PhD Program in Modern French Studies
Language Proficiency Requirement
Time limits for the Ph.D. program
Requirements for students receiving financial aid
The Ph.D. in Modern French Studies covers the Early Modern Period to the present. Ph.D.
students are required to take for credit a minimum of eight courses beyond the M.A. at the 600-level or above. All students take three core courses to receive the same fundamental analytical training ; then, in consultation with their advisors, they work out an individually-tailored program of study consisting of five courses that best match their interests. (French 898, doctoral exam preparation, may count as one of these five courses.) Some students may be advised to take one or more additional courses to be better prepared for their comprehensive examinations and dissertation topic.
Core Courses
All students must take one course in each of the three following core categories:
1. History of Ideas
2. Issues in Literature
3. History of the French Language
Each category includes several different courses from which a student may choose. Recent offerings have included:
• Seminars on the History of Ideas might include courses on feminism, intellectualism, reflections
on literature, or Francophone thinkers.
• Seminars on Issues in Literature could focus on the concept of tragedy, utopia, autobiography,
women’s identity, the art of persuasion, the evolution of a specific genre, etc.
• Seminars on the History of the French Language might focus on philology, diachronic
linguistics, or sociolinguistics.
To see a list of some of the courses offered and their descriptions click here
Courses taken outside the Department: Students may take two courses out of the five
comprising their individual program with affiliate faculty outside the department. Current formal affiliations include the following campus units: Architecture, Comparative Literature,
Government and Politics, History, Music, and Women’s Studies. Crosslisted courses are
periodically offered by affiliate faculty from those units. Other units with faculty expertise in
relevant issues may include: Art History, Comparative Literature, English, German, Linguistics,
Sociology, and Spanish.
In accordance with Graduate School policy, students may be granted permission to take courses at local universities belonging to the Consortium. The request must be approved by the student's advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies (see the Schedule of Classes).
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Language Proficiency Requirement
English Non-native speakers of English must submit TOEFL exam results to the Graduate School with their application. Based on these results, students may be advised to take a written expression course from the Maryland English Institute or a basic writing course given by the English Department. This course will not count towards the degree.
Second Foreign Language
All Ph.D. students are required to demonstrate a sound reading knowledge of one other foreign language in addition to French. Students should choose a language that provides an appropriate background for the projected dissertation. The fulfillment of this requirement is one of the prerequisites for advancement to candidacy. In exceptional circumstances, a student having an advanced degree or diploma in a subsidiary area such as Music, Economics, Political Science, etc, and who plans to make substantial use of this body of knowledge in the dissertation, may be permitted, with the approval of the Graduate Programs Committee, to substitute such degree or diploma for the additional foreign language requirement.
To fulfill the additional foreign language requirement, students may request one of the two
options below, with the approval of their Committee of Advisors.
Option a: One semester of a college language course at the 300-level, or its equivalent, with a grade of B or higher, taken within 3 years of entrance into the Ph.D. Program or any time
thereafter.
Option b: A Foreign Language Translation Examination which consists of a translation from the foreign language into English or French. The passage normally relates to literary, cultural or historical criticism, and is 800-1000 words in length. The use of one dictionary is permitted. The maximum length of time allowed is two hours. Only the grade "Pass" or "Fail" is assigned, with the understanding that the minimum level for passing is the letter grade "B." The exam is graded by two faculty members. If needed, an outside authority on the chosen language will work in conjunction with the student's advisors. The Foreign Language Examination must be taken before advancement to candidacy. It may be repeated.
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Qualifying Examinations
Ph.D. students are required to pass three Qualifying Examinations consisting of two
Comprehensive Examinations and one Qualifying Paper before being advanced to candidacy.
1. The first examination is oral, and is based on a set of core reading lists established by the
department. (The lists are available on the Department’s web page.) The examining committee is composed of three faculty members from the department. The committee will choose a particular topic or set of questions, and give the student one hour's time in which to prepare for an oral presentation thereupon. The exam itself, lasting between one and two hours, will consist of the oral presentation by the student followed by questions from the committee.
2. The second examination is written. Tailored to each student’s individual program of study, it
is based on a reading list drawn up in consultation with the student’s committee, and proposes
two questions of which the student selects one. The committee is composed of three faculty
members from whom as many as two may be affiliates.
3. The third examination is the defense of a Qualifying Paper of publishable quality in the
student’s area of specialization. Students have up to a semester to write this paper under the close supervision of a faculty member acting as a mentor. The paper is defended before a threemember examining committee up to two of whom may be affiliates.
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Additional information:
Only one Comprehensive Examination may be repeated in the case of failure.
• Students and their committees have freedom of choice concerning specific dates for the two
Comprehensive Examinations and the defense of the Qualifying Paper, provided that the
individualized reading list is formally approved at least two months prior to the scheduled exam
date.
• The Comprehensive Examinations and Qualifying Paper may be done in English or French at
the student's choice.
• The use of computers (provided by the department) is allowed for the written examination.
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Time Limits for the PH.D. Degree
All requirements for the Ph.D. degree, except the dissertation, must be completed within five
years of admission to the program. The dissertation must be completed no more than four years after advancement to candidacy (see I. below). Within these broad limits established by the University, the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures sets out more precise guidelines, pertaining primarily to full-time students receiving some form of financial assistance from the University. These are as follows:
1. Full-time students (including full-time Teaching Assistants) entering the program with a
completed M.A. are expected to complete all course requirements for the degree and to take the two Comprehensive Examinations and write the Qualifying Paper over a period of 6 semesters. Ideally, all course requirements should be completed in 3 semesters, leaving 3 additional semesters for the Comprehensive Examinations and the Qualifying Paper.
Full-time Teaching Assistants should distribute their eight-course requirement as follows: First
year: 5 courses Third semester: 3 courses
• By the end of their fourth semester, full-time students/Teaching Assistants should have taken
their first Comprehensive Examination.
• By the end of their fifth semester, they should have taken their second Comprehensive
Examination.
• By the end of their sixth semester, they should have written and defended their Qualifying
Paper. After successfully defending their Qualifying Paper, students will be advanced to
candidacy, if all other requirements for candidacy have been met. Students will then be favorably considered for a one year extension of financial support upon recommendation from their advisor to the Graduate Admissions Committee.
2. Fellowship students are required to take 12 credits per semester and are therefore expected to complete their course requirements in 2 semesters.
• By the end of their third semester, they should have taken their first Comprehensive
Examination.
• By the end of their fourth semester, they should have taken their second Comprehensive
Examination.
• By the end of their fifth semester, they should have written and defended their Qualifying Paper.
• They are expected to start working on their dissertation in their sixth semester.
Advancement to Candidacy
By the time students have defended their Qualifying Paper, they should have determined with
their Committee of Advisors their dissertation area and likely choices for the dissertation director and two readers. Once students have successfully completed the foreign language requirement and all Qualifying Examinations, they may make a formal application for advancement to candidacy. This must take place no later than five years after entry into the Ph.D. Program and at least one year before graduating. Upon the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, a Dissertation Committee will be appointed, replacing the Committee of Advisors.
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PH.D. Dissertation
Students are expected to prepare a detailed prospectus for their proposed dissertation for review by their three-member committee. The prospectus should be a formal proposal in some detail (between 2000 and 3000 words), laying out the proposed area and subject of the intended research, a statement of what has and has not been done in this field, a description of the methodology to be pursued, and a beginning bibliography. The committee will then meet with the student in order to offer guidance and feedback. When the prospectus receives the committee's final stamp of approval, copies will be distributed to all members of the graduate faculty for their information. Later, at a time deemed appropriate by the student's dissertation director, the student will be invited to speak on his/her research at a departmental colloquium. Ph.D. dissertations must receive the preliminary approval of the three departmental members of the Dissertation Committee before being submitted to other readers. All readers must be given adequate time (no less than three weeks) in which to read the dissertation. At the beginning of the semester in which the dissertation will be defended, the dissertation director will ask the Dean of the Graduate School to approve the Examining Committee. At least one member of this five-person committee will be external to the French program, and one may be drawn from another university. A date will then be set for the oral defense. It can be expected to last about two hours.
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Requirements for Students Receiving Financial Aid
TEACHING ASSISTANTS: A description of the duties and requirements of students holding a
Graduate Teaching Assistantship is forwarded to the student at the time the offer of an
assistantship is made.
1. For students working towards the M.A., a Graduate Teaching Assistantship will ordinarily be
held for a period not exceeding four semesters. All Graduate Students receiving financial
aid should register, no later than the end of the Drop-Add period each semester, for the
full number of credits for which they have received remission of fees (e.g., five credits
for half-time TA's, 10 credits for fulltim TA's, 12 credits for Fellows). These credits may
be taken as course work or as research hours (i.e. 798, 799, 898, 899), but at least 3/4
credits should be taken within the program each year.
2. For students working towards the Ph.D., the total number of years, including the M.A. years,
during which financial aid (i.e., graduate assistantship, fellowship, or part-time
instructorship) may be granted, will not exceed five years (or three years for students
entering the program with an M.A. from another institution). On the recommendation of
the student's advisor and the concurrence of the department Chair, an additional period
may be granted by the Graduate Admissions Committee to students who have been
advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D.
3. In both cases, Graduate Teaching Assistantships are only granted provided students take the
required number of courses (typically 3 courses per semester for full-time TA’s) or
prepare actively for their comprehensive or qualifying examinations.
4. In both cases, Graduate Teaching Assistants are expected to take a 1-credit practicum in their first (fall) semester (FREN 709) and a 3-credit course in SLAA (FREN 611:
Fundamentals in Language Acquisition and Instruction) in their second (spring) semester.
FELLOWSHIP STUDENTS: Fellowship students are expected to carry 12 credits per semester
unless the fellowship specifically stipulates otherwise.
CREDIT VS. AUDIT: Courses taken on an “audit” basis may not be counted towards the course requirements. However, whether a course is audited or taken for credit, attendance is compulsory.
CREDITS AND UNITS: While program requirements are measured in “credits” (30 credits are
required for the M.A. and 24 for the Ph.D.), the University of Maryland uses a different scale to
verify students’ full-time status. Students who hold fellowships should pay close attention to this requirement (as well as foreign students who do not receive financial aid). Note that depending on their numbering (400-level, 600-level, 800-level), courses do not carry the same number of “units” (see the University Schedule of Classes for details).
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THE GRADUATE FACULTY
SARAH BENHARRECH (Ph.D., Princeton University) Assistant Professor:18th Century,
Enlightenment
JOSEPH BRAMI (Ph.D., New York University) Professor: Poetry, Fiction, Autobiography,
History of Ideas
HERVÉ THOMAS CAMPANGNE (Ph.D., Rutgers University) Associate Professor:
Renaissance and 17th Century Literature and Culture
LAURETTA CLOUGH (Ph.D., University of Maryland) Lecturer: Translation Theory, Rural
Studies
CAROLINE EADES (Doctorat, Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle) Associate Professor: Film,
Contemporary Culture
GIUSEPPE FALVO (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) Associate Professor of Italian:
Renaissance, Cinema
ANDREA FRISCH (Ph.D., Berkeley) Associate Professor: Renaissance and 17th Century
Literature and Culture
JACQUELINE LETZTER (Ph.D., Harvard University) Associate Professor: 18th Century
Studies, Women in Opera
CAROL MOSSMAN (Ph.D., Rice University) Professor: 19th Century, Critical Theory
VALERIE ORLANDO Associate Professor: African Cinema, Caribbean Cinema, French
literature and culture
MARY ELLEN SCULLEN (Ph.D., Indiana University) Associate Professor: French Linguistics,
Linguistic Theory, Second Language Acquisition
PIERRE VERDAGUER (Ph.D., University of Virginia) Professor: 20th Century Fiction, French
Cultural Studies, History of Ideas
PROFESSORS EMERITI (Research Directors)
MADELEINE COTTENET-HAGE (Doctorat, Université de Nancy) Professor: Feminist
Criticism, Cultural Studies (Distinguished Scholar Teacher 1996-97)
CHARLES C. RUSSELL (Ph.D., Harvard University) Professor of Italian: Dante, Opera Libretto
AFFILIATE FACULTY
CHARLES BUTTERWORTH (Ph.D., University of Chicago ; Doctorat, Université de Nancy)
Professor, Department of Government & Politics: Political Philosophy, Law and Society
ISABELLE GOURNAY (Ph.D., Yale University) Associate Professor, School of Architecture
Cross-currents between Western Europe and North America, Modern and Contemporary
Architecture
MARTIN HEISLER (Ph.D., University of California-Los Angeles) Professor, Department of
Government & Politics Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Sociology
FRANÇOIS LOUP (Conservatoire de Musique, Fribourg) Associate Professor, School of Music
CLAIRE MOSES (Ph.D., George Washington University ) Professor and Chair, Department of
Women’s Studies French Feminism, Women and the French Revolution
DONALD SUTHERLAND (Ph.D., University of London) Professor of French History,
Department of History The French Revolution and Counterrevolution