In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Graduate Programs of the Future:Diversification and Professionalization
  • Joan L. Brown
Keywords

canon, curriculum/currículo, higher education/educación superior, graduate education/programas graduados, Spanish/español, student needs/necesidades de estudiantes

The essay "The Evolution of Future Graduate Programs to Meet Diverse Student Needs" builds on MLA reports that called for restructuring foreign language departments (2007) and doctoral programs (2014). Changes are necessary so that students can find jobs after earning a degree. Graduate students are still being prepared for tenure-track academic positions, even though these positions have been drastically reduced. Instead, students should be given a skill set that prepares them for academic and non-academic jobs of the future. Lafford marshals evidence to support the MLA's recommendations, including published studies and selected responses to a questionnaire sent to Spanish graduate departments. All evidence points to a troubling dilemma: despite consensus about the need for change, very little is being done to revamp Spanish graduate programs. Addressing this inaction, the essay envisions specific changes in two crucial areas: training students to teach and lead language programs, and training them to succeed in other fields that draw on their knowledge base.

Diversification and professionalization are the two overarching goals that, in my view, should be our mission statement for graduate programs of the future. These goals encompass the visionary essay's practical suggestions, from preparing students to teach online courses to forging community partnerships that help graduates work with Latinos in the United States. All of these recommendations are in keeping with those that emerged from an AATSP-sponsored MLA panel entitled "What Do Graduate Students in Spanish Need to Learn, and Why?" (Brown). Other valuable panel recommendations addressed pedagogical and disciplinary issues that are not covered in this essay. They include the need for exposure to literary history in a cultural context, the need for a foundational disciplinary canon, the need for training in humanities teaching as well as language instruction, the need for mentoring in the areas of teaching and administration, and the need for socialization and mentoring of students by professional organizations.1

Graduate programs must diversify and differentiate based on their own mission and resources. Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement with Spanish speakers will vary from institution to institution—making the "one-size-fits-all" model obsolete. Differentiation also must occur for specific cohorts of students. All will agree that MA graduates constitute a separate population from PhDs, and the training and placement of each must be tailored accordingly. MA-level learners benefit from programmatic breadth, while PhD-level students profit from specialization. Both groups deserve coursework that is relevant to their interests. They are also entitled to gain transferable skills in the areas of research methods, teaching, and administration. [End Page 202]

In order to sustain our graduate programs as well as our discipline, professionalization must be enacted internally as well as through external links with other fields. To enhance our own professionalism and preempt external oversight, I believe that graduate programs should take the lead in outcomes assessment. This is already done in the area of language proficiency. Many Spanish programs mandate the same ACTFL OPI level for graduate students as is required for teachers in most of the United States, currently Advanced Low. A similar content certification, demonstrating exposure to a fundamental set of canonical cultural landmarks, would elevate the status of the MA credential that we confer.

The need for change in Spanish graduate education has been recognized for decades: "If we don't do something different from the way we've been doing things, if we don't change, adapt, realign ourselves, we're doomed" warned one contributor to a 1972 AATSP report (Kronik). The essay "The Evolution of Future Graduate Programs" delivers positive news: the notion that change is necessary has become accepted wisdom. What remains is for us to define and execute needed reforms. My own vision of the future, which is aligned with the vision of this essay, is predicated on diversification and professionalization.

Joan L. Brown
University of Delaware

NOTE

1. Participants included Joan L. Brown, Emily C. Francomano, Sheri Spaine Long, Randolph D. Pope, and Roberta Johnson.

WORKS CITED

Brown...

pdf

Share