Academic Accelerator - Bachelor of Arts - Latin American and Latino Studies

Program Description

As a student in the Academic Accelerator, you’ll receive:

• The right amount of support for your academic and English-speaking needs
• A full year’s worth of college credits
• Access to courses exclusively for international students
• English-language help with words you need to know for your classes
• A mix of classes with international and U.S. students

Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies and Latino Studies seeks to provide students with an understanding of the history, cultures, and contemporary issues of Latin Americans and Latinos in the U.S. using interdisciplinary approaches. Courses cover Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America as well as urbanization and social and political processes among Latino groups in Chicago and throughout the United States. Comparative and diverse developmental perspectives illuminate linkages among the countries and peoples of the Americas. A major in Latin American and Latino Studies can serve as a useful basis for careers in public service, business, professional, or academic life related to Latin America or U.S. Latinos.

The program is designed so that students acquire a general background in both Latin American and Latino studies in the lower-division courses. Students have the option to pursue a general curriculum by taking an equal amount of upper-division courses in Latin American and Latino Studies or to pursue an area of specialization in either Latin American or Latino Studies by taking more upper-division courses in one of the two areas. Students may also choose to take courses in a particular disciplinary area of the humanities (history and cultural studies) or the social sciences (anthropology, political science, sociology) or a combination of these areas. Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one course on Mexico.