PhD Program
Faculty Advisory Committee
On matriculating in the Ph.D. program, each student is assigned a faculty advisor. However, by the end of the first year of residence, the student is expected to recruit a committee of two or more faculty members to assume advisory responsibilities. The student’s choice of committee members should be based on his or her research interests and sub disciplinary specialization. The student is responsible for providing the names of the advisory committee members to the Director of Graduate Studies.
Through regular meetings and informal consultations, the advisory committee helps the student to:
• Select courses and outside readings which provide the following:
(a) expertise in a specific topical field of anthropological research;
(b) exposure to other areas within the discipline;
(c) a component of interdisciplinary study;
(d) familiarity with the anthropology of one or more of the world’s culture areas.
• Formulate a dissertation research project
Student Evaluations
All students are evaluated annually to determine their eligibility for continuing in the program. As a result of the evaluation meeting, three decisions are possible, (A) termination from the program at the end of the first year of full-time study (or the equivalent), (B) permission to work toward the M.A. degree only, or (C) permission to enroll in further courses and to pursue work leading toward the Ph.D. degree. For continuing students, the M.A. degree may be awarded after satisfactory completion of eight term courses, including the required courses, and the completion of a Master's Research Paper.
Residence Requirement
The minimum residence requirement is three years.
General Examination
The General Examination tests for general knowledge of the discipline of anthropology. It is expected that the General Exam will be taken no later than 6 months after the residency requirement has been fulfilled. The week-long, take-home written examination is administered once each semester and includes two subjects (general anthropological theory and methods). Students are free to consult notes and books during the examination period. The typed answers are evaluated by the entire faculty. Following faculty evaluation of the written exam, there will be an oral exam (lasting no more than 45 minutes) by the entire faculty. To pass the General Examination, a student must receive a passing evaluation for each question. A student who fails the examination will be permitted one retake of the examination, normally the next time it is administered. Failing the exam a second time results in severance from the program. Copies of previous General Examination questions are filed in the departmental office.
Foreign Language Requirement
For all graduate students in the doctoral program, a reading knowledge of at least one scholarly language relevant to the student’s anthropological research must be demonstrated by passing a translation examination and by writing a research paper (such as a course paper, Specialist Essay, or dissertation) in which sources in the chosen language contribute to the research. The translation examination is normally taken during the student’s coursework stage and in all cases must be completed before the beginning of dissertation fieldwork.
Teaching Fellowship Requirement
All Ph.D. students are required to serve as Teaching Fellows after their first semester, for a total of seven semesters. Ideally, Teaching Fellows work closely with the faculty in designing courses, selecting reading materials, advising students, and grading assignments. Teaching Fellows are given opportunities to lecture and lead class discussion, but are not normally expected to staff weekly course sections.
Teaching assignments take the students' preferences into consideration as much as possible; assignment to a course requires the approval of the instructor.
University Prize Instructorships, which are awarded annually to a limited number of Ph.D. students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, allow a student to teach an advanced undergraduate course that is related to his or her research interests and dissertation work.
Dissertation and Defense
When a student is ready to write the doctoral dissertation, a dissertation reading committee of no
fewer than three faculty members, at least one of whom is a tenured member of the faculty, will be
appointed by the chair of the anthropology program. The student's principal advisor will serve as
the chair of this committee. The dissertation reading committee will guide the research for and
preparation of the dissertation. This committee, with the approval of the associate dean for graduate
education and of the chair of the anthropology department, will appoint a dissertation examining
committee to preside over the student's final oral examination and will notify the candidate of the
time and place of the final oral examination at least three weeks prior to the scheduled date of the
examination. Two copies of the dissertation, as well as an abstract of no more than 350 words,
should be submitted to the dissertation reading committee for approval.
The dissertation, when approved by the readers, must then be deposited in the anthropology office where it will be available for inspection by all interested members of the faculty for at least two weeks prior to the final oral examination.
The anthropology program will publish the time and place of the candidate's final oral examination and the title of the doctoral dissertation. The final oral examination will be open to any member of the faculty engaged in graduate instruction and invited faculty members from other institutions.
The dissertation examining committee, approved by the program chair and the associate dean for graduate education, must be comprised of a minimum of three faculty examiners, at least one of whom shall be a tenured member of the faculty and one of whom shall be from a graduate program outside the student's own, in a related area. The latter may be a faculty member from another university.
The examination may be restricted to a defense of the dissertation or may cover the whole field of the dissertation. The candidate will be notified by the department of responsibility for coverage prior to the examination.
A report, signed by the dissertation examining committee, certifying the candidate's successful performance on the final oral examination, will be submitted to the University Registrar.
If the dissertation examining committee requires substantial revisions of the dissertation text, the revisions must be completed and accepted by the committee within six months of the dissertation defense, otherwise the dissertation must be redefended.