Overview
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (LACX) empowers students to be creative and bold in their approach to learning, imagining a better future through a holistic understanding of and approach to complex societies and challenges. Undergraduate students take an interdisciplinary approach to Latin America, the Caribbean, its diaspora populations acquiring the communication, analytic, and linguistic training to enact effective change. LACX also supports graduate students and faculty across the colleges whose research aligns with the LACX program goals.
Undergraduate students can pursue a minor or major in the humanities or social sciences by taking courses across disciplines (political science, Spanish, anthropology, history, etc.). This interdisciplinary approach recognizes that the region’s complicated challenges and diverse societies require complex solutions and a multi-faceted, rather than singular, approach. Ten percent of the world’s population lives in Latin America, and the geographic and biodiversity spans from the driest desert to the Amazon rainforest. That diversity is also reflected in a linguistically and culturally diverse population of Indigenous, African, European and Asian descent.
The inaugural LACX majors will graduate in spring 2026. The major proposal process began in 2023, recognizing a need to provide students with scaffolding to support a holistic approach to Latin America, the Caribbean, and the diaspora populations. With faculty spanning eleven disciplines and four colleges, the University of Rochester aims to become a regional research and opportunities hub in these area studies.