What is MALAS!? Here's the scoop! The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences (MALAS) is an always-evolving, interdisciplinary cultural studies graduate MA program based in the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University. Interdisciplinary Studies and Cultural Studies mean different things to different people. Like most Interdisciplinary Studies academic programs, MALAS graduate students pursue coursework that combines two or more traditional fields from the university; for example, consider the case of a recent MALAS graduate who devised a program of study focused on biology, but with parallel coursework in 20th century history. Or, take another case: a graduate student whose work studied contemporary social rebellions (the Occupy movement; Burning Man), but who was also keen to study, simultaneously, recent trends in visual culture (both film and streaming media). In both cases, the students wanted to study cultural phenomena comparatively, but they also wanted to change the world, to leave it a better place than the way they found it.  This epitomizes the MALAS ideal--inventing programs of study that are also blueprints for action: a determination to study and be an activist / engine / enzyme for change here in San Diego and beyond. With MALAS, you are not trapped within the legendary ivory tower--far from that, you learn how to translate your research into public engagement with the surrounding community in California and the rest of our planet. 

Find out more at curiosity.sdsu.edu or malas.sdsu.edu