Graduate Program in the Humanities
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.
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 and PhD students in the School of Arts and
Humanities (A & H) from The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies (Center)
at UT Dallas.
Each student seeking a Certificate
in Holocaust Studies must complete 15 graduate credit hours in organized classes chosen from
the courses below.
Holocaust Certification Courses
I. Foundation Courses (6 hours):
HUHI
6338: The Holocaust
AND
(HUSL 6378:
Literature and the Holocaust
(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 (3 hours):
HUSL
6375: German Literature and ideas
1870-1960
OR
HUSL 6376: Literature
of Weimar Germany
(As new courses are developed,
students may substitute a required course with the permission of the Center’s
Director.)
III. Jewish Studies (6 hours):
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. Students 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 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.