Joint PhD

The Committee on Medieval Studies offers a Joint PhD in which candidates belong to a home department while also receiving training in the core disciplines of Medieval Studies. Applicants should apply to their intended home department (e.g. English) for admission to graduate study. Once accepted and enrolled in the home department, the student may then apply for admission to the Medieval Studies joint PhD program. The degree granted will be the PhD in "X and Medieval Studies" (e.g. French and Medieval Studies, History and Medieval Studies, etc).

Candidates for this Joint Degree Program must fulfill the following requirements:

1. Graduate Proseminar. Candidates for the Joint PhD are required to complete Medieval Studies 200, the two-unit team-taught graduate proseminar. Since this course is normally offered only every other year, students should plan their schedules carefully so as to be able to take it early in their graduate careers. (This requirement does not apply to students who declared their candidacy for the Joint PhD before fall 2000).
2. Special Latin Competence. The skills required of students in Medieval Studies are often more extensive and more specialized than those of other graduate students. For this reason, a reasonably high competence in Latin must be demonstrated. This requirement may be met either through a special examination or through coursework. Guidelines for the exam are available from the Graduate Advisor. Students who elect to fulfil the requirement through coursework may do so by completing a minimum of two upper-division or graduate-level courses in Latin with a grade of B or higher. At least one of these courses must be in Medieval Latin (e.g. Latin 140 or equivalent).
3. Outside Fields. Candidates are expected to fulfill their home department's requirements for the Ph.D. In addition, graduate seminar work is required in two outside departments, one of which must be History. Normally, this requirement in History will be fulfilled by a 200-level course (excluding History 299). In any case, students should plan course work in the two outside departments in close consultation with the medievalists in those departments and with the graduate advisor of Medieval Studies. Students whose home department is History should substitute another field in consultation with the graduate advisor.
4. Special Qualifying Examination. A member of the Medieval Studies faculty who is not a member of the candidate's home department must be included on the qualifying examination committee as a representative of Medieval Studies. The Medieval Studies component of the qualifying examination is to be oral, not written, and it must be taken at the same time as the rest of the oral examination.

For further information about applying to this program, please contact the Graduate Advisor, Professor Elaine C. Tennant, German medieval and early modern literature . Appeals concerning the program may be made through the Medieval Studies Graduate Appeals Procedure.

 

Kneeling Knight, Westminster Psalter, London, c. 1250
(London, British Library ms. Royal 2. A. XXII fol. 220)