Ph.D.
in Romance Languages
OBJECTIVES
The Ph.D. program in Romance Languages is designed to provide students with:
1) A thorough familiarity with several fields (a movement, a genre, a period, a literary problem, etc.);
2) The opportunity to situate the student’s special interests in the wider context of Romance languages and literature, as well as in that of trends inside and outside Western European culture;
3) The tools necessary to engage literary issues at a high level;
4) The ability to examine new and challenging literary or theoretical perspectives.
REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE
I. Coursework
Students must complete at least 20 graduate seminars in the department (at least 80 credits in all) beyond the B.A. Ph.D. students must thus take at least 8 graduate courses (32 credits) beyond the 12 courses (48 credits) required for the M.A. Only one of these 8 may be satisfied in the form of an independent study or “Reading and Conference” course (see Appendix A).
· Of the 20 courses (80 credits) 3 (12 credits) must be taken in a second Romance Language.
· Up to 3 of the 20 courses ( 12 of the 80 credits) may be taken outside of the department, with the authorization of the advisor, and provided that they bear directly on the student’s program of study.
Graduate students admitted to the UO Ph.D. program with an M.A. in French, Spanish, Italian, or Romance Languages from the University of Oregon may count toward their Ph.D. course requirements a maximum of two graduate courses completed during their M.A. programs, provided that these courses have not been counted toward fulfillment of the M.A. requirements. The total number of credits in Romance Languages after the B.A. must in any case be at least 80.
Graduate students admitted to the UO Ph.D. program with an M.A. in French, Spanish, Italian, or Romance Languages from another institution must take a minimum of ten graduate courses (40 credits) in the Romance Languages Department. The Graduate Committee will evaluate the courses students have taken toward their M.A. and will determine whether additional courses are necessary to fill any gaps in students’ preparation. This may result in a students’ taking more than 10 courses (40 credits) at the UO, with a required maximum of 17 (68 credits).
Where the M.A. is found to be seriously deficient, or has been taken in another field, the Graduate Committee reserves the right to admit the student into the M.A. program instead. In this case students may petition to transfer a maximum of three courses towards the 12 courses required for the M.A. This petition may be filed when the student has completed four graduate courses in the Romance Languages M.A. program with a grade of B or better.
II. Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam (oral and written)
Students entering the Ph.D. program should develop, as soon as possible but no later than the third quarter of course work beyond the M.A., a field of interest that will form the basis of their research for the Ph.D. comprehensive examinations and ideally for the dissertation. This special field of interest will emerge from their choice of courses, and will shape the areas of concentration represented on their comprehensive exams.
The comprehensive exam consists of three exams (two written and one oral), and will cover different subfields that pertain to the student’s special field of interest. The subfields should be defined and prepared with three members of the RL faculty who will constitute the Ph.D. exam committee. (One of these three faculty members should represent the student’s second Romance language. A fourth member could be added from outside the department.) Students create a reading list for each of the subfields, and these must bear directly on the special field of interest.
The written exam will take the form of essays that respond to two questions formulated by two members of the Ph.D. exam committee. Each written exam will cover one or more of the subfields and will be a maximum of 20 double-spaced, typed pages. The student will have two weeks to write each of the essays.
Two weeks after the successful completion of the written essays, the student will take an oral exam. The oral exam will attempt to integrate the areas addressed in the written exams with the other facets of the student’s declared special field of interest. The oral exam will take the form of a two-hour conversation between the candidate and his/her committee members examining and elaborating the ways in which the two written exam essays and the other subfields converge in the student’s special field.
Normally undertaken during the fifth term of study following the M.A., the comprehensive exam should result in a clarification of both the subject matter of the dissertation and possible approaches to it. The exam should, in other words, yield at least a tentative dissertation topic.
N.B.: It is the responsibility of the student to schedule both the written and the oral portions of the comprehensive exam.
III. Dissertation Prospectus
The prospectus is normally completed during the sixth term of study following the M.A. It should define the scope of the dissertation and demonstrate the originality of the project. The student will submit the 5-8 page prospectus, and a bibliography of primary and secondary material, to the faculty members whom the student wishes to ask to serve on his or her dissertation committee.
IV. Dissertation
The dissertation should constitute an original and valuable contribution to scholarship on the student’s special field of interest. It should be characterized by mature literary interpretation, informed and reasoned argument, and an awareness of the means and goals of research. It is the student’s responsibility to ascertain the rules and deadlines of the Graduate School for proper filing of the dissertation.
V. Final Oral Thesis Defense
When all members of the dissertation committee have approved the dissertation, a public oral defense of the work will be held. The dissertation committee, other faculty members, and the general public may question the candidate regarding the work’s implications and its future.
FUNDING
All post-M.A. work, including the dissertation, is normally completed in 3 to 4 years of study. Students entering the UO Ph.D. program with an M.A. from UO are normally eligible for a maximum of three years of funding after the M.A. Students entering the UO Ph.D. program with an M.A. from elsewhere are normally eligible for a maximum of four years of funding.
Ph.D. students making satisfactory progress toward the degree are eligible for funding packages in the form of graduate teaching fellowships. Graduate teaching fellowships include stipends for teaching, as well as tuition waivers. “Satisfactory progress” entails completion of all courses taken for credit, with a grade of B or better; completion of the M.A. essay; the passing of the M.A. exams; the passing of the Ph.D. comprehensive exams; the timely submission of an acceptable dissertation prospectus; regular and timely progress on the dissertation itself.
Approved by the Department on January 13, 1994