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Program Administration and Committees:
The program is administered jointly by Center for African Studies and the Center for Latin American Studies. Both are internationally recognized centers of excellence in area studies and are federally funded Title VI centers. The directors for the Center for Latin American Studies and African Studies sit on the steering committee of the program. The steering curriculum and management committees make key decisions about the management of the program:
1. Steering Committee
This is composed of faculty members from across seven colleges and academic units. The steering committee meets once or twice a semester and acts as the overall advisory board for the program.
Please click here to see the current Steering Committee Members.
2. Curriculum Committee:
The curriculum committee designs, reviews and revises learning competencies and the structure of the curriculum. It ensures that individual coursework meets the program's learning outcomes.
Please click here to see the current Curriculum Committee Members.
3. Admissions Committee:
An admission committee composed of MDP director, graduate advisor and core faculty together with the program coordinator reviews and ranks student applications.
4. Management Committee:
The management committee is convened where important executive or budgetary decisions are being made. The committee is composed of the program director, program coordinator and core faculty members. The committee is also attended by the directors of the Center for African Studies and Latin American Studies whenever appropriate.
Members include: Glenn Galloway, Marianne Schmink, Brian Child, Grenville Barnes, Rick Rheingans, Sheila Onzere.
5. Student Advising and Master's Supervisory Committee:
The graduate coordinator (Marianne Schmink) will advise students during the first semester. The student is responsible for forming an advisory committee in their first semester. This should include at least one faculty member on one of the MDP committees listed above, and at least one other faculty member. The role of the faculty advisor and committee are:
- To advise students on course work and plan their field experience.
- To evaluate the student's final project.
