School of Arts and Humanities
Visual and Performing Arts
Overview
The Graduate Programs in the Visual and Performing Arts (MA, PhD) foster integrated study and practice in the arts. The MA and PhD programs provide students with an interdisciplinary context in which to pursue research and practice across a wide range of creative and academic traditions and critical and theoretical approaches spanning the Visual and Performing Arts (VPAS). Students can focus their studies in film, visual art, performing arts, and art history. Student have the opportunity to enrich their practice in the performing and visual arts and to participate in seminars in disciplines outside of the VPAS such as history, philosophy, and literature.
Faculty
Professors: Richard Brettell, Fred I. Curchack, Enric Madriguera, Adrienne L. McLean, John J. Pomara, Thomas P. Riccio, Robert Xavier Rodríguez, Charissa N. Terranova, Michael Thomas, Marilyn Waligore
Associate Professors: Shelley D. Lane, Mark Rosen, Shilyh Warren
Clinical Professors: Michele Hanlon, Carie King, Catherine Parsoneault, Maribeth (Betsy) Schlobohm
Clinical Associate Professors: Greg L. Metz, Linda Salisbury, Lorraine Tady
Clinical Assistant Professors: Paul Galvez, Shelby Hibbs, Sarah Kozlowski, Michael McVay
Professors of Instruction: Kathy Lingo
Associate Professors of Instruction: Diane Durant, Kelly P. Durbin, Kathryn C. Evans, Melissa Hernandez-Katz, Mary Medrick, Jonathan Palant, Christopher (Chris) Ryan, Monica M. Saba
Assistant Professor of Instruction: Christina Montgomery
Senior Lecturers: Barbara Baker, Karen Baynham, Lori Gerard, Janece Glauser, Misty Owens, Allison Templeton, Patricia Totusek
Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Performing Arts
60 semester credit hours minimum beyond the master's degree
Coursework: 42 semester credit hours
Forty-two semester credit hours of which at least twenty-one are taken as organized graduate-level courses in Visual and Performing Arts (VPAS). At least fifteen semester credit hours of doctoral coursework must be taken in organized courses numbered at the 7000 level.
Required Courses: 30 semester credit hours
VPAS 6300 Proseminar in Visual and Performing Arts1
ARHM 6310 Team-Taught Interdisciplinary Seminar
15 semester credit hours of organized graduate-level VPAS courses
9 semester credit hours of VPAS 8305 Field Exam Preparation
Elective Courses: 12 semester credit hours
12 semester credit hours of electives in any graduate-level courses.
Foreign Language
Students in all PhD programs in the School of Arts and Humanities are expected to demonstrate intermediate-level reading proficiency in a foreign language (equivalent to two years of foreign-language study at the undergraduate level). Students must fulfill the language requirement before scheduling doctoral field examinations.
As part of its approval of a dissertation proposal, the Graduate Studies Committee will consider the appropriateness of a candidate's language preparation for the research or creative project. Faculty members chairing field examinations and dissertations should ensure that students possess the necessary language proficiency to carry out their proposed doctoral research.
The requirement can be satisfied upon enrollment in a PhD program by demonstrating evidence of one or more of the following:
- Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher (e.g., an undergraduate literature course in a foreign language) with a grade of B or better.
- Completion of a graduate course taught in a foreign language or with more than 25% of its required readings in a foreign language.
- An undergraduate major, graduate degree, or certificate in a foreign language.
- Successful completion of graded coursework at a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
- A degree in any discipline from a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
The requirement can be satisfied during graduate study at UT Dallas in one of the following ways:
- Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher at UT Dallas or elsewhere with a grade of B or better.
- Successful completion of LIT 6380 Translation Workshop with a grade of B or better.
- Successful completion of one of the following: HUMA 6330 French Workshop; HUMA 6331 Spanish Workshop; HUMA 6333 German Workshop with a grade of B or better.
- Passing a written translation exam in an approved foreign language at UT Dallas.
Doctoral Field Examinations
The doctoral field examinations consist of three written sections and an oral defense. The examining committee, composed of three members of the faculty (at least two of whom are faculty in the Visual and Performing Arts Program), oversees definition and preparation of the three examination fields. Initial committee formation must take place during the semester in which students complete thirty-six semester credit hours of coursework, which will typically be followed by nine semester credit hours of VPAS 8305: Field Exam Preparation. Exams normally should be completed before completion of 60 semester credit hours.
Dissertation
Students are formally advanced to PhD candidacy when they have successfully completed the doctoral field examinations and received final approval for dissertation topics. Students should submit a preliminary dissertation proposal for consideration during the oral section of the doctoral field examination. After that examination, a four-person supervising committee is formed, normally from the examining committee plus an additional faculty member, 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.
Master of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts
33 semester credit hours minimum
Coursework: 33 semester credit hours
Thirty-three semester credit hours of which at least eighteen semester credit hours are taken as organized graduate-level courses in Visual and Performing Arts.
Required Courses: 21 semester credit hours
VPAS 6300 Proseminar in Visual and Performing Arts1
ARHM 6310 Team-Taught Interdisciplinary Seminar
15 semester credit hours of organized graduate-level VPAS courses
Free Electives: 12 semester credit hours
Twelve semester credit hours of electives in any graduate-level courses.
Professional Option
Students in the professional option must complete thirty-three semester credit hours of coursework. They are not required to complete a portfolio or meet the foreign language requirement.
Research Option
Students in the research option must complete thirty-three semester credit hours of coursework, fulfill a foreign language requirement, and complete a portfolio.
Foreign Language
The research option MA degree requires demonstrated proficiency in an approved foreign language. The requirement can be satisfied upon enrollment in the MA program by demonstrating evidence of one or more of the following:
- Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher (e.g., an undergraduate literature course in a foreign language) with a grade of B or better.
- Completion of a graduate course taught in a foreign language or with more than 25% of its required readings in a foreign language.
- An undergraduate major, graduate degree, or certificate in a foreign language.
- Successful completion of graded coursework at a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
- A degree in any discipline from a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
The requirement can be satisfied during graduate study at UT Dallas in one of the following ways:
- Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher at UT Dallas or elsewhere with a grade of B or better.
- Successful completion of LIT 6380: Translation Workshop with a grade of B or better.
- Successful completion of one of the following: HUMA 6330: French Workshop; HUMA 6331: Spanish Workshop; HUMA 6333: German Workshop with a grade of B or better.
- Passing a written translation exam in an approved foreign language at UT Dallas.
Portfolio
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.
1. Must be taken during the first Fall semester of enrollment in the program.