Graduate

Graduate Program

Background image: students sitting around a seminar table

A Welcome Letter from the Graduate Students of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley

Dear Prospective Students,

Welcome to the web site for the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley! We encourage you to explore the graduate program, which offers a Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures and a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures. Our programs have attracted an international group of students, with approximately 55 active at any given time.

It’s no surprise to us graduate students that UC Berkeley was recently rated by U.S. News and World Report as the best university in the U.S. for graduate study. Our library collections, easily navigated with the latest technology, are among the largest in the country. All of the UC system libraries are linked to one another, making Inter-Library Loans between campuses convenient for all students. In addition, Berkeley students interested in media studies enjoy access to the immense resource of the Pacific Film Archive.

Throughout the campus our faculty members are respected as some of the most talented and involved members of their fields. Those in the Spanish & Portuguese department are actively publishing and eager to bring their cutting-edge expertise and energy to the classroom. The Portuguese program is strong and expanding, while the Spanish program continues to attract new and talented professors. To compliment courses taken within the department, graduate students are encouraged to branch out and establish working relationships with faculty members in other fields, widening the scope of our studies.

The Berkeley community and campus are famous worldwide for dynamic intellectual community and commitment to the development of solid thinkers; we assure you that as a student here, you will find the same qualities in the department of Spanish and Portuguese. The graduate students are very pleased with our department’s combination of professional rigor and social camaraderie. Professors encourage the sharing of ideas between graduate students and are willing to give detailed commentary on term papers and articles-in-progress. We are always welcome during faculty hours for discussing individual research and further developing classroom discussion. In addition to invaluable support from the professors, graduate students depend on one another for continued intellectual growth and feedback. Many students participate in self-generated working groups, often funded by the Townsend Center.

Berkeley, San Francisco and the larger Bay Area offer unequaled literary and political communities with phenomenal access to cultural events, all set within the gorgeous landscape of the San Francisco Bay. We love it here and take great pride in our work and our supportive, professional environment. Our department certainly has a lot to offer; please contact us with any questions you might have.

Suerte,

The Graduate Students