Doctor of Philosophy in Spanish | (Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic Literatures option)

Our PhD program in Spanish (Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic Literatures option) reflects the recent trend toward interdisciplinary and multi-field specialization in medieval and early modern literary studies. This degree option allows students to explore the interconnections and reciprocity among Medieval, Golden Age and Colonial Spanish-American literatures. Doctoral students are also encouraged to view pre-modern literatures within the broader context of comparative literature studies through the pursuit of course work in Comparative Literature, Classics, History, Anthropology and/or in language departments other than Spanish and Portuguese.

The PhD program allows advanced students to gain a greater depth of understanding in a specific period without neglecting a broad understanding of Spanish and Spanish American literatures. The program primarily serves to train students to be teaching scholars of medieval and early modern Peninsular/Spanish American Literature at the university level.

The PhD program consists of 36 units of graduate coursework taken in four literary subjects areas. Seminars in linguistics and literary theory are required if not taken as part of the student's MA study. With regard to literary seminars, each year we offer a wide array of courses in the following subject areas:

1. Medieval Iberian Literature
2. Early Modern Spanish Literature
3. Colonial Spanish American Literature
4. Nineteenth Century Spanish American Literature
5. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Peninsular Literature
6. Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Peninsular Literature
7. Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Spanish American Literature

For the Medieval/Early Modern Hispanic Literatures option, students must choose as their major and first two minor fields some combination of subjects areas 1-3. The third minor field may be any of the remaining four subject areas.

After finishing their coursework and language requirements (students must demonstrate proficiency in two other languages beyond Spanish and English), students must take an PhD Comprehensive Examination that consists of both a written and an oral component. The reading list for this exam is developed by the student in conjunction with the members of his or her committee. Students who pass their comprehensive exams then write a doctoral dissertation which they must defend before their full committee.

Students admitted into the PhD program in Spanish have a number of opportunities for economic support. Most of our students receive teaching assistantships, which cover tuition and student health insurance fees while paying a monthly stipend. For more information on the various forms of economic support available to our students, please visit our Financial Support web page.

With regard to job placement, our PhDs regularly obtain excellent jobs as teaching researchers. Recent graduates from our PhD program currently hold tenure-track appointments at schools such as Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, Wake Forest University, Texas A&M University, Carleton College, and The University of Tulsa.

Applying to our graduate program is simple. Just go to our Application Instructions web page and follow the listed steps. All the necessary forms are available for download. And if you have questions about our PhD program, please consult our Graduate Manual or contact Prof. John Slater, our Associate Chair for Graduate Studies.