The program leading to the M.A. in Humanities is designed both for
individuals wishing to enhance their knowledge and skills and for students
intending to pursue a doctorate in a humanistic field. Thus, students seeking
an M.A. in Humanities have two options, a �research� or a �professional�
option.� Students with plans for doctoral
study should choose the research option.
Students in the research option must complete thirty semester hours of
course work, demonstrate reading proficiency in an approved foreign language,
and successfully complete a portfolio.
HUMA 5300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to
the Arts and Humanities.
Students are expected to complete this course as early as possible in their
programs.
Twenty-seven semester hours, of which at
least twenty-four hours are normally in organized courses. Eighteen of
these hours are divided among organized courses in Aesthetic Studies (6 hours),
History of Ideas (6 hours), and Studies in Literature (6 hours). The remaining
hours may be taken in one or more of these three areas, and normally no more
than three hours of independent study are applicable to the degree plan.
The research M.A. degree requires demonstrated reading
proficiency in an approved foreign language. Students can demonstrate
proficiency by passing a translation examination in an approved language (e.g.,
French, German, classical Greek, Italian, Latin, or Spanish). Intensive review
courses (HUMA 6320-6323) and the advanced language workshops (HUMA 7320-7323),
which students may take to prepare for the examination, do not count toward
minimum course requirements for the degree. Any students wishing to satisfy the
requirement with languages other than those listed above must secure the
approval of the School�s Associate Dean for Graduate Studies. Students must
satisfy the M.A. language requirement before or as they submit their master�s
portfolio proposals to the Graduate Studies Committee.
Two substantial pieces of work (two research papers or a
creative project plus a scholarly essay) originating in or completed for
graduate courses are revised and presented in a portfolio for evaluation by a
master�s committee.
Students in the professional option in Humanities must complete
thirty hours of coursework, all normally in organized courses and distributed
as in the research option above.� They
are not required to complete a portfolio or meet a foreign language requirement,
however, and they receive a terminal degree.
To earn the M.A.T. in Humanities, a degree specifically designed for
practicing teachers, students must complete a total of thirty-six semester
hours of course work. While most courses are the same as those for other
students in the school, some courses are concerned specifically with the school
classroom. It is possible for students who are particularly interested in
English and History to design their degree programs so that their work in these
areas can be focused and set in an interdisciplinary context. The M.A.T. degree
does not require demonstration of reading proficiency in a foreign language.
Normally students applying for admission to the M.A.T. program should have a
teaching certificate. Students may be teaching full-time while they are
pursuing the degree.
HUED 5300 Teaching of the Humanities in the Secondary School
HUMA 5300 Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Arts and Humanities
Fifteen hours in organized courses in one of these areas of
concentration: Aesthetic Studies or History of Ideas or Studies in Literature
Six hours in education courses in addition to HUED 5300.
Three hours may be taken as independent study to prepare for the casebook.
Six hours of electives in any organized courses outside the
area of specialization.
The casebook consists of two parts, a critical essay on an
interdisciplinary topic as well as a curriculum plan that adopts that topic to
the candidate�s teaching level in twenty to thirty lesson plans.
Students seeking a Ph.D. in the Humanities will normally complete a minimum
of sixty semester hours beyond a master�s degree or its equivalent, demonstrate
advanced proficiency in a foreign language, pass qualifying examinations, and
complete and defend a dissertation. In addition to meeting the general
university criteria for admission to graduate study, students earning an M.A.
degree in the Humanities from U.T. Dallas must obtain the formal endorsement of
their portfolio committees to proceed into the doctoral program. Students who
have completed pertinent graduate work at other institutions (thirty hours of
humanities courses, language training, and written work roughly equivalent to
the portfolio here) may qualify for a Master of Arts equivalency upon admission
to the graduate program. Students admitted with an M.A. equivalent must take
HUMA 5300.
Forty-two semester hours of which at least
thirty-three are normally in organized courses. Eighteen of these hours
are divided among organized courses in Aesthetic Studies (6 hours), History of
Ideas (6 hours), and Studies in Literature (6 hours). The remaining hours may
be in one or more of the three areas, and normally no more than nine hours of
independent study are applicable to the degree.
Students admitted to the Ph.D. program from universities
other than The University of Texas at
Students wishing to satisfy the requirement with languages other than those
listed above must secure the approval of the school�s Associate Dean for
Graduate Studies.
Students must satisfy the Ph.D. foreign-language requirement prior to taking
qualifying examinations.
After completing all the above requirements, students
proceed to the qualifying examination, a sequence consisting of three written
sections and one oral section. The examining committee, composed of three
regular members of the faculty, oversees definition and preparation of the
three examination fields within guidelines established by the program. At least
seven days before the exams themselves, the faculty members submit examination
questions to the Arts and Humanities office, which schedules and administers
the examination. The maximum time allowed for a student�s completion of the
examination sequence is twenty business days.
Students are formally advanced to Ph.D. candidacy when they
have successfully completed the qualifying examinations and received final
approval for dissertation topics. A student may submit a preliminary
dissertation proposal for consideration during the oral section of the
qualifying examination. In any case, after that examination, a four-person
supervising committee is formed, normally from the examining committee plus
another regular faculty member proposed by the student, to oversee dissertation
work. The supervising committee must then approve a formal dissertation
proposal before the student submits it to the Graduate Studies Committee for
final approval.
Each candidate then writes a doctoral dissertation, which is supervised and
defended according to general university regulation. Every student must
register for a minimum of nine hours of dissertation credit in two successive
semesters and must maintain continuous enrollment thereafter for at least three
semester hours during consecutive long semesters until the degree is completed.
Any exception to this requirement is granted only by petition to the school�s
associate dean for graduate studies.