School of Arts and Humanities
Humanities
Overview
The Graduate Program in Humanities brings together scholars from history, philosophy, literature, creative writing, art history, film studies, and the performing arts who share a commitment to transnational and interdisciplinary approaches to humanistic study and practice. The MA and Ph.D. programs provide students with a flexible context in which to pursue research across a wide range of critical approaches and theoretical debates in the arts and humanities disciplines.
Faculty
Professors: David F. Channell, Pamela Gossin, Ming Dong Gu, Dennis M. Kratz, Adrienne L. McLean, David A. Patterson, Robert Xavier Rodríguez, Nils Roemer, Rainer Schulte, Charissa N. Terranova, Theresa M. Towner, Marilyn Waligore
Associate Professors: John C. Gooch, Kimberly Hill, Daniel B. Wickberg, Michael L. Wilson
Assistant Professors: Katherine Davies, Anne Gray Fischer, Maurine Ogbaa, Nomi Stone
Clinical Professors: Carie King, Maribeth (Betsy) Schlobohm
Clinical Assistant Professor: Pia Jakobsson
UT Dallas Affiliated Faculty: Magdalena Grohman, Erin A. Smith
Professors of Instruction: Lawrence Amato, Lorena Camacho-Guardardo
Associate Professors of Instruction: Diane Durant, Kathryn C. Evans
Assistant Professor of Instruction: Janet Johnson
Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities
60 semester credit hours minimum beyond the master's degree
Coursework: 42 semester credit hours
Forty-two semester credit hours of which twenty-seven are taken as organized graduate-level courses in History (HIST), Philosophy (PHIL), Literature (LIT), and Visual and Performing Arts (VPAS).
Required Courses: 6 semester credit hours
HUMA 6300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Arts and Humanities1
ARHM 6310 Team-Taught Interdisciplinary Seminar
Distribution Requirements: 9 semester credit hours
Students must take one course from each of three programs (i.e., one HIST or PHIL, one LIT, and one VPAS).
Electives: 18 semester credit hours
18 semester credit hours of organized graduate-level courses
9 semester credit hours of field exam preparation under IDEA 8305, LIT 8305, and/or VPAS 8305
Foreign Language
Students in all Ph.D. 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 Ph.D. 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 6326 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, oversees definition and preparation of the three examination fields.2 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 HUMA 8305 Independent Research in Arts and Humanities. Exams normally should be completed before completion of 60 semester credit hours.
Dissertation
Students are formally advanced to Ph.D. 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 Humanities
33 semester credit hours minimum
Coursework: 33 semester credit hours
Thirty-three semester credit hours of which twenty-seven credit hours are taken as organized graduate-level courses in History (PHIL), Philosophy (PHIL), Literature (LIT), and Visual and Performing Arts (VPAS).
Required Courses: 6 semester credit hours
HUMA 6300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Arts and Humanities1
ARHM 6310 Team-Taught Interdisciplinary Seminar
Distribution Requirements: 9 semester credit hours
Students must take one course from each of three programs (i.e., one HIST or PHIL, one LIT, and one VPAS).
Electives: 18 semester credit hours
18 semester credit hours of organized 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 6326 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.
2. Only two of the three faculty members can be from the same track (i.e., Literature, History/Philosophy, Visual and Performing Arts). One faculty member must be from a different track.
Certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies
15 semester credit hours
Faculty
Admission Requirements
Admission to the certificate program is awarded independently of the masters or PhD, and both degree and non-degree seeking students from all disciplinary tracks in the School of Arts and Humanities are eligible.
The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
The Certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights 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, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies must complete 15 graduate semester credit hours in organized classes chosen from the courses below.3
I. Foundation Courses (6 semester credit hours)
HIST 6342 The Holocaust
HUMA 6360 Representations of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights
II. Historic and Aesthetic Context (3 semester credit hours)4
HIST 6343 Modernity, Culture, and the Jews
HIST 6384 Movements in Thought and Culture (when topic is "Studies on Antisemitism")
III. Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies (6 semester credit hours)4
HIST 6360 Latin American History (when topic is "Genocide in Latin America")
HIST 6388 Perceptions of the Past
LIT 6388 Literature and the Holocaust
Students with Existing Course Credit
Students who have completed a minimum of 9 semester credit hours as of the date of application for the Certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies 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 of prior coursework. Students must be current in their requirements for graduation and should be prepared to furnish a completed, up-to-date advising form from their A&H Academic Advisor.
Certificate Registration
Certificate registration forms are available online at ah.utdallas.edu/ackerman. Please contact the Center office at 972-883-2100, or by email: holocauststudies@utdallas.edu if you have any questions.
3. These classes represent suggested courses from which to choose to satisfy each section, but this is not an exhaustive list. Please check course descriptions each semester to see whether specific courses being taught may serve as a required course towards the certificate.
4. As new courses are developed, students may substitute a required course with the permission of the Ackerman Center's Director.