1. Graduate

Declare Ph.D. Minor

At least one supporting minor of nine (9) or more units is required for the Ph.D. degree program per the Graduate College's requirement. If a doctoral student chooses two supporting minor subjects, each minor must have at least six units of coursework.

How to Declare

Current MAS Ph.D. Students: speak with your intended minor advisor and add it to your plan of study.

For Non MAS Ph.D. Students

Students will need to choose a Core MAS Professor to be their minor advisor who will also serve as a Minor chair during the students' comprehensive exam by following these steps:

  1. Register in one of the professor's MAS courses to assess if the professor is a good fit
  2. Inquire if the professor can agree to be a minor advisor/chair
  3. After the professor has agreed, enter the professor's name under Minor Chair on the Comprehensive Exam Committee Appointment Form on GradPath

Please note that minor requirements must be completed in addition to your primary Ph.D. degree.

Minor Requirements

MAS Ph.D. students can choose to complete the MAS Ph.D. minor or an outside minor. If an MAS Doctorate Student will be choosing a minor outside of the department, the student will need to follow the requirements set forth by the department the minor is under.

The minor requires 12 units.

Foundation Course (3 units)

This PhD colloquium will provide a broad exposure to various current research issues and research perspectives in Mexican American Studies.

Additional Coursework (9 units)

Recommended courses:

Traditional Indian Medicine, or TIM, is a concept that refers to Indigenous knowledges expressed through the varied healing systems in Indigenous communities. This course will pay particular attention to American Indian nations and healing knowledges that are intersecting and intertwined relationships with the natural world, the Indigenous body and the sacred. We will examine both how Indigenous healing systems have persisted as well as responded to social conditions, such as genocide, colonization and historical, as well as contemporary, forms of oppression. Topics include intergenerational trauma as well as how resilience is expressed in practices of wellbeing, healing and self-determination. We will also explore TIM as containing systems of healing that may/may not operate in conjunction with allopathic medicine. This course takes a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating readings from American Indian/Indigenous studies and health to explore a complex portfolio of American Indian/Indigenous wellbeing.

This course provides and in-depth exploration on how social and cultural factors influence the health of racial/ethnic groups and underserved populations in the United States. The Socio-Cultural Determinants of Health are social, political, economic and cultural conditions, forces and factors that influence how health is distributed among entire groups and populations. The examination of socio-cultural influences is an interdisciplinary field of study that draws on research and scholarship from many areas including medical sociology, medical and cultural anthropology, public health, political science, public policy studies, epidemiology, and critical gender and race studies. This course introduces important concepts found in the scientific literature and then examines fundamental determinants of health, including income and social class, ethnicity and racism, place and space on specific determinants (e.g. segregation, racism) and health conditions (e.g. infectious and chronic diseases).

Graduate-level requirements include facilitating class discussion and organizing class lectures based on selected topics in Latino Health Disparities. Graduate students will submit two questions for discussion to the instructor that draw on materials outside of the course and also lead the class discussion for that topic.