Master of Arts

The program leading to the M.A. in Humanities is designed both for individuals wishing to enhance their knowledge and skills and for students intending to pursue a doctorate in a humanistic field. Thus, students seeking an M.A. in Humanities have two options, a "research" or a "professional" option.  Students with plans for doctoral study should choose the research option.

Students in the research option must complete thirty-three semester hours of course work, demonstrate reading proficiency in an approved foreign language, and successfully complete a portfolio.

Core Course (3 hours)

HUMA 6300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Arts and Humanities.
Students are expected to complete this course as early as possible in their programs.

Elective Courses (30 hours)

Thirty semester hours, of which at least twenty-seven hours are normally in organized courses. Eighteen of these hours are divided among organized courses in Aesthetic Studies (6 hours), History of Ideas (6 hours), and Studies in Literature (6 hours). The remaining hours must be taken in the student’s major area of concentration (Aesthetic Studies, History of Ideas, or Studies in Literature), the exception being students pursuing a general Humanities degree. Normally no more than three hours of independent study are applicable to the degree plan. Independent studies do not count toward the 18 hour minimum in the major required for certification to teach at either a two or four year college/university. M.A. students are restricted to courses numbered at the 5000- and 6000-level.

Foreign Language

The research M.A. degree requires demonstrated reading proficiency in an approved foreign language. Students can demonstrate proficiency by passing a translation examination in an approved language (e.g., French, German, classical Greek, Italian, Latin, or Spanish). Intensive review courses (HUMA 6320-6323) and the advanced language workshops (HUMA 6330-6333), which students may take to prepare for the examination, do not count toward minimum course requirements for the degree. Any students wishing to satisfy the requirement with languages other than those listed above must secure the approval of the School’s Associate Dean for Graduate Studies. Students must satisfy the M.A. language requirement before or as they submit their master’s portfolio proposals to the Graduate Studies Committee.

Portfolio

Two substantial pieces of work (two research papers or a creative project plus a scholarly essay) originating in or completed for graduate courses are revised and presented in a portfolio for evaluation by a master’s committee.

Students in the professional option in Humanities must complete thirty-three hours of coursework, all normally in organized courses and distributed as in the research option above. They are not required to complete a portfolio or meet a foreign language requirement, however, and they receive a terminal degree.

Master of Arts in Teaching

To earn the M.A.T. in Humanities, a degree specifically designed for practicing teachers, students must complete a total of thirty-six semester hours of course work. While most courses are the same as those for other students in the school, some courses are concerned specifically with the school classroom. It is possible for students who are particularly interested in English and History to design their degree programs so that their work in these areas can be focused and set in an interdisciplinary context. The M.A.T. degree does not require demonstration of reading proficiency in a foreign language.

Normally students applying for admission to the M.A.T. program should have a teaching certificate. Students may be teaching full-time while they are pursuing the degree.

Core Courses (6 hours)

HUED 6300 Teaching of the Humanities in the Secondary School
HUMA 6300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Arts and Humanities

Specialization (15 hours)

Fifteen hours in organized courses at the 5000- or 6000-level in one of these areas of concentration: Aesthetic Studies or History of Ideas or Studies in Literature.

Professional Development (6 hours)

Six hours in education courses in addition to HUED 6300. Three hours may be taken as independent study to prepare for the casebook.

Elective Courses (6 hours)

Six hours of electives at the 5000- or 6000-level in any organized courses outside the area of specialization.

Casebook: HUED 6304 (3 hours)

The casebook consists of two parts, a critical essay on an interdisciplinary topic as well as a curriculum plan that adopts that topic to the candidate’s teaching level in twenty to thirty lesson plans.

Doctor of Philosophy

Students seeking a Ph.D. in the Humanities will normally complete a minimum of sixty semester hours beyond a master’s degree or its equivalent, demonstrate advanced proficiency in a foreign language, pass qualifying examinations, and complete and defend a dissertation. In addition to meeting the general university criteria for admission to graduate study, students earning an M.A. degree in the Humanities from UT Dallas must obtain the formal endorsement of their portfolio committees to proceed into the doctoral program. Students who have completed pertinent graduate work at other institutions (thirty hours of humanities courses, language training, and written work roughly equivalent to the portfolio here) may qualify for a Master of Arts equivalency upon admission to the graduate program. Students admitted with an M.A. equivalent must take HUMA 6300.

Courses (42 hours)

Forty-two semester hours of which at least thirty-three are normally in organized courses. Eighteen of these hours are divided among organized courses in Aesthetic Studies (6 hours), History of Ideas (6 hours), and Studies in Literature (6 hours). The remaining hours may be in one or more of the three areas, and normally no more than nine hours of independent study are applicable to the degree. At least fifteen hours of doctoral coursework must be taken in courses numbered at the 7000-level.

Foreign Language

Students admitted to the Ph.D. program from universities other than UT Dallas must pass a translation examination in an approved foreign language (e.g., French, German, classical Greek, Italian, Latin, or Spanish) during their first year in the Ph.D. program. Part-time students admitted from other universities, however, may have two calendar years to meet this initial requirement. All Ph.D. students must then demonstrate active use of the foreign language at an advanced level in two courses. For this purpose, they may undertake readings and research in regular organized courses, they may meet one half the requirement by taking the Art and Craft of Translation (HUSL 6380) once, or they may arrange to demonstrate active use of the language as part of an independent study. Students wishing to satisfy the requirement with languages other than those listed above must secure the approval of the school’s Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.

Students must satisfy the Ph.D. foreign-language requirement prior to taking qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Field Examinations

After completing all the above requirements, students proceed to the doctoral field examinations, a sequence consisting of three written sections and one oral section. The examining committee, composed of three regular members of the faculty, oversees definition and preparation of the three examination fields within guidelines established by the program. At least seven days before the exams themselves, the faculty members submit examination questions to the Arts and Humanities office, which schedules and administers the examination. The maximum time allowed for a student’s completion of the examination sequence is twenty business days.

Dissertation (18 hours minimum)

Students are formally advanced to Ph.D. candidacy when they have successfully completed the qualifying examinations and received final approval for dissertation topics. A student may submit a preliminary dissertation proposal for consideration during the oral section of the qualifying examination. In any case, after that examination, a four-person supervising committee is formed, normally from the examining committee plus another regular faculty member proposed by the student, to oversee dissertation work. The supervising committee must then approve a formal dissertation proposal before the student submits it to the Graduate Studies Committee for final approval.

Each candidate then writes a doctoral dissertation, which is supervised and defended according to general university regulation. Every student must register for a minimum of nine hours of dissertation credit in two successive semesters and must maintain continuous enrollment thereafter for at least three semester hours during consecutive long semesters until the degree is completed. Any exception to this requirement is granted only by petition to the school’s Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.

Certificate in Holocaust Studies

The Ackerman Center for Holocausts Studies

The Certificate in Holocaust Studies (Certificate) is offered to MA, MAT, and PhD students in the School of Arts and Humanities (A & H) from The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies (Center) at UT Dallas. Students who wish to pursue the Certificate must do so in coordination with A & H’s requirements for graduation from their specified program. Graduates of this 15 credit hours certificate will have a critical understanding of the Holocaust as well as modern Jewish culture, the history of anti-Semitism, and the major contemporary philosophical, aesthetic, and analytical responses to this major event.

In order to begin work toward the Certificate, each student must complete a registration form, and is required to be advised each semester by Professor Zsuzsanna Ozsvath or Professor Nils Roemer. In addition, each semester, Certification students must also meet with their academic counselor provided to them by A & H. Certificates can only be awarded to those students who have their advising forms completed from both the School of Arts and Humanities and the UT Dallas Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies. The Certificate will be awarded in addition to the diploma earned in the student’s chosen field after graduation.

The Requirements:

Each student seeking a Certificate in Holocaust Studies must complete 15 Graduate credit hours (hours) chosen from the "Holocaust Certification Courses" below. Students must take 12 of the 15 required hours in organized classes. The remaining 3 hours of coursework may be completed either in an organized class, or by independent study with the permission of the student’s Center Advisor. Independent study courses must focus on topics relating to: German history, philosophy, and literature; Interwar Germany; Jewish Studies; or other Holocaust-related topics.  Students may not take "Foundation Courses" by independent study.

NOTE: Students enrolled in the professional option of the MA degree may not take an independent study course.

Special Requirements for MAT Students Enrolled in HUAS Degree Plans

MAT students with a concentration in HUAS must take an additional 6 to 9 hours beyond their required 36 hours for the Holocaust Certification unless they receive prior special permission from the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.

Holocaust Certification Courses

I. Foundation Courses:

HUHI 6338: The Holocaust

AND

(HUSL 6378: Literature and the Holocaust

(6 hours)

(As new courses are developed, students may substitute a required course with the permission of the Center’s Director.)

II. German history, philosophy, and literature:

HUSL 6375: German Literature and ideas 1870-1960 (3 hours)

OR

HUSL 6376: Literature of Weimar Germany (3 hours)

(As new courses are developed, students may substitute a required course with the permission of the Center’s Director.)

III. Jewish Studies:

HUSL 6374: Modern Jewish Literature Across Cultures

AND

HUHI 6336: Modernity, Culture, and the Jews

(6 hours)

(As new courses are developed, students may substitute a required course with the permission of the Center’s Director.)

Students with Existing Course Credit:

Students who have completed a minimum of 9 credit hours, as of the date of application for the Holocaust Certificate, may apply their hours toward the above requirements as long as those classes have been taken within the last 24 credit hours or 12 months of prior coursework. The student, however, must be current in their requirements for graduation, and should be prepared to furnish the Center advisor a completed, up-to-date advising form from their A & H Academic Advisor.

Certificate Registration:

Certificate registration forms are available on the table in front of the Arts and Humanities Office as well as online at www.utdalllas.edu/holocaust. Please contact the Center office at 972-883-2100, or by email: [email protected] if you have any questions. Please submit Certification enrollment forms to the Arts and Humanities Office located at JO 4.510.