General requirements
General Requirements
Students who enter the PhD program without a Master’s degree in hand are expected to complete an MA as part of their progress toward a PhD. Students who enter the program with an MA from another university may have this requirement waived, pending approval from their advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.
Master’s degree students must successfully complete 36 credit hours (12 courses). 21 of these credits (seven courses) must be seminars in art history, two of which must be the core courses, HAA 2005 Methods and HAA 2007 Historiography. Another 15 credits (five elective courses) may be completed in any department, and at least three credits (one course) must be fulfilled in a cognate discipline outside HAA. The remaining credits may be used to fulfill MA paper and PhD requirements in a combination of independent studies (independent study courses do not count towards the credits required for the MA degree) and relevant classes. Six credits (two courses) may be transferred from another approved graduate program.
Language Requirement
Certified competence in one language (beyond English) relevant to the student’s program of research is required for the awarding of the MA degree. Students must demonstrate such competence by passing a department exam or by providing other verification within the first term of residence. Certified competence in two research languages is required for the PhD and must be demonstrated before the student is admitted to candidacy.
The MA Paper
The final requirement for the MA degree is an original research paper, typically 25 to 30 pages in length, produced under the supervision of two faculty readers and deemed satisfactory by a majority vote of the full faculty in residence. The MA paper is usually a substantially revised version of a paper produced in a research seminar. It must be submitted no later than November 1 or January 15 of the term in which the degree is expected.
