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
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
