in year two. All students are eligible for a full dissertation writing fellowship in the final fifth year of study. If funding is needed beyond year five, the School of Liberal Arts offers a limited number of Dissertation Completion Fellowships on a competitive basis to qualified students nominated by their department.

Applying

Applications are made online through the Office of Graduate Programs of Tulane’s School of Liberal Arts. The annual application deadline is January 10. The following are required: complete application form, TOEFL scores for foreign students, academic transcripts, statement of purpose, and three letters of recommendation (in English, Spanish, or Portuguese). In addition to the materials required by the School of Liberal Arts, applicants must submit a sample of academic writing in Spanish or Portuguese.

In addition, see the Department's page on Frequently Asked Questions about graduate admission. Further questions may be directed to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

We look forward to your application!

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• Course work: 17 courses in total (51 credits), including SPAN 6010 Method Tchg Span & Port (3 c.h.) and 4 7000-level seminars, including SPAN 7960 Ph.D Prep & Professional Dev (3 c.h.). A select number of courses may be taken outside the department, with permission of the faculty.
• M.A. comprehensive exam: based on reading lists in four areas in Spanish (Medieval and Early Modern Iberian; Modern Spanish Peninsular; Colonial and 19th-Century Latin American; Contemporary Latin American) and/or Portuguese (Luso-Brazilian Literature to 1822; Luso-Brazilian Literature 1822-1922; Luso-Brazilian Literature 1922-1968; Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literature 1968-present)
• Reading proficiency in two foreign languages in addition to the language of specialization
• Ph.D. qualifying exam: Based on customized reading lists in one major area of specialization and two minor areas
• Dissertation prospectus
• Dissertation and final defense

For further information on the expectations of the program, see the Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Handbook.