Doctoral Training + Professional Programming
The Crossing Latinidades Doctoral Training aims to reimagine U.S. Latino/a/x Humanities Studies and develop a collective effort for a strong comparative and interdisciplinary humanities and humanistic social science research agenda.
We aim to engage faculty and Ph.D. students in broader topics and in the furtherance of knowledge in subfields and strategic areas of inquiry. We seek to move away from single-group regional perspectives to think more broadly about public and engaged scholarship and pedagogy.
Our training of doctoral students through mentoring, seminars, and workshops guides them on a pathway to successful dissertation completion and academic careers. We offer four programs: Mellon Research Fellows, Summer Institute, Professionalization Program, and the Academic Writing Lab.
Mellon Research Fellowships
Our nine-month fellowships (fall and spring semesters + quarters) create opportunities for pre-dissertation doctoral students to train with a broad range of senior faculty doing humanistic research in U.S. Latino/a/x Studies at their university or across institutions. The fellowships seek to ensure that doctoral students are exposed to academic research and participate in projects conducting significant Latino Studies humanistic research while continuing to address critical issues of our time. Fellows gain new intellectual perspectives, share professional goals, and expand networking opportunities.
Summer Institute
The Institute’s goal is to equip participants with increased competence to enable scholarly innovation and expanded views of the field of U.S. Latino/a/x Humanities Studies before advancing to candidacy. The Institute becomes a site for intellectual exploration, exchange, and intense dialogue on theoretical, methodological, and epistemological models. Facilitating original, fresh, and unique approaches, it makes a timely intervention when participants are at a stage in which they have completed coursework and are developing and articulating new ideas to formulating research questions for successful humanities dissertation projects in U.S. Latino/a/x Studies.
Our annual Summer Institute aims to enhance doctoral students’ comparative research skills, intellectual breadth, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Emphasis is placed on exploring and reimagining a comparative framework that moves beyond the single-nationality paradigm. The Summer Institute features lectures, seminar discussions, workshops, and presentations with leading Latino/a/x Studies faculty and guests.
Professionalization Program
From demystifying the transitioning to ABD status to mastering the craft of academic writing to submitting articles to journals, preparing dossiers with cover letters, CVs, teaching, and research statements for fellowships and academic jobs, our professionalization workshops support doctoral students as they advance to the next stage of their PhD.
Writing Lab
Academic writing is at the heart of a successful humanities professoriate career. Through the Academic Writing Lab, we provide structured writing support in a space for an intellectual community of pre-ABD fellows to flesh out and further develop ideas and writings. where they can review drafts, solicit and offer feedback, and have peer support.
The Crossing Latinidades Writing Lab is led by Director Deanna Ledezma and writing consultants Albert Laguna (Yale University) and Tatiana Reinoza (University of Notre Dame). Fellows are organized into writing groups and attend four Writing Workshops per semester. The writing group meetings will focus on workshopping students' dissertation proposals, with attention given to five to six students per meeting. Virtual office hours are also available for the Writing Lab.
These virtual gatherings will encourage a structured academic writing practice critical to the communication of ideas in the public sharing of research while encouraging the honing of fellows’ scholarly voices.