The Middlebury College Spanish School inaugurated a graduate program in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2004, making it the first summer Language Schools campus outside of Middlebury, Vermont.
With the establishment of this option, graduate students who do not have the flexibility to spend a year in Spain, now have the opportunity to study and live in a Spanish-speaking environment, to absorb the culture and language of our neighbor to the south, and to advance their studies toward the Middlebury Master of Arts (MA) in Spanish or the Doctor of Modern Languages (DML).
This program is designed for students in their second or third summer of Middlebury MA coursework, or for those who are completing residency abroad requirement for the DML degree. There is also the possibility that MA students may be allowed to participate during their fourth and final summer; however, due to the limited number of courses that will be offered in Guadalajara, there is no guarantee that they will be able to complete their remaining curricular requirements there. The program is also open to MA and doctoral students enrolled in accredited universities.
This new program is an integral part of the Middlebury Spanish School, under the direction of Jacobo Sefamí (Director of the Spanish School) and Michael Geisler (Vice President of Language Schools, Schools Abroad, and Graduate Programs). The on-site director, Salvador Velazco, coordinates both the academic offerings and co-curricular activities with CEPE, the Centro de Estudios para Extranjeros (Center for Foreign Study).
DATES
This program, like its Vermont counterpart, will be for a six-week duration. The dates for the 2009 session were: arrival- June 28, June 29, and June 30. Classes begin on July 2. Final day of classes and closing banquet, August 12. The dates for the 2010 session will be posted soon. Students may decide to stay longer and travel at their own expense.
COSTS AND FINANCIAL AID
The summer 2010 tuition, room, and board will be the same as the fees charged on the Middlebury campus for MA students: tuition $4,628, room and board $2,380. The total cost of the program is $7,008. All students are eligible to apply for financial aid. Aid is based on financial need as determined by the Financial Aid Office.
FACULTY
The faculty is composed primarily of professors who have had experience teaching in the Middlebury Spanish School; they represent a broad range of disciplinary and geographic areas. The Spanish School-Guadalajara program may also offer courses focusing on Mexican history, anthropology, literature or arts, all taught by professors from the Universidad de Guadalajara or other Mexican academic institutions. See Guadalajara faculty.
CREDITS
This program comprises three graduate courses for a total of three "units" or nine semester hours of credit.
The academic credits earned are Middlebury "units," not transfer credits, so that students who participate are still able to transfer credit from up to three other courses from non-Middlebury graduate institutions toward their MA or DML degrees with prior approval of the courses by the Coordinator of the Spanish School.
The Guadalajara Program will enable DML students to satisfy academic requirements by taking courses toward their first or second language and, if Spanish is designated as the first language, participation in the program can also satisfy a portion of their residency-abroad requirements.
CLASSROOMS
Middlebury leases classroom space from the Center for Foreign Study (CEPE); we will teach our courses there, and have a small computer lab and an administrative office.
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
Students live with families, either in a double or a single room or in homes that accommodate more than one student. Middlebury students are housed together rather than with students from other programs.
CURRICULUM
Courses will be offered in several disciplines, focusing wherever appropriate on Mexican culture, but also incorporating a pan-Hispanic approach. View the 12 courses that were offered during the summer of 2009 in Guadalajara.
COCURRICULAR PROGRAM
The co-curricular program may include:
-- Guided tours of sites where the best known murals of José Clemente Orozco are on display, as well as other artistic sites.
-- Day-trips to the towns that surround Guadalajara (including Tonalá, etc.)
-- Optional weekend excursions (Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Michoacán, Puerto Vallarta) - and to México City, if the students would like to go (either by plane or by overnight bus or train). Excursions are at students' own expense.
-- Cultural activities in Guadalajara.
-- Conferences and presentations by distinguished guests: Ana Clavel (Novelist), Carlos Mendoza (Filmmaker), Mari Carmen de Lara (Filmmaker), Silvia Eugenia Castillero (Poet), Ana Guadalupe Valenzuela (Biologist), Raúl Bañuelos (Poet, poetry workshop).
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact the Director of the Spanish School, Jacobo Sefami, jsefami@middlebury.edu, with questions about the philosophy of the program or academics; the On-site Director of the Spanish Graduate Program in Guadalajara, Salvador Velazco, svelazco@middlebury.edu, for information about co-curricular activities, life in Guadalajara, or housing; or the Coordinator of the Graduate Program, Audrey LaRock, larock@middlebury.edu, for matters concerning admissions procedures.