The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences (M.A.L.A.S.) is an ever-evolving, interdisciplinary, cultural studies graduate program housed within the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University. Our dynamic Master of Arts degree provides a challenging intellectual experience in the sensational city of San Diego, California--a buzzing West Coast international border community highly regarded for biotechnology and a burgeoning site for cutting-edge transborder experimental arts, next-generation sustainability research, and Pacific Rim-based multi-disciplinary studies.
... And yes, also known for tourism and a rad surf community!
MALAS offers what we like to call "an M.A. in Curiosity." Our graduate students are afforded a unique opportunity to master intellectual/artistic/scientific goals through individually-tailored course clusters at one of the most innovative graduate Liberal Arts programs on the planet. MALAS is the interdisciplinary Masters program for all kinds of thinkers--while it caters to the intellectual desires of ambitious, new B.A. and B.S. recipients seeking full-time graduate study, it also serves the needs of Southern California adult-learners and professionals pursuing graduate study on a part-time basis.
We are often asked here at MALAS headquarters, "what does a prospective MALAS student look like?" or "where do they come from?" Our response: what don't they look like and where don't they come from.
Unlike other M.A. and Ph.D. programs that expect a specific undergraduate emphasis (some will even make you do additional undergraduate coursework before starting your graduate curriculum), MALAS values your undergraduate degrees and expects you to use our program to explore brave new worlds, broad uncharted intellectual waters. Whether you are a cardiovascular surgeon who now wishes to ponder the mysteries of the heart in Shakespeare or García Márquez, a documentary filmmaker now curious about sustainability and theenvironment, a literature major wishing to explore the connections between literature and dance or cinema or photography or painting etc, or even, maybe, a brilliant, curious soul trapped in a cubicle in corporate America (your imagination somewhat stifled by the styrofoam-laced banality of the world around you), then our SDSU MALAS is the program for you.
Our M.A. (Magister Artium, as it was originally conceived) features a series of cutting-edge seminars. These classes (always already in metamorphosis) compose a core interdisciplinary curriculum with these areas of concentration:
A. Cultural Studies
B. Science and Society/Environmental Studies
C. Globalization, Technology, & Future Studies
D. Media Studies, Fine Arts, & the Transformative Arts
Our students select the rest of their courses from across the curriculum at SDSU--present students take courses from the excellent graduate programs in the College of Arts & Letters as well as from the other seven colleges on the SDSU campus. This Spring, our MALAS graduate students are pursuing coursework in Women's Studies, Anthropology, Geography, Educational Technology, Art, Religious Studies, Philosophy, and many other fields/disciplines/departments).
The 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 M.A. 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 hereor hit the .pdf page facimile to your left. If you are on the fence about applying to our unique graduate program, don't hesistate to call the program director and graduate advisor, Professor Bill Nericcio, at 619.594.1524 or to email him at bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
