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The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences program (MALAS) is housed within the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University. This program provides a challenging intellectual experience in advanced education, offering students a unique opportunity to attain their educational goals through an individualized interdisciplinary graduate program. MALAS @ SDSU admits no more than twelve new students per academic year and is one of only a handful of Graduate Liberal Arts programs in the United States.

While SDSU's MALAS program caters to the intellectual desires of ambitious students seeking full-time graduate study, it also offers a variety of evening courses, serving the needs of Southern California adult learners pursuing graduate study on a part-time basis.

A series of seminars compose a core interdisciplinary curriculum focused on the following areas of concentration:

  • cultural theory
  • science and technology studies
  • globalization and international studies
  • literature, film and new media intersections with cultural theory, science/technology studies, globalization/international studies

The GIS/ MALAS program at SDSU is a member of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs. To learn more about university requirements, consult the Graduate Bulletin. And to learn about applying to the program, consult the SDSU Graduate Admissions page; NOTE: officially MALAS is known as the MA in Liberal Arts and Sciences in the SDSU Graduate Catalogue or Bulletin.  You can download a .pdf of the most recent MALAS specifications from the official SDSU Graduate Division Bulletin here or hit the image opposite.

If you are from this species, MALAS is the GRAD PROGRAM FOR YOU! (source: the wooster collective, nyc)
MALAS SPONSORED INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE COMING IN 2010

Spring 2010 MALAS Courses

MALAS 600 D Monday nights from 7 to 9:40pm
HIP HOP AESTHETICS: MUSIC, CULTURES, SPIRIT, MIND
...with the one and only ROY WHITAKER running the show...

Hip-Hop is one of the most important and misunderstood cultural expressions of the past 40 years. For instance, this movement has been widely appropriated by urban and suburban youth; however, it’s been viewed as a pseudo-art form with little relevance for academic reflection. This course examines this core problem and many other criticisms leveled against Hip-Hop – e.g. use of the N-word, homophobia, misogyny, materialism, and hedonism. To be sure, Hip-Hop is a panoply of sorted issues that concerns critical thinkers in post-modernity like democracy, empire, capitalism, feminism, hegemony, and internationalism. Topics covered in this class will include: commercialization of Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop movies; Hip-Hop and women; rap, politics, and resistance; Hip-Hop Chicano/a; global dimensions of Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop as mediated narrative; Hip-Hop and graffiti; just to name a few.The course’s title – “Hip-Hop Aesthetics” – indicates the larger concern that frames the class discourse: the nature of artistic expression in an inhumane world. “Hip-Hop Aesthetics” pushes the boundary of what is considered “great works” and what is not. Furthermore, since Hip-Hop is a global phenomenon, this class utilizes and encourages a multidisciplinary approach to this subject matter – e.g. sociology, politics, economics, communications theory, American studies, musicology, cultural studies, and film studies.


MALAS 600C THE GLOBALIZATION DEBATE
Schedule # 21820 on Tuesdays from 7:00pm-9:40pm in SH-240
with the one and only Jeroen Pinckaers spanning the globe!

MALAS 600C focuses on globalization. In this seminar, students study globalization by critically analyzing ongoing debates using interdisciplinary methodologies. The seminar, open to graduate students across the humanities, social sciences, and the hard sciences, will look at core conflicts related to globalization and analyze the complexity of each debate. Additionally, our class will explore the disciplinary and ideological foundations on which the specific perspectives in the debates are based and determine the extent to which these debates are related to each other. Equally important, we will spend class time during the semester studying the foundations of the concept: What, exactly, is globalization? What forces drive it? Is it a new phenomenon or does it have a long history? Is it mainly an economic or is it a multidimensional phenomenon? Having provided the context, we will deal with specific issues that are generally addressed when talking about globalization: What kind of global institutions have emerged and what are their functions? What is the role of the United States in the world and in the process of globalization? What about the European Union? Is the 21st century going to be Asia’s century? Is the rest of the world left out? What is the anti-globalization movement and what do they argue for? Does globalization lead to more inequality in the world? Does globalization lead to cultural homogenization? Does globalization lead to more conflict in the world? Is globalization necessarily bad for the environment? And finally, how will globalization look like in the 21st century?

Spring 2010 MALAS-approved courses (in other departments)

ENGL 563.2 
Drugs, Sex, Rock & Roll

with MALAS Director, Bill Nericcio, in Hepner Hall 210, aka 'the HOUSE of Love' from 9:30am to 10:45 Tuesdays and Thursdays

Do please consider making English 563: Drugs, Sex, & Rock'nRoll: Seductive Hallucinations of Film, Photography, Art, Music, and Literature part of your Spring repertoire each Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30am to 10:45am. Though designed for lit and film junkys, the class is open to all majors! In particular, cinema, art, theatre, music, and television addicts are strongly encouraged to add this vice-focused class to your menu of dynamic courses from SDSU! Texts will include CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER by Thomas De Quincey, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM by Darren Aronofsky, A BIGGER BANG by The Rolling Stones, JUNKY by William Burroughs, art by Tara McPherson (work, opposite), Banksy, Magritte, & Remedios Varo. List of works tentative--more to come.



History 680  
Genocide in the Twentieth Century
with Professor Lawrence Baron

Mondays 1800 2040 AL 566

The perpetration of genocide by states intent on eradicating ethnic, indigenous, racial, religious, or socio-economic groups that purportedly pose a threat to their colonial control, national security, political unity, or racial homogeneity has increased in both efficiency and frequency during the course of the 20th Century.  This seminar will examine a variety of disciplinary explanatory models for why genocide occurs and test their validity by applying them to genocides against indigenous peoples, the Armenian genocide, the Holodomor famines in the Ukraine, the ìRape of Nanking,î Nazi euthanasia, the Jewish Holocaust, the Gypsy Porajmos, the Cambodian genocide, the Mayan genocide in Guatemala, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, the Rwandan genocide, and the current crisis in Darfur.  It also traces the development of modern international law to punish genocide, treaties to prevent it, and reconciliation commissions to provide political closure to post-genocidal societies. 


ENGL 528
Investigating Shel Silverstein
with Professor Joseph Thomas
New seminar investigating the life & work of Shel Silverstein offered this Spring, 2010: ENGL 528. Perfect for MALAS students, this course engages Silverstein's diverse artistic output: his short plays, screen writing, comic strips, cartoons, picture books, poetry, music, fiction, travel writing (for Playboy magazine, no less), & of course, his lifetime project of living the life of the unrepentant, iconoclastic wag, Shel Silverstein.  The professor, SDSU English professor Joseph Thomas, author of the award-winning book Poetry's Playground: The Culture of Contemporary American Children's Poetry, is currently working on a book-length study of Silverstein, tentatively titled The Devil's Favorite Pet: Shel Silverstein, American Iconoclast. Join him in investgating one of the U.S's most inventive & popular artistic & literary figures.



GEOG 575
GEOGRAPHY OF
RECREATIONAL LAND USE
with Professor Diana Gauss Richardson
                                                 
Geography of Recreational Land Use examines the importance of location and environment in the use, management, and quality of recreation areas.  The significance of recreation in the human psyche is reviewed through a historical context and carried through to current trends.  Socioeconomic variations among regions and populations are considered in the analysis of established and proposed recreational land uses.  Land use policies and political influences are included in the examination of the establishment of areas set aside or used for recreation.  Field trips are required, and consist of local (San Diego) trips to city/county/regional, state and federal recreational areas, as well as a 4-day trip to Yosemite National Park.




ENGL 549.1 from 11:00am to 1215 TTh
Dystopias and Utopias: From the Erotic
Electric to the Anarchy of Technology

with MALAS Director, Bill Nericcio, in Hepner Hall 222, aka 'The Mad Lab'

Intoxicatingly disturbing and visionary novels!  Mesmerizingly evocative cinema! That's what's on the menu in this peculiar seminar where, among other things, we will explore the notion of a perfect society: a Utopia. Good old Webster's reassures us with its notion of the term: "Utopia n. [NL., fr. Gr. utopia not + a place.] 1. An imaginary island, represented by Sir Thomas More, in Utopia, enjoying the greatest perfection in politics, laws, and the like; hence, any place or state of ideal perfection." But literary history and world cinema is awash in what may be thought of as Utopia's "other"--books and films, that is, bearing the distinct aroma of Utopia's nemesis: Dystopia. From January to May 2010, we will hang out in both Utopias and Dystopias.

The tentative list of texts include Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Daniel Clowes's Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, George Orwell's 1984, Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men, Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Orson Welles's  Touch of Evil--we will also delve into my own deathless prose tome Tex[t]-Mex in the last part of the semester as we turn to the verge, the US/MEXICO, that MOST dystopic of geocultural enigmas, rich in tradition, conflict, etc. The class is open to all MALAS and English/ Comparative Literature students, but all other interested parties from history, philosophy, political science and the like are welcome to tag along as well.

RS581
Sex and the Sacred

with Dr. Mary Kelly
Depts. of Religious Studies and Women’s Studies
Spring Semester 2010 Tuesday 4-6:40 AH3130
A course exploring how religions and sexualities are interrelated Students from any department or program welcome! Ever wonder: Why there are so many religious rules regarding sex? Does God have a sex?  Does God have a gender?  Is there sex in heaven? Is heterosexual monogamy the norm in all religions? How and why do people alter their bodies for religious purposes? Why are monks and nuns celibate? Why are so many religions led by men? How do religions regard same-sex sexuality?  How are transgendered people treated in various religions and cultures?

ENGL 700: 
Seminar: Virginia Woolf

with Professor Bonnie Kime Scott on Mondays 3:30-6:10, CSQ 208
Contact: bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu

This course approaches the major novels and essays of Virginia Woolf from selected literary and cultural angles.  These include Woolf’s association with modernist authors and their experimental work, her contributions to the emergence of feminist writing and theory, her reflections on the politics of imperialism and war, her expressions of sexuality, and ways that she performs today as a cultural icon and a staple of the literary canon.  We will accompany the primary works with art, media, and  scholarship allowing students to develop various analytical approaches.  Students will have a substantial role in planning these readings and the accompanying discussion.  Texts include the novels The Voyage Out, Jacob’s Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and Between the Acts, as well as selected essays and her germinal study of women writers, A Room of One’s Own.

Chicana/o Studies 596.
The U.S.-Mexican Border Region: Development,
Environment, & Sustainability
4 to 6:40 on Mondays with Paul Ganster, Ph.D.  at the helm!



This course examines the historical development of the U.S.-Mexican border region and the interaction of human and natural systems. It discusses the environmental effects of this economic development and analyzes the long term sustainability of the region.
 

Admissions! Come Join Us!

Click here for the OFFICIAL SDSU APPLICATION PAGE!!!  For 2010-11 there is ONLY Fall admission! Spring admissions have been cancelled by the Chancellor of the CSU. The DEADLINE FOR FALL 2010 admission is February 1, 2010.

Requirements

  • satisfy the basic requirements for the Master's Degree described in the Graduate Bulletin;
  • possess an acceptable baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution;
  • have earned a minimum grade point average of 3.0 in the last 60 units of study;
  • have an acceptable Graduate Record Examination (GRE) combined general test score (quantitative and verbal sections).

Open University

Persons who are not matriculated as students at SDSU may enroll for GIS/MALAS courses on a space-available basis with approval of the instructor. Please consult the Extended Studies Schedule.

GRE

You may take the GRE at the Test Office here at SDSU. The fee is $115; GRE fee waivers are available. Consult the GRE Bulletin for more information.

When taking the GRE, fill in the SDSU institution code (R4682) so that your GRE scores will be sent directly from your testing site to SDSU admissions.

If you have taken the GRE within the last 5 years, you may request your scores be sent to SDSU using the institution code. Please also send an unofficial copy of your score (if available) along with the rest of your admission materials.

Waiving the GRE

The GRE may be waived for holders of accredited advanced degrees. International students should contact the International Student Center and the Graduate Bulletin for additional university requirements and information.

For more information, vist the Graduate Admissions website.

To Apply:

To SDSU, submit your graduate application electronically.

Application deadline is February 1 for fall semester admission--presently there is NO Spring admission
To the MALAS Program, submit:

   1. Two letters of recommendation
   2. A "Statement of Purpose" essay

    • minimum of 500 words
    • stating your goals in applying for this program

Mail the materials directly to:

Admissions
MALAS program MC 4423
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-4423.

Faculty and Staff

Administrative Staff

  • Director: William Anthony Nericcio, Ph.D.;  Professor and Chair, English and Comparative Literature
  • Program Coordinator: David "McHank" McHenry

Adjunct Faculty and Lecturers

  • Jeroen Pinckaers, M.A., Liberal Arts & Sciences, Economics
  • Mary Kelly, Ph.D., Women's Studies and Religious Studies

Participating Faculty

  • Lawrence Baron, Ph.D., Abraham Nasatir Chair in Modern Jewish History
  • Susan E. Cayleff, Ph.D., Professor of Women’s Studies
  • Patricia J. Geist-Martin, Ph.D., Professor of Communication
  • Dipak K. Gupta, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science
  • D. Emily Hicks, Ph.D., Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Chicana and Chicano Studies
  • Linda D. Holler, Ph.D., Professor of Religious Studies and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters
  • Alan E. Kilpatrick, Ph.D., Professor of American Indian Studies
  • William A. Nericcio, Ph.D., Professor of English and Comparative Literature
  • Steven L. Barbone, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
  • Jung Min Choi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology
  • Stephen A. Colston, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
  • Elizabeth A. Colwill, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Women’s Studies
  • Sarah S. Elkind, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
  • Ellen Quandahl, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing Studies
  • Sthaneshwar Timalsina, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Religious Studies
  • Sandra A. Wawrytko, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
  • Kathy S. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
  • Joseph Thomas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature
  • Roy Whitaker,  Ph.D (ABD), Lecturer, Religious Studies
  • Jeroen Pinckaers, MA, Lecturer, MALAS
  • Diana Richardson, MA, Lecturer, Geography

Information for Students

Student Bios

We are in the process of creating a Current Student Bio page. Please email us:

  • a short biography (maximum of 100 words)
  • attach a photo, if available, a small head shot
  • in the email's subject line, indicate "Student Bio"

Study Abroad

The GIS/MALAS program offers opportunities to earn credit towards the master's degree through several exchange programs:

For nominee guidelines to San Diego State University's international student exchange and more general information about studying abroad, please visit SDSU's International Student Center

Courses & Curriculum

The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts & Sciences is a 30-unit graduate program. Of the required 30 units, 15 are taken within the program. These are the core courses. The remaining 15 units may be taken either within or outside the department. These courses comprise the student's individual theme of study.

Core Course Offerings

MALAS core courses consist of 4 topics courses and 1 thesis or project course for a total of 15 units. The topics covered include, but are not limited to:

  • Interdisciplinary Thinking
  • Globalization
  • Science and Technology
  • Culture/Media Studies

Core course requirements:

  • 3 units MALAS 601: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Thinking
  • 9 units MALAS 600 A-B-C-D: Interdisciplinary Study in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (choose three out of four).
  • 3 units from MALAS 799A Thesis or Project

Sample Core Courses

Theme of Study

MALAS Theme of Study courses consist of 5 courses of the student's choosing. These courses should be in the student's area of interest and be focused toward developing a thesis or project topic.

Certain restrictions apply:

  • only 6 units from each discipline
  • only 6 units of special studies

Consult the Course Catalog for further details.

Contact Us

Mailing Address:

MALAS--The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts & Sciences
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA. 92182-4423

Program Director/Advisor

William A. Nericcio
Director, Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professor, English and Comparative Literature
Editor, San Diego State University Press
bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
Office Location: Arts and Letters 273
Office hours: by appointment 
Phone: 619-594-1524
Fax: 619-594-4998

Program Coordinator

David "McHank" McHenry
dmchenry@mail.sdsu.edu
Nasatir Hall 223
(619) 594-6057

If MALAS were a webpage or a blog, we'd be something like a mixture of...



























MALAS SPONSORED ON CAMPUS PRESENTATIONS
(click to enlarge)  



MALAS SPONSORED ON CAMPUS PRESENTATIONS ARCHIVE
(click to enlarge)  


GET more info off our MALAS blog!!!

MALAS Co-Sponsors Cherrie Moraga/SDSU Lecture/Workshop!!!


It brings MALAS tons of pleasure to share the wonderful news that Chicana writer extraordinaire Cherríe Moraga has accepted our invitation to present a lecture about "Decolonization, Gender, and Chicana Studies" on February 18, 2010. (Her biography can be found below.) This lecture will be part of SDSU Women's Studies' 40th year anniversary year-long colloquia, titled "Feminist Crossroads: Bearing Witness and Building Social Change." The Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies is also celebrating its 40th anniversary and Adelaida del Castillo will be involved by briefly presenting on the topic in the context of SDSU. As part of Cherrie Moraga's time here in San Diego (2/19 to 2/20), she will also be signing books, presenting a keynote and workshop for the AChA (Association of Chicana Activists) high school conference, and conducting a poetry or play reading in a
community venue.

Cherrie Moraga biography:

Cherrie Moraga is playwright, poet, and essayist whose plays and publications
have received national recognition, including a TCG Theatre Artist Residency
Grant in 1996, the NEA's Theatre Playwrights' Fellowship in 1993, and two Fund
for New American Plays Awards.  In 2007, she was awarded the United States
Artist Rockefeller Fellowship for Literature, and in 2008, a Yaddo Artist
Residency Fellowship.

She is the co-editor of This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women
of Color, which won the Before Columbus American Book Award in 1986. She is
the author of the now classic Loving in the War Years: Lo Que Nunca Pasó Por
Sus Labios (1983/2003) and The Last Generation (1993), published by South
End Press of Cambridge, MA.  In 1997, she published a memoir on motherhood
entitled Waiting in the Wings (Firebrand Books) and is completing a memoir on
the subject of Mexican American cultural amnesia entitled Send Them Flying
Home:  A Geography of Remembrance.  This year Moraga also completed a new
collection of writings- A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness:  A Decade of
Discourse-to be published by Duke University Press in 2010.

Moraga has also published three volumes of drama through West End Press of
Albuquerque, NM.  They include:  Heroes and Saints and Other Plays (1994),
Watsonville/Circle in the Dirt (2002), and The Hungry Woman (2001).  In 2010,
WEP will publish a volume of Moraga's children's plays, entitled Warriors of the
Spirit.  A San Francisco Bay Area playwright, Moraga has premiered her work at
Theatre Artaud, Theatre Rhinoceros, the Eureka Theatre, and Brava Theater
Center.  Brava's production of "Heroes and Saints" in 1992 received numerous
awards for best original script, including the Drama-logue and Critic Circles
Awards and the Pen West Award. Her plays have been presented throughout the
Southwest, as well as in Chicago, Seattle and New York.  In 1995, "Heart of the
Earth," Moraga's adaptation of the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation myth, opened
at the Public Theatre and INTAR Theatre in New York City.  Currently, Moraga is
completing a new play, "Mathematics of Love" to premiere at City of Angels
Theater in the 2010-11 season.  Her most recent performance work, "La Semilla
Caminante" developed in collaboration with Alleluia Panis and Celia Herrera
Rodriguez, is scheduled to open in a workshop production with Campo Santo
Theater of San Francisco in March 2010.

For over ten years, she has served as an Artist in Residence in the Department
of Drama at Stanford University and currently also shares a joint appointment
with Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity.   She teaches Creative Writing,
Chicano/Latino literature, Xicana-Indigenous Performance, Indigenous Identity
in Diaspora in the Arts and Playwriting.  She is proud to be a founding member
of La Red Xicana Indígena, a network of Xicanas organizing in the area of social
change through international exchange, indigenous political education, spiritual
practice, and grass roots organizing.

Cherríe Moraga's webpage!










MALAS Home Page

The statements found on this page/site are for informational purposes only. While every effort is made to ensure that this information is up-to-date and accurate, official information can be found in the university publications. That said, most of the info here is pretty reliable; however, we do sometimes make mistakes as we are all too human.  Find a problem? Drop us a line at memo@sdsu.edu and we will fix it right away.  Stop reading this boilerplate legal disclaimer and take one of our classes.

Illustration above by Laura Osorno.

MALAS Home Page
Our new MALAS logo? a riff off the amazing work of Adam Simpson
San Diego State University
MALAS program MC 4423
5500 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA 92182.4423
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