Doctor of Philosophy Degree Program
Overview
The Ph.D. Program provides a more advanced course of study and requires a greater degree of individual work than does the Master’s Program. Students may be admitted directly to the PhD program with a B.A. or they may also be admitted with a Master’s degree or equivalent (e.g., Staatsexamen) in German Studies or a related field, and a demonstration of scholarly potential. The Ph.D. candidate specializes within a chosen area of German Studies. The Ph.D requires at least 6 courses (18 credits) beyond the M.A. degree. Students entering the Ph.D. program with a B.A. take a total of at least 15 courses (45 credits) and are awarded an M.A. degree after they have sucessfully completed 30 credits in the program and their doctoral examinations.
Language Requirement
Ph.D. students will need to be proficient in oral and written English and German in order to successfully teach German language courses and complete German Studies coursework for the degree. Proficiency in English and German are also important qualifications for career opportunities beyond the degree. Language proficiency will be assessed by the Language Program Coordinator and/or the Graduate Program Director. Students who do not meet minimum expectations for proficiency in German may be advised to seek supplementary language instruction in the U.S. and/or abroad. Students are not required to demonstrate proficiency languages other than English and German for the degree; however, we encourage students to study additional languages as relevant for their research and professional interests.
Course of Study
Courses will be chosen from the courses in German Studies in consultation with the adviser and the Graduate Program Director. If a candidate's field of specialization necessitates taking courses in other departments, approval must be sought from the adviser and the Graduate Program Director. With approval of the Graduate Program Director, component courses may be substituted or an equivalent course taken at another institution.
Ph.D. students with a Teaching Assistantship additionally take German 583: Methods of Teaching German during their first year. After completing German 583, Ph.D. students are expected to particpate in the Professional Development seminar or workshop each year.
The structure of the Ph.D. Program allows for a great deal of individual flexibility in defining study areas and the opportunity for interdisciplinary work. To coordinate an individualized course of study that also provides a good familiarity with principal issues of the field, Ph.D. students should choose an adviser by the end of their first semester in the program. Courses should be chosen by the student in consultation with the adviser and Graduate Program Director in order to provide the basis for comprehensive examinations, reflecting expertise in the knowledge areas and practices of the discipline, and a foundation for dissertation work. Demonstration of these skills is then provided by the four examination fields and oral examination.
Areas of examination: Four areas of examination are determined by candidates in consultation with their adviser and are subject to the approval of the Graduate Program Director. These areas may include: a literary period, a genre or theme (over two centuries), an author, or another topic, issue, or problem (e.g., film, literary theory, feminist theory, German women writers, the German Lied, exile literature, theories of resistance, etc.). The content of these fields is flexible, determined in consultation with the exam committee and should relate to the dissertation topic. Some examples of fields are: film and media studies, medieval poetry, cultural history, German-Jewish culture, minority literature, post-war literature, Holocaust historiography, social and literary theory. Fields are finalized at the beginning of the sixth semester (if entering with a B.A.) or the third semester (if entering with an M.A.). For each field, students have the following options: (1) A five-day take-home exam about ten pages; (2) A three-hour formal exam (Klausur); (3) An annotated syllabus on the field. Two of the exam fields must be taken as option (1). Only one exam field may be taken as option (3). Students then demonstrate knowledge of their fields in an additional oral examination.
After successful completion of the examinations, candidates move on to the dissertation which includes a dissertation prospectus and prospectus defense, and a final dissertation defense. Candidates choose their own dissertation topics in consultation with their facutly adivser / dissertation committee chair. The program is open to dissertation topics in any field relevant to German Studies.
The university has a partnership agreement with the universities of Baden-Württemberg. Students may enroll in any of the universities of Baden-Württemberg at any time during their graduate studies with approval of the faculty adviser and the Graduate Program Director. Ph.D. students are also encouraged to apply for outside fellowships and research grants to support dissertation research.