The Center for Latin American Studies is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. When most effective, this advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by the advisor and the advisee. As a best practice, advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. Both the advisor and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Faculty advisors guide students in critical areas such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways. Program administrative staff are available to advise students on program policies, degree requirements, and course selection.

Graduate students are active contributors to the advising relationship; they should proactively seek academic and professional guidance, take responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program, and remain aware of all program-specific and University-wide deadlines.

At or before the start of graduate study, generally at the beginning of autumn quarter, each student is assigned an advisor: a member of the program’s faculty who provides research advice and guidance in course selection and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways. Usually, the same faculty member serves as a program advisor for the duration of the master’s study; however, formal advisor change requests are possible in consultation with CLAS staff.

CLAS students must meet with their advisor at least twice per quarter and submit an advisor meeting form to the program office as proof. Students are expected to discuss with their advisor during or before the first week of each quarter to agree upon the courses that the student plans to take that quarter.

The department’s student services office is also essential to the advising team. It informs students and advisors about university and department requirements, procedures, and opportunities and maintains the official records of advising assignments and approvals.

In addition, MA students must participate in the MA quarterly meeting, which is held during the second half of each quarter. The faculty director, associate director, and student services officer meet with all students during these mandatory quarterly meetings and are available by email and office hours during the academic year.

See the Graduate Advising Policies and Graduate Advising for a university policy statement on graduate advising. Academic advising by Stanford faculty is a critical component of all graduate students’ education, and additional resources can be found in the Policies and Best Practices for Advising Relationships at Stanford and the Guidelines for Faculty-Student Advising at Stanford.

LAMER-MA - Latin American Studies (MA)

Program Overview