General requirements of the program will include 72 credits, along with the following requirements:

Language Proficiency

Minimum 3 languages: 1st is native fluency, 2nd is near-native fluency, 3rd is at least intermediate proficiency.

These should be English and at least two other languages of Europe, broadly defined (including the languages of colonial and migrant Europe)

Coursework - 11 seminars

5 of are required: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Theory of Europe, European Union Studies Core Course, (Language) Pedagogy Course, 1 skill-based course (ethnography, digital humanities, oral history, translation studies, etc.)

At least 3 seminars should be taken in a single discipline, ideally a different one than the discipline of the student’s Master’s degree.

Preliminary Examination - (during the 3rd semester of study)

Oral Exam: Students provide a reading list of all texts read in graduate courses up to this point.  Students also submit two papers (one in English and one in their primary European Language).

Comprehensive Examinations - (during the 4th semester of study)

3 written sections: History (events, movements, epochs); Production (individuals, groups, institutions); Form (genre, medium)

1 oral exam: synthesis of written material, follow-up on weak spots in the written, point towards dissertation prospectus, discuss relationship to acquired skill, some portion of the exam conducted in the second language, and a conversation with the committee about the student’s future plans

Dissertation Prospectus - (during the 5th semester of study)

Ideally, a student’s comprehensive exam topics will lead into a dissertation topic, and the comprehensive exam committee might well provide the foundation for the dissertation committee.  Each committee should be constituted by faculty members affiliated with CECS from at least three different departments. The student prepares a thesis prospectus (10-15 pages) that gives a brief introduction to the topic, previous and related research done on the topic, and the specific lines of inquiry, including methodologies and specific skills used, that the dissertation will pursue. In addition, students should address how work on the dissertation will embed them in academic and non-academic networks. Students should also address how the outcome of their dissertation will address non-academic audiences (e.g. Cultural institutions, NGOs, Governmental institutions, the creative and cultural industry). After the advisor approves this prospectus, the student will defend the prospectus to the doctoral committee.  At this point in time, students must also demonstrate intermediate-level proficiency in a third language in one of the following ways: passing an intermediate-level language sequence with a grade of “B” or better; take a nationally recognized exam such as the OPI, verifying intermediate proficiency; or take a departmental exam verifying such proficiency.

Dissertation: Cultural analysis that engages a European-related question and includes some ethnographic, oral historical, digital, or other analysis.  Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the program and the dissertation committees, the dissertation must be written in English.