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Visit the Graduate School for admission information and the online application to the PhD program. Please note that only online applications are accepted. Any difficulties or special requests for paper applications should be addressed directly to the Graduate School.
Questions of a general nature relating to the Department of Romance Studies can be directed to the graduate field assistant, Kristina Baier.
WELCOME|
The
Department of Romance Studies at Cornell University is home to a
most vibrant and distinguished doctoral program in Hispanic literatures,
with a longstanding tradition of top-notch scholarship and a dynamic
group of nationally and internationally recognized faculty members.
Taking advantage of the numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary
study and research available throughout the university, graduate
students are encouraged to develop their own individual interests
and disciplinary orientations in an open and ongoing dialogue with
members of the Department and of the Field. Students can expect
to be exposed to a wide range of research areas, periods, critical
methods, and theoretical frameworks: from textual analysis and cultural
studies, psychoanalytic and critical social theory, to the study
of genre, gender, and sexuality; from the Spanish-Castilian Middle
Ages and Early Modern Studies to contemporary prose, poetry and
film in Galician or Catalan, from the Andes and the Southern Cone
to Mexico and the Latino/a presence in the USA; and from colonial
times to recent transatlantic trends.
Our graduate students engage in a flexible course of study based
on individual needs and experience rather than on general requirements.
The Field structure and the special committee system are Cornell's
signature contributions to graduate education, resting on the backbone
of its faculty's international reputation for excellence in scholarship
and teaching. Cornell's flexibility relies upon a tradition of close
working relationships established between faculty and students,
including consultation with graduate students about prospective
courses for future semesters.
The graduate student's work is directed by a committee of faculty
members chosen by the student. As students advance in their programs,
their special committees will recommend work in related disciplines
and languages necessary to achieve the students’ goals in
their individually defined fields of study. Students are encouraged
to relate their fields of study to other disciplines, such as anthropology,
comparative literature, history, Latin American studies, linguistics,
music, philosophy, theater arts, or women's studies, to name only
a few popular options. This is encouraged through a minor field,
related to their research, but different from their major area of
interest. Overall, there is flexibility and individual attention
paid to each case.
Graduate students in Hispanic studies also have the opportunity
to take an active part in an extremely rich variety of special lectures,
conferences, symposia, concerts, and workshops. These events range
from guest lecturers of international stature, to locally-organized
symposia, to events planned around the special topic of the year
at the Society for the Humanities, to participation in the prestigious
School for Criticism and Theory summer seminars.
All students admitted to the program can expect to be able to conduct
research abroad, and to have Cornell support for participation in
national and international conferences.
MEMBERS OF THE GRADUATE FIELD IN HISPANIC STUDIES FROM THE
DEPARTMENT OF ROMANCE STUDIES:
Bruno Bosteels; Debra Castillo; María Antonia Garcés;
José Edmundo Paz-Soldán; Simone Pinet; José María Rodríguez-García.
MEMBERS OF THE GRADUATE FIELD IN SPANISH FROM OTHER DEPARTMENTS:
Ross Brann (Department of Near Eastern Studies); Walter Cohen (Department
of Comparative Literature); Cynthia Robinson (History of Art); Margarita
Suñer (Department of Linguistics).
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OUTLINE OF THE PH.D. PROGRAM|
Admission is based on an evaluation of the entire dossier of material
submitted by the student, which includes a personal statement, letters
of recommendation, writing sample, transcripts, GRE, and, if pertinent,
TOEFL scores. 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.
Cornell's aid package is highly competitive nationally. All admitted
students are guaranteed a multi-year package that includes two years
of full fellowship, the opportunity for building a teaching portfolio
of a range of courses through teaching assistantships, and summer
research support.
ASSISTANTSHIPS
Students coming with a B.A. degree receive five years of full support,
and those arriving with a relevant M.A. degree receive four years
of full support: the first year of course work is covered by a Sage
Fellowship from the Graduate School, and students are expected to
take a full load of four courses per semester. The second year of
Sage Fellowship from the Graduate School is taken in the last year
of study, normally during the fourth or fifth year, when students
are writing their dissertation. During the second and third year
of course work (and fourth year, for those coming with a B.A.),
students receive support from teaching assistantships, which typically
entail teaching responsibilities of 15-20 hours per week teaching language
or introductory literature courses.
Students fulfill their graduate requirements by taking course work
in Department of Romance Studies and in other departments at Cornell.
During the first two years, students plan a full load of courses
in their major and minor fields. The normal load is four courses
per semester (three for those holding teaching assistantships).
In this two-year period, and after that until they take the Area
exams, all students are required to take the special 600-level seminar
in Hispanic literature chosen for each semester. In addition, all
students must take the Language Methodology course to prepare for
their teaching assignments as TAs in their second year, and, later,
the Teaching Writing seminar to prepare for teaching literature
courses. Students are expected to emphasize diversity and avoid
duplication of past work. In the summer following their first year,
students are encouraged to pursue related language study either
at Cornell or abroad and/or independent readings or research.
The balance of courses, independent study, and thesis work is decided
upon by the student and the Special Committee.
Students entering with an M.A. degree are encouraged to take their
General Examination (Area exams) in August, following their second
year; however, this exam must be completed by January of their third
year. Students coming with a B.A. are encouraged to take their General
Examination in January or May of their third year; in any case,
this examination must be completed before they begin their fourth
year. Students typically dedicate one semester to the preparation
of their special Field Examination (A Paper) and the rest of their
time at Cornell to the writing of their dissertation.
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FINANCIAL SUPPORT|
All entering students receive generous fellowship support and summer funding. Currently, support is guaranteed by the graduate school for four years for students entering with an M.A. or five years for students entering with a B.A. This guarantee includes two years of fellowship and two or more years of teaching assistantships. These provide full tuition awards and, in addition, offer academic year stipends and student health insurance coverage. Students receive additional funding for the summer. Travel money and grants are also available to fund research projects and conference travel.
Prospective graduate students are encouraged to consider applying for outside fellowships. Click the following link for information about the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship
ENTRALOGOS|
Entralogos
is devoted to providing the Cornell community with an intellectual
forum for the discussion of issues in Romance literatures and linguistics.
We seek to provide graduate students as well as faculty and visiting
scholars the opportunity to share their work with a wider audience.
To this end, we hold an annual graduate student conference.
Past conferences have dealt with topics such as textual visions
(2003), literature and surveillance (2002), and journeys, arrivals
and their aftermath (2001).
Professors Anthony Geist (U Washington), Georges Van Den Abbeele
(UC Davis), Giancarlo Lombardi (CUNY), Jeffrey Schnapp (Stanford),
Ruth Ben-Ghiat (NYU), Thomas Trezise (Princeton) and our very own
Ciriaco Moron Arroyo have been among the distinguished keynote speakers.
Students from institutions such as Rutgers, Harvard, Princeton,
Columbia, NYU, Yale, California State U, Lehigh U, Toronto, Stony
Brook, and others have shared here their intellectual inquiries.
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PROFILES|
FERNANDO AGUIRRE-PEREZ
KAREN BENEZRA
HENRY BERLIN:
I am particularly interested in late medieval and early modern literature in Spanish and Catalan. I hope to examine the links between nationalism, language, and genre and to incorporate ethical and aesthetic philosophy into my scholarship.
BETH BOULOUKOS
XIMENA BRICEÑO
LOREDANA COMPARONE
OSVALDO DE LA TORRE: Twentieth century and contemporary Latin American poetry; translation studies and practice.
IRENE DEPRETIS CHAUVIN
JENNIFER DUPREY-COLON: Modern and Contemporary Spanish Literature.
My interests are rather eclectic: Narrative of the Spanish Civil
War, XX Century Spanish and Catalan Theater. I am interested in
the theoretical debates of memory, History and tradition, among
others, particularly from a philosophical point of view. At the
present I am working on the subject of Women and Philosophy, especially
with the writings of Hannah Arendt.
DANIEL DUQUE: Early Modern Spanish literature and
Colonial Latin American Literature. I am particularly interested
in the study of the literature of the conquest of America, the relations
between the New World and the Metropolis, and the chronicles related
to the history of the Spanish Empire in Europe.
EMILY EATON
JUAN MANUEL ESPINOSA
MELISSA FIGUEROA
FEDERICO FRIDMAN
RODRIGO FUENTES
GUSTAVO FURTADO
ARMANDO GARCIA
PABLO GARCÍA-PIÑAR
HÉCTOR HOYOS: Comparative and philosophical approaches to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American literature; contemporary literary theory and criticism; urban fiction; Wittgensteinean aesthetics; visual studies; cosmopolitanism and critical theory.
JULIE MANN
ALICIA MUÑOZ: 19th and 20th century Latin American
literature with a special interest in Mexican literature; gender studies and feminist theory, popular culture and visual arts; constructions and representations of the body.
LUNA NÁJERA: I write about the literature of the Spanish Conquest of America. My research investigates the relationship among literature, censorship, and empire in the period from 1550 to 1650. My research encompasses the study of Spanish Golden Age theatre, early modern European history, and Colonial Spanish American history. For more, see my portfolio: http://mysite.verizon.net/luna_najera/index.htm
RAFAEL OROZCO
MARTÍN OYATA: Twentieth-century Latin American
and Spanish prose fiction and essay; literary translation; connections
between literature and other areas such as ethics, science, and
the philosophy of language.
PABLO PEREZ-WILSON
ASHLEY PUIG HERZ
MALIA SPAFFORD
FÉLIX VÁSQUEZ-RIVERA
MICHAEL WILSON REGINATO: 20th Century and Contemporary
Latin American literature, Southern Cone. My primary interest is
the depiction of urban space in Latin American literature and film,
particularly the fictional constructions of Buenos Aires. Analyzing
the ontology of these urban spaces, I also explore the enigmatic
elements in the literary metropolis. Phenomena such as the architectural
uncanny,inescapable cities, the hybrid polygopoli, the anthropomorphic
space and the topomorphic individual in Argentine literature are
some of elements I study.
CAROLYN WOLFENZON-NIEGO: 20th century Latin American prose fiction;
chronicle and novel, chronicle and history; chronicle and journalism;
the representation of the present in fictional and non-fictional
writing; the Jewish novel in Latin America and the Jew in the Latin
American novel; war, trauma, revolution, and their literary and
cinematographic representations.
ZACHARY ZIMMER
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PLACEMENT HISTORY|
In
the last ten years (1994-2004), graduates in Hispanic Studies from
the Department of Romance Studies at Cornell University obtained
teaching positions in following four-year colleges and universities:
Bard College
Binghamton University
Bringham Young University
Bucknell University
California State U., Santa Clara
Chapman University
Clemson University
Colgate University
College of Notre Dame
Denison University
Florida State University
Fordham University
Georgia State University
Harvard University
Hobart-William Smith College
Hunter College
Marietta College
Miami University
Middlebury College
North Carolina State University
Oberlin College
Penn State University
Rutgers University
Smith College
Trinity College, Rome
University of Alberta
University of Kentucky
University of Louisville
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Minnesota
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
University of Oregon
University of South Carolina
University of Toronto
Wesleyan College
Wheaton College
Whitman College, WA
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