School of Arts and Humanities
Graduate Programs in the Humanities
The Graduate Programs in the Humanities (MA, PhD) foster integrated study and practice of the arts, literature, history and philosophy.
Master of Arts in Humanities
33 semester credit hours minimum
Faculty
Professors: Charles R. Bambach, Richard Brettell, David F. Channell, Milton A. Cohen, Sean J. Cotter, Fred I. Curchack, Pamela Gossin, Ming Dong Gu, Dennis M. Kratz, Enric Madriguera, Manuel (Manny) Martinez, Adrienne L. McLean, Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, David A. Patterson, John J. Pomara, Rene Prieto, Timothy (Tim) Redman, Thomas P. Riccio, Robert Xavier Rodríguez, Nils Roemer, Rainer Schulte, Theresa M. Towner, Frederick Turner, Marilyn Waligore
Professors Emeritus: Joan Chandler, R. David Edmunds, Michael S. Simpson
Clinical Professor: Dennis Walsh
Associate Professors: Matt Brown, J. Michael Farmer, John C. Gooch, Charles Hatfield, Shelley D. Lane, Jessica C. Murphy, Peter Park, Monica Rankin, Natalie J. Ring, Mark Rosen, Eric Schlereth, Charissa N. Terranova, Shilyh Warren, Daniel B. Wickberg, Michael L. Wilson
Associate Professors Emeritus: Gerald L. Soliday, Deborah A. Stott
Clinical Associate Professor: Kenneth Brewer, Michele Hanlon
Assistant Professors: Rosemary Admiral, Ashley Barnes, Kimberly Hill, Whitney Stewart, Benjamin (Ben) Wright
Clinical Assistant Professor: Sabrina Starnaman
Distinguished Research Scholar: Bonnie Pitman
Senior Lecturers: Greg L. Metz, Christopher (Chris) Ryan
Overview
The programs leading to the MA in Humanities are 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 MA 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 credit hours of coursework, demonstrate reading proficiency in an approved foreign language, and successfully complete a portfolio.
- Master of Arts in History of Ideas
- Master of Arts in Humanities
- Master of Arts in Literature
- Master of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts
Major Core Course: 3 semester credit hours
HUMA 6300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Arts and Humanities
Students are expected to complete this course within their first two semesters of enrollment.
Elective Courses: 30 semester credit hours
Thirty semester credit hours, of which at least twenty-seven semester credit hours are normally in organized courses. Eighteen of these semester credit hours are divided among organized courses in Visual and Performing Arts (6 semester credit hours), History of Ideas (6 semester credit hours), and Literature (6 semester credit hours). The remaining semester credit hours must be taken in the student's major area of study (Visual and Performing Arts, History of Ideas, or Literature), the exception being students pursuing a general Humanities degree. Normally no more than three semester credit hours of independent study are applicable to the degree plan. Independent studies do not count toward the 18 semester credit hour minimum in the major required for certification to teach at either a two or four year college/university. MA students are restricted to courses numbered at the 5000- and 6000-level.
Foreign Language
The research MA degrees require demonstrated reading proficiency in an approved foreign language. Students can demonstrate proficiency by passing a translation examination in an approved language (e.g., Chinese, French, German, classical Greek, Italian, Latin, or Spanish). Intensive review courses (HUMA 6320, HUMA 6321, and HUMA 6323) and the advanced language workshops (HUMA 6330, HUMA 6331, and HUMA 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 MA 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 must complete thirty-three semester credit 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.
Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities
60 semester credit hours minimum beyond the master's degree
Faculty
Professors: Charles R. Bambach, Richard Brettell, David F. Channell, Milton A. Cohen, Sean J. Cotter, Fred I. Curchack, Pamela Gossin, Ming Dong Gu, Dennis M. Kratz, Enric Madriguera, Manuel (Manny) Martinez, Adrienne L. McLean, Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, David A. Patterson, John J. Pomara, Rene Prieto, Timothy (Tim) Redman, Thomas P. Riccio, Robert Xavier Rodríguez, Nils Roemer, Rainer Schulte, Theresa M. Towner, Frederick Turner, Marilyn Waligore
Professors Emeritus: Joan Chandler, R. David Edmunds, Michael S. Simpson
Clinical Professor: Dennis Walsh
Associate Professors: Matt Brown, J. Michael Farmer, John C. Gooch, Charles Hatfield, Shelley D. Lane, Jessica C. Murphy, Peter Park, Monica Rankin, Natalie J. Ring, Mark Rosen, Eric Schlereth, Charissa N. Terranova, Shilyh Warren, Daniel B. Wickberg, Michael L. Wilson
Associate Professors Emeritus: Gerald L. Soliday, Deborah A. Stott
Clinical Associate Professor: Kenneth Brewer
Assistant Professors: Rosemary Admiral, Ashley Barnes, Kimberly Hill, Whitney Stewart, Benjamin (Ben) Wright
Clinical Assistant Professor: Sabrina Starnaman
Distinguished Research Scholar: Bonnie Pitman
Overview
The programs leading to the PhD are designed primarily for individuals who wish to conduct advanced research and to teach at the college level, but are open to qualified candidates who wish to enhance fully their knowledge and skills. The programs provide students with a flexible, interdisciplinary context within which to pursue their studies, built on connections among specific courses and areas of interest. Each student plans an individual program of study in consultation with an assigned advisor.
- Doctor of Philosophy in History of Ideas
- Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities
- Doctor of Philosophy in Literature
- Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Performing Arts
Students seeking a PhD will normally complete a minimum of sixty semester credit hours beyond a master's degree or its equivalent, demonstrate advanced proficiency in a foreign language, pass doctoral field examinations, and complete and defend a dissertation. In addition to meeting the general University criteria for admission to graduate study, students earning an MA degree in the Humanities from UT Dallas must obtain the formal endorsement of their portfolio committees to proceed into the doctoral programs. Students who have completed pertinent graduate work at other institutions (thirty semester credit 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 programs. Students admitted with an MA equivalent must take HUMA 6300 within their first two semesters of enrollment.
Courses: 42 semester credit hours
Forty-two semester credit hours of which at least thirty-three are normally in organized courses. Eighteen of these semester credit hours are divided among organized courses in Visual and Performing Arts (6 semester credit hours), History of Ideas (6 semester credit hours), and Literature (6 semester credit hours). The remaining semester credit hours may be in one or more of the three areas, and normally no more than nine semester credit hours of independent study are applicable to the degree. At least fifteen semester credit hours of doctoral coursework must be taken in organized courses numbered at the 7000-level.
Within the first 18 semester credit hours of coursework applicable to the degree plan, students must successfully complete HUMA 6300, one course in HUAS, one course in HUHI, and one course in HUSL.
Foreign Language
Students admitted to the PhD programs from universities other than UT Dallas must pass a translation examination in an approved foreign language (e.g., Chinese, French, German, classical Greek, Italian, Latin, or Spanish) during their first year in the PhD programs. Part-time students admitted from other universities, however, may have two calendar years to meet this initial requirement. All PhD 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 or 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 PhD foreign-language requirement in the semester prior to taking doctoral field 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 three business 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 semester credit hours minimum)
Students are formally advanced to PhD candidacy when they have successfully completed the doctoral field examinations and received final approval for dissertation topics. A student may submit a preliminary dissertation proposal for consideration during the oral section of the doctoral field 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 regulations. Every student must register for a minimum of nine dissertation semester credit hours in two successive semesters and must maintain continuous enrollment thereafter for at least three semester credit 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
Faculty
Professors: Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, David A. Patterson, Nils Roemer
The Ackerman Center for Holocausts Studies
The Certificate in Holocaust Studies is offered to MA and PhD students in the School of Arts and Humanities (A&H) from The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at UT Dallas.
Each student seeking a Certificate in Holocaust Studies must complete 15 graduate semester credit hours in organized classes chosen from the courses below.
Holocaust Certification Courses: 15 semester credit hours
I. Foundation Courses (6 semester credit hours)1
HUHI 6338: The Holocaust
HUSL 6378: Literature and the Holocaust
II. German History, Philosophy, and Literature (3 semester credit hours)1
HUSL 6375: German Literature and Ideas 1870-1960
or
HUSL 6376: Literature of Weimar Germany
III. Jewish Studies (6 semester credit hours)1
HUSL 6374: Modern Jewish Literature across Cultures
HUHI 6336: Modernity, Culture, and the Jews
Students with Existing Course Credit
Students who have completed a minimum of 9 semester credit hours as of the date of application for the Holocaust Certificate may apply their semester credit hours toward the above requirements as long as those classes have been taken within the last 24 semester 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.utdallas.edu/ah/ackerman. Please contact the Center office at 972-883-2100, or by email: holocauststudies@utdallas.edu if you have any questions. Please submit Certification enrollment forms to the Arts and Humanities Office located at JO 4.510.
1. As new courses are developed, students may substitute a required course with the permission of the Center's Director.