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Spanish PhD Degree Requirements

The PhD program in Spanish allows graduate students with a primary focus on Literary and Cultural studies or Sociolinguistics in the Spanish-speaking world to develop the specific types of expertise required within these academic and professional fields. The PhD program in Spanish seeks to foster the kinds of comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of Spanish (literatures, cultures, linguistics, etc.) that are sought after by employers within the current academic as well as non-academic job markets.

Applicants holding a BA may be admitted directly to the PhD program. Students holding a BA who are admitted to the Spanish PhD program will receive the MA after successfully completing the customary two years of coursework, MA exams, and thesis project. They will then be prepared to focus on the timely completion of their PhD degree in Spanish while also developing the kinds of interdisciplinary expertise (i.e.: media studies, linguistics, anthropology, history, philosophy, gender and sexuality studies, ethnic studies) that are increasingly valued among PhD graduates within this field.

Graduate Student Manual

RL PhD Requirements

Program Overview

Academic advisors assigned to the students as they enter the program will give them concrete advice on how to fulfill our program requirements (core courses, electives and second language requirement, among other items). Students completing a PhD in Spanish will have the opportunity to develop expertise in primary and secondary fields based on cohesive themes, disciplinary approaches, and linguistic geographies:

• Geographies: Mediterranean studies, transatlantic studies, European studies, Latin American studies, Latinx studies  
• Poetics, genre, and form  
• Critical race and postcolonial studies  
• Gender and queer studies  
• Media studies (visual, material and digital cultures)  
• Environment, food studies, and green and blue humanities  
• Language in contact: Sociolinguistics, second language studies, and/or language program directorship  
• Translation studies  
• Other fields proposed by student, approved by advisor and graduate committee  

With their advisor’s approval and by petition to the graduate committee, any graduate student can apply to fulfill a primary or secondary field not represented on this list or in fields outside the department.

Coursework for the PhD in Spanish allows students to:

• Acquire exposure to a broad range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches.
• Develop expertise in a primary and secondary field.
• Broaden and deepen their conception of the PhD scholarly project/dissertation.
• Acquire exposure to interdisciplinary comparative approaches, transnational connections, and minority languages and cultures.
• Join and/or establish professional networks in their chosen discipline(s).

Besides English and Spanish, students fulfill a second language requirement relevant to their research interests, either another Romance language taught in the department (French, Italian, or Portuguese) or another language relevant to their research. A student wishing to integrate a language other than a Romance language in their PhD program is invited to develop its articulation with their research interests in their PhD statement and plan of study. The advisor will certify on the PhD timeline form that the student has completed the second language requirement before advancing to the PhD exam.

Course Requirements

Course requirements depend on a student’s credentials when admitted. Students entering with a BA must complete 80 credits; students holding an MA degree in an appropriate field (see Graduate Admissions) must complete 40 credits. All credits must be taken graded and at the graduate level (500-600), and a grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 or better must be maintained. Distribution of course requirements for the PhD is as follows:

• RL 636 Language teaching methods (4 credits)
• RL 620 Graduate Study in RL (4 credits)
• RL 623 RL Colloquium (4 credits)
• Four courses in primary area (16 credits)
• Three courses in secondary area (12 credits)
• RL 603 Dissertation (12-18 credits)

Students typically will register for RL 601 or RL 605 during the terms that they are preparing for exams or writing their prospectus.

PhD students who are teaching take SPAN 609 1st year Pedagogy or SPAN 609 2nd year Pedagogy (2 credits), which requires weekly meetings with their teaching supervisor and provides training that prepares them further to teach their classes successfully.

Graduate Courses  

Students Entering with a BA

Students entering the Spanish PhD program with a BA will need a total of 20 courses (80 credits) to complete their PhD requirements, and prepare in their primary and secondary fields:

• Three courses (12 credits) of RL required courses (RL 636, 620, 623)
• Eleven courses (44 credits) in the Romance Languages department, At least 9 courses must have a SPAN prefix; up to two courses may have an RL prefix when the written coursework is completed in Spanish
• Three courses (12 credits) outside the department in fields related to their research (i.e.: linguistics, philosophy, history, English, anthropology, ethnic studies, women and gender studies, education studies, comparative literature)
• Three courses (12 credits) with the RL prefix (RL, ITAL, PORT or FR), or in other departments if the courses are related to their primary and secondary fields, which may also be used to satisfy the second language requirement

Students Entering with an MA

Students entering the Spanish PhD with an MA will complete a total of 10 courses (40 credits), with their Primary and Secondary Field-satisfying courses drawn from any of the categories below:

• Three graduate courses (12 credits) of RL required courses (RL 636, 620, 623)
• Four graduate courses (16 credits) in the Romance Languages Department with SPAN prefix
• Three graduate courses (12 credits) in Romance Languages, SPAN, FR, PORT, ITAL, or outside the department, which may also satisfy the second language requirement (One of these courses may also satisfy the second language requirement.)

Students who have taken RL 636, RL 620, and RL 623 in the course of completing an MA in the Romance Languages department at UO will be considered to have met these requirements. If the MA preparation is found to be deficient or if the MA has been taken in a different field, students may be required to take additional coursework.

SPAN 609 (2 credits) is a required course with the Teaching Language Supervisor for those graduate students who are teaching SPAN 101, 102, 103 (1st year) or SPAN 201, 202, 203 (2nd year). It is not a required course to graduate.

Second-Language Requirement

In addition to their major language, students must demonstrate proficiency in a second language that is relevant to their research interests and that will allow them to participate in additional academic discourse communities. This may be another Romance language taught in the department (French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish) or another language relevant to their research (Latin, Arabic, or Ladino; Basque, Catalan, or Galician; Nahuatl, Quechua, or Yucatec Maya; etc.). Students will justify their choice of second language and how they will evidence competency in the annual review at the end of their first year.

Students can fulfill the second-language requirement in several ways, as follows:

• Completing one graduate courses or equivalent (4 graded credits) in a second Romance language: French, Italian, or Portuguese or RL-prefix course structured around readings in one of these languages
• Completing one graduate courses or equivalent (4 graded credits) in an approved language outside the Romance Languages department

Students will work with their advisor(s) to plan how they will satisfy their second language requirement and submit a petition to the Graduate Committee for approval.

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Qualifying Examination

The PhD qualifying examination evaluates students in their chosen fields of specialization and consists of two written exams followed by an oral exam. It serves to clarify both the subject matter of the dissertation and possible approaches to it. Examinations are graded PASS or NO PASS by a faculty committee (the “Exam Committee”). Upon successful completion of the PhD Qualifying Examination, a student is advanced to candidacy and may present the dissertation prospectus.

The PhD qualifying examination is a two-term process. At least one term prior to the term in which the exam will take place, the student designates an exam committee. the exam committee is composed of three members of the RL graduate faculty, one of whom serves as the chair. A fourth committee member may be added from RL or another department. The student consults with their exam committee members to determine their fields of interest.

These fields form the basis of their PhD qualifying examination, and typically for the dissertation. During this term, students will register for guided readings (RL 605 for 2-4 credits) with the exam committee chair. In consultation with the members of the exam committee, students:

• Create a core reading list for their Primary Field of interest (15 works minimum) and a core reading list for their secondary field of interest (10 works minimum).
• Compose two annotated bibliographies (one page per work), one of works in the primary field (15 works) and one of works in their secondary field(s) (10 works). Students are encouraged to include both theoretical/ methodological works as well as primary texts, case studies, or data sets, as appropriate, as part of the annotated bibliographies. These bibliographies form the basis for the exam reading list.
• Work with their committee chair to compose a one-page Exam Research Statement. This statement explains their interests, presents connections among their fields of study, outlines the beginnings of their dissertation project, and offers a term-by-term plan of work.

During the term of the qualifying exam, the student composes two written exams. Each written exam responds to one of two questions formulated by members of the Exam Committee. These exams should be a maximum of 20 double-spaced, typed pages. The student has two weeks to write each of the essays. Two weeks after the successful completion of both written exams, the student takes an oral exam. The oral exam will integrate the areas addressed in the written exams with other facets of the student’s declared fields of interest. During the two-hour oral exam, the candidate should be prepared to defend the written exams, respond to questions about the full reading list, and elaborate on ways in which the written essays help to define a dissertation project within the student’s fields of interest. 

Dissertation Prospectus

The prospectus is normally completed during the sixth term of study following the MA It should define the scope of the dissertation and demonstrate the originality of the project. The student submits an eight- to ten-page prospectus and a substantial research bibliography of primary and secondary material to the faculty members on his or her dissertation committee. Students are responsible for putting together a dissertation committee, which normally consists of four members: one director and two readers from the Department of Romance Languages, and one reader from another department. A student may also choose to have two co-directors in the Department of Romance Languages (plus two further members of the department).

When the student has a solid draft of the prospectus, she or he will schedule a meeting with the dissertation committee members for a presentation and discussion of the prospectus. Following this conversation, the student will make final revisions to the prospectus. Once the committee has given its final approval, the student will submit the prospectus to the department for filing.

Students are reminded that they must have a dissertation committee in place and proper documents filed with the Graduate School six months before the dissertation defense. Any student making significant changes to the dissertation project after the final approval of the prospectus must schedule a meeting with the dissertation committee before proceeding.

Original Dissertation and Oral Defense

The dissertation should constitute an original and valuable contribution to scholarship in the student’s field of interest. It should be characterized by mature literary interpretation, informed and reasoned argument, and an awareness of the means and goals of research. It is the student’s responsibility to ascertain the rules and deadlines of the Graduate School for proper filing of the dissertation.

Preparing the dissertation for approval: Students are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the stringent formatting and structure guidelines for the dissertation (the information is provided by the Graduate School and is available online or in pamphlet form). Students are reminded that a final copy of the dissertation must be distributed to the dissertation committee for final approval at least three weeks before the dissertation defense.

Final oral dissertation defense: When all members of the dissertation committee have approved the dissertation, a public oral presentation and defense of the work is held.

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The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers a Ph.D. in Spanish with a focus in Spanish, Spanish-American, or Chicano/Latino literatures and cultures. The program integrates period and genre studies with work in literary and critical theory, linguistics, sociohistorical studies, and cultural studies. The Department seeks to professionalize its Ph.D. candidates not as narrow specialists but rather as scholars and critics acquainted with a range of fields that relate to and enhance their discipline. Graduate emphases in Latin American Studies, Visual Studies, Critical Theory, and Feminist Studies are available; other areas of study (for example, film, history) may be designed with approval from the student’s Ph.D. guidance committee. The Department has been traditionally committed to excellence in teaching, both in its own practice and in the formation of its graduates.

• LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

An additional foreign language (with proficiency equivalent to the 2C level) is required; this requirement may be satisfied by examination or course work. The selection of a foreign language must be approved by the student’s guidance committee and is based on the specific research interests and field of study of the candidate.

• COURSE REQUIREMENTS

A minimum of 16 courses beyond the B.A. or eight beyond the M.A. are required. All students must take the following two required courses: The sequence  HUMAN 398A - HUMAN 398B  is completed over the course of two quarters;  HUMAN 398A  is taken during the spring quarter of the first year, and  HUMAN 398B  in the fall quarter of the second year.

SPANISH 239A  is also required. Equivalent courses from other institutions may satisfy the requirement.

Continuing students and students who transfer into the doctoral program from elsewhere must take a minimum of eight graduate courses at UCI, of which six must be in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. With regard to students who enter the Ph.D. program with their master’s degree from another institution, the Ph.D. guidance committee will determine the number of courses that will be accepted.

• TIME TO DEGREE

The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. is seven years; four years to candidacy, three years in candidacy. The maximum time permitted is eight years.

The Department recognizes its responsibility to train all Ph.D. candidates as teachers and requires that all doctoral students with no prior teaching experience complete a minimum of three quarters of language teaching ( SPANISH 399 ). Moreover, all doctoral students are encouraged to complete a teaching practicum by co-teaching an upper-division course with a professor and enrolling in  SPANISH 292 , which is graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only.

• QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

Upon completion of course work, the Ph.D. student advances to candidacy by passing the written and oral qualifying examinations by unanimous decision. The qualifying examination requires the student to develop two topics in close consultation with the examination committee. One topic must present a critical problem from a historical perspective, while the other may focus on a more specific area within the student’s major field of interest. Students are encouraged to incorporate theoretical and interdisciplinary components into the formulation of their topics. A two-hour oral examination that includes discussion of the written examinations is also required. The normative time for advancement to candidacy is four years.

• DISSERTATION

A dissertation topic is chosen by the candidate in consultation with the dissertation director and committee, and normally falls within the major field covered by the qualifying examinations. The candidate presents a study plan to the dissertation committee, which approves the proposal and a preliminary research outline. The student submits drafts of chapters to the dissertation director who corrects and approves the drafts and circulates them to other committee members for commentary. The defense of the dissertation will occur upon its completion during the residency of the candidate.

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