WHAT WE DO
In addition to frequent informal get-togethers, LACS Graduate Collective offers structured community meetings geared toward our academic interests, various support groups, student-run programming, and structured involvement in partnership with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center at UMD. Join us in one or more of the following communities by clicking "Join" above.
WRITING GROUP
The LASC Collective writing group meets regularly to 1) create a space for discussion and intellectual exchange where students can share and construct knowledge that reaches across disciplines and experiences, 2) to explore interdisciplinary approaches in our research, 3) to facilitate a more holistic approach to professional development by engaging students with topics, research, questions, theories, and methodologies that are outside our fields, and 4) to generate a collaborative network among graduate students to share materials, sources, scholarship, and contacts that contribute to our research and experiences.
DISSERTATION SUPORT GROUP
LACS Graduate Collective students working on dissertations create a regular, consistent space for doing work that moves their projects forward, for reflecting together on the writing process, and for developing sustainable habits. The group’s methods and procedures emphasize encouragement and kind pragmatism (rather than “accountability”), and the success of the group depends on the mutual trust of its members: dissertation writers themselves should initiate the formation of the group.
WRITING RETREATS
Usually growing out of the activities of the Writing Group, retreats might be ad hoc or recurring events in which participants together create a space to support each other’s productivity and to encourage each person’s development of a healthy and effective working style. Retreats often include participants outside the Collective and even the University, in keeping with the mission of promoting solidarity in spite of academia’s isolating structures.
TEACHING SUPPORT GROUP
LACS Graduate Collective students who are interested in teaching and pedagogy meet regularly to discuss and develop syllabi and teaching methods, often for implementation in Graduate Student taught LACS courses for undergraduate students.