Students are admitted to the program by recommendation of a faculty advisor and approval from the Undergraduate Director. To graduate with honors, students complete a year-long (6 credits) independent research project that culminates in a thesis, creative work or community-based program with a critical introduction.

In some cases, a one-semester project is possible (for example, if a student continues research begun in a seminar, upper-level course, or internship program).

To be eligible for the departmental honors program, students must have a minimum 3.25 GPA overall and a minimum 3.5 GPA in Latino and Caribbean Studies courses.

The advisor, in consultation with the Undergraduate Director, will designate if the work receives Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors. The Highest Honors will be nominated for the Henry Rutgers award. 

Interested majors are encouraged to apply toward the end of their junior year.  Please be in touch with a potential advisor and the Undergraduate Director.  Send the LCS Honors Application form to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let the Undergrad Director know that you have applied.

SCHEDULE:

Spring of Junior Year:

  • notification of eligibility in January
  • meet with potential advisor
  • application and proposal due May 1
  • register for Honors Research in Latino and Caribbean Studies in the fall (01:595:498)

Fall of Senior Year:

  • meet regularly with advisor
  • if required, complete Human Subject Certification and submit proposal to the Institutional Review Board
  • research and writing (01:595:498)
  • register for Honors Research in Latino and Caribbean Studies in the spring (01:595:499)

Spring of Senior Year:

  • meet regularly with advisor
  • complete research and writing; revisions (01:595:499)
  • if participating in a student conference, prepare an abstract
  • defend/present a full draft of the project before mid-April
  • submit final, polished copy of the project by the end of the semester

To be eligible for the SAS Henry Rutgers Scholar Award, you must complete a full draft of the Honors project by mid-April.

Students who are nominated must be scheduled to present at a department’s undergraduate honors symposium, at the Interdisciplinary Honors Thesis Conference, at the Aresty Research Symposium, or at another conference.

Students may apply for funding for their projects through the Aresty Research Center:
https://aresty.rutgers.edu/programs/fellowships/research-funding; to the Department directly and, if applicable, to the Center for Latin American Studies.

 

Honors Programs Students and Projects

2015-2016 NONE

 

2016-2017

Eliz Rivera Torres

Title: “Self-Identified Latino Rutgers Students and Their Use of Campus Health Centers”

Advisor: Carlos Decena

Secondary Advisor: Kathy López

Monica Torres

Title: “Mocahontas: A Biomythography of Hemispheric Migration’

Advisor: Kathy López

Secondary Advisors: Carlos Decena and Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel

2017-2018

Sarah Ferreira

Title: “Shaping Decolonial Aesthetics / Aesthesis: Du Bois and Anzaldúa Consciousness / Pedro Lasch Mirror Entanglements”

Advisor: Nelson Maldonado-Torres

Secondary Advisor: Carlos Decena

2018-2019

Monica Madera

Title: “Connections through Love, Language, and Performing Art: An Experiment in Research and Pedagogy”

Advisor: Nelson Maldonado-Torres

2019-2020

Eliana Mercedes

Title: “Negotiating Identities: An Ecological Approach to the Racial-Ethnic Identity Formation of Latinx” 

Advisor: Zaire Dinzey-Flores

*Recipient of SAS Henry Rutgers Award

April Lopez (Spring 2020)

Title: “Target Marketing the Latinx Community: Considering the Potential Dangers and Benefits of Social Media Marketing to Target Latinx Consumers”

Advisor: Ulla Berg

Secondary Advisor: Stacy Schwartz, Rutgers Business School

Gabriella Guerriero

Title: “Outside as in Inside: The Creation of Docile Laborers Through Correctional Educational Programming and Abolitionist Possibilities”

Advisor: Kenneth Sebastian León

2020-2021 NONE

 

2021-2022

Alexa Alvarez

Title: “An Intersectional Critical Discourse Analysis: A Feminist Interrogation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act”

Advisor: Kenneth Sebastian León

Jonelsy Gonzalez

Title: “The Proliferation and Usage of Less-Lethal Weapons in the Western Hemisphere: Understanding Instruments of State-Corporate Violence” 

Advisor: Kenneth Sebastian León