PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
All Ph.D. candidates are assigned an interim supervisor on entry to the program. A primary supervisor as agreed upon by the student, the faculty member, and the Program Director must be selected by March 15 of the first year in the program. A Comprehensive Supervisory Committee as agreed upon by the student, supervisor, the faculty members and Program Director is required by May 15 of the first year in the program. The supervisor and supervisory committee will work with the student to develop a program of study integrating course work, participation in the Humanities Graduate Seminar, comprehensive examinations and dissertation that demonstrates interdisciplinarity in the study of culture in a Humanities context.
All updates to a student's status require completion of the PhD Report on Status form.
Requirements for obtaining a PhD in Humanities
- Course Requirements
Students will be required to take:
- The equivalent of three full graduate courses consistent with their plan of study, as approved by their supervisor and the Program Director
- At least two of the three courses will be in Humanities.
- One of the three courses may be a Directed Reading course (Humanities 6000), as approved by the student's supervisor and the Program Director.
- The equivalent of three full graduate courses consistent with their plan of study, as approved by their supervisor and the Program Director
- Comprehensive Examination
Comprehensive examinations in the Graduate Program in Humanities serve three primary and closely related goals: they require candidates to situate their primary area of research within clearly defined fields of scholarly study in the Humanities; they require candidates to demonstrate a sound knowledge of the major scholarly works, actors, debates and methodologies that define and illuminate their fields of scholarly study; and they require candidates to present their fields as areas in which they can claim expertise, and thus in which they will be able to conduct research and to teach.
Students are normally expected to take the examination by their eighth term of registration. Candidates are required to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge within the designated areas on the examination. Evidence of such comprehensive knowledge will be assessed on the basis of the candidate's competence in providing answers to questions during the examination that address the material on the reading lists in relation to significant critical and theoretical issues. In the case of failure students will be permitted to re-sit the examination only once, and the re-examination is to take place within six months of the date of the first examination. A second failure will require withdrawal from the Program. The examination committee will be composed of four faculty: the program director or his/her representative; the student's supervisor; and two faculty members appointed to the Faculty of Graduate Studies (at least one of whom must be a member of the Graduate Program in Humanities) appointed by the director in consultation with the student and the supervisor.
Candidates for the doctorate must select two areas of study, the general and the specialized. The comprehensive examinations assess the student's overall knowledge of both areas. The general area is the broad area within which the dissertation will be written and will normally be a coherent and definable area of scholarship within one of the program fields: comparative perspectives and cultural boundaries; religion, values and culture; or the cultures, technologies and sciences of the modern. The specialized area will cover the more specialized knowledge that students will need to research and to write their dissertation. Students will be required to prepare comprehensive lists for both the general and specialized areas of their comprehensive examination and have them approved by their supervisory committee and the director three months before the examination.
Further Information on Comprehensive Examinations
Role of Supervisory Committee
Setting up the Examinations
- Language Requirement
There is no official language requirement, but students working in an area where the language is other than English must demonstrate to the members of their dissertation supervisory committee that they have the ability to read primary sources and secondary literature in that language.
New Language Requirement for Students Entering Program in Fall 2009
Students working in an area where a language or languages other than English are necessary for their research must demonstrate to the members of their supervisory committee that they have the ability to read primary sources and/or scholarly literature in the relevant language or languages or have the ability to speak the relevant language or languages, as required for their research.
Students who are working in an area where they only require English for their primary research must demonstrate to the members of their supervisory committee that they are able to read one language other than English. Academic literature is produced in various languages and students need to have the ability to read authors relevant to their research in their original language as they pursue their studies and scholarly careers.Students must demonstrate competence in a language other than English before the approval of their Dissertation Proposal, which is normally in the eighth term of their program of study.
Means of Demonstrating Competence.
The new language requirements must be met by student entering the program in the fall of 2009 and thereafter.
- Dissertation
Students will be required to prepare a dissertation in which they make an original contribution to Humanities scholarship in the interdisciplinary study of culture. The completion of the dissertation will involve the following four steps:
- the establishment of a Supervisory Committee of three members, at least two of whom will be members of the Graduate Program in Humanities. The third member may be appointed in a Graduate Program other than Humanities;
- the preparation of a dissertation proposal (
), which must normally be approved the Supervisory Committee within three months of completing the final comprehensive examination, and approved by the Graduate Program Director and the Faculty of Graduate Studies; - the writing of a dissertation acceptable to the Supervisory Committee and in the end formally approved as examinable by the members of that committee;
- the holding of an oral examination, centered on the dissertation and matters related to it, and presided over by an Examining Committee recommended by the program director for approval and appointment by the Dean of Graduate Studies (Section 36 of the Faculty Regulations: "Dissertation Examining Committee").
- the establishment of a Supervisory Committee of three members, at least two of whom will be members of the Graduate Program in Humanities. The third member may be appointed in a Graduate Program other than Humanities;
- Humanities Graduate Seminar
Ph.D. candidates will be required to take part in a non-credit seminar (the Humanities Graduate Seminar) in their first year, including students who have participated in the Seminar as candidates for the MA.
