The American Culture Ph.D. is designed as a flexible, rigorous interdisciplinary doctoral program. Students develop a knowledge both of the field of American Studies itself and of the contributing disciplinary fields. The perspective of the Program faculty and courses are balanced between importance of attention to specific populations, periods, and disciplines, and the importance of an integrative, intercultural perspective. Similarly, scholars in this program learn both the basic conceptual and methodological tools and the intellectual history of the disciplines, and challenge the limits of those knowledge-producing tools while attending to social institutions and the politics of representation. The Program tries to strike a balance between faculty guidance of students and a strong commitment to the new perspectives and originality of the students who represent the future of the field.
A brief overview of the AC graduate curriculum and progress to degree is as follows. Required coursework is concentrated in the student’s first two years, but additional courses can be taken beyond the second year, too. Students are required to take three courses in their first year—AC 599, AC 697, and AC 698. They are also required to take one interdisciplinary course and two cross-cultural courses during their first two years of coursework. In the winter semester of their second year, students will complete a Progress Reviewof their coursework and take part in a Second-Year Advisory Meetingwith at least three faculty members. Together, the Progress Review and Second-Year Advisory Meeting constitute the Program’s two-step process for advancement to candidacy. At the end of the first semester (Fall) of their third year in the program, students take Doctoral Field Examinations, after which they obtain the A.B.D., status and then proceed to write and defend their Dissertation Prospectus. Students are required to complete a Prospectus Defense with their entire dissertation committee within the Winter semester of their third year in the program. The professionalization course and dissertation workshop, AC 850 (Advanced Research Colloquium), should be taken as soon as possible after Doctoral Field Examinations; students can also take this required course as they prepare for the Examinations and while they are writing the Dissertation Prospectus (the course may be taken more than once). Finally, each student must pass a Dissertation Defense of the completed manuscript.
Students are also required to submit Annual Evaluations of their progress starting in the second year. These one-page self-evaluations should explain the student’s progress over the previous academic year, as well as specific goals for the coming year. Goals may include applying for and obtaining desired funding sources and/or preferences for teaching positions. Evaluations are due in mid-September and will be read by assigned faculty advisors (in the case of second and third-year students) or the Dissertation Chair (in the case of students who have completed their field exams). The Graduate Director will also read the evaluations and attempt to address any problems (e.g. incompletes) that may have emerged over the previous year.
As funded by Rackham School of Graduate Studies, our doctoral program is designed as a 5-year course of study. Following the Prospectus Defense, students may be allowed to take more time (beyond the 5th year) to complete the dissertation, especially when the nature of their project requires them to take longer to complete the degree due to the demands of research, mastering a new language, travel to archives, etc. Many of our students seek external funding for their doctoral projects if they take more than 5 years to graduate.
Rackham Requirements
First Two Years
Third Year
Dissertation
