Dear Visitor,
Harvard’s graduate programs in Romance Languages and Literatures offer outstanding opportunities to pursue topics in the French and Francophone, Italian, Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian, Spanish and Latin American literary traditions, alone or in combination, leading to the Ph.D. I hope that your visit to our web site provides you with a sense of our vision and purpose for our graduate students.
Our faculty, deeply committed to interdisciplinary studies, encourages graduate students to situate literature in the broad context of cultural productions, ranging from the canonical to alternative modes. The Harvard program enables you to examine a wide range of periods, genres, and approaches, and to tailor your plans of study according to your specific interests. Combining a broad knowledge of each literature through our diverse course offerings and one-on-one work with faculty within your specialty, the graduate program nurtures the student’s individual interests. A strong sense of community among students and faculty, particularly within specialties, creates a graduate experience as unique as your chosen dissertation topic. Our students further enjoy the benefits of interaction with History and Literature, Women's Studies, Literature, Comparative Literature, Visual and Environmental Studies, and African-American Studies.
Harvard and the surrounding metropolitan area both offer a rich variety of resources for scholars. Within the University is a vast library system with world-renowned collections in the humanities and related fields. You will find most of the books you need in the Widener and Lamont library complex. The Houghton Library of Rare Books has one of the most extensive collections of its kind in the world, including important holdings in Spanish literature and history of all periods. The Harvard Film Archive possesses a magnificent collection of world cinema comprised of over 5,000 titles. The Fine Arts Library offers a collection of books and journals on art history, an extensive slide library, and a print room for original photographs and prints. The University’s superb teaching museums--the Fogg, the Sackler, the Busch-Reisenger Museum, and the Peabody--supplement these.
Harvard’s prominent research centers provide unparalleled opportunities for interdisciplinary research and exchange. The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) sponsors various fellowship competitions each year and offers an eclectic speaker and colloquia series. The Center for European Studies (CES) and the Humanities Center sponsor frequent talks and study groups attended by faculty and students from Harvard and surrounding institutions. Dudley House, the hub of graduate student activity, offers a wealth of social and cultural activities, as well as funding opportunities and a voice in student governance.
As members of the Greater Boston community, we enjoy productive collaboration with colleagues from many other colleges and universities: Boston, Tufts, Brandeis, and Brown Universities; MIT; Boston and Wellesley Colleges. The Museum of Fine Arts and Boston Symphony Orchestra are among the many cultural resources in this rich urban area.
Admission to the graduate program is based on merit alone. We make every effort to accommodate the financial needs of those accepted. Aid is typically offered through Graduate School tuition and stipend awards, and later through competitive grants and teaching fellowships.
We are renovating our web site; it will change frequently. If you plan to apply to the graduate program at Harvard, please come back often. We also encourage you to contact us directly by email or phone, should you have questions unanswered at the end of your visit. We hope that today’s tour will be as informative as a trip to the Department itself, and that you will leave feeling that you have come to know us.
Yours sincerely,
Luis Fernandez Cifuentes ,ChairLast updated on September 18, 2007