The Department of French and Italian at CU Boulder enjoys a national reputation and is the only PhD-granting department in the Rocky Mountain region. The department offers courses that cover the historical and geographic range of French and Francophone literature and has an outstanding record of placing its PhD recipients in desirable positions of employment. Our students pursue interests from the Middle Ages to 21st-century and Francophone literatures.
Requirements
Prerequisites
Doctoral candidates should possess excellence in reading, speaking, writing and understanding spoken French; general knowledge of French literature and civilization; and knowledge of one language other than English and French.
Program Requirements
The PhD program in French literature consists of coursework, a comprehensive examination, a doctoral dissertation and an oral defense of the doctoral dissertation.
Degree requirements are subject to change. Students should visit the department's PhD Guidelines webpage for the most up-to-date degree requirements.
Required Courses and Credits
The following summary of minimum requirements is expressed in terms of courses. Additional coursework may be required by the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies.
Students and their administrators are equally responsible for making certain that their graduate curriculum satisfies all graduation requirements, both those of the department and those of the Graduate School. Every student should accordingly become thoroughly familiar with the Doctoral Degree Requirements section of this catalog.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| At least 12 courses (5000-level and above) in French literature and culture. | 36 | |
| Up to three courses (5000-level or above) in a related field (e.g., comparative literature, English, Spanish, classics, linguistics, philosophy, film studies, history, fine arts, education) to be determined in consultation with the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies. | 6-9 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 42-45 | |
Students must also have 30 hours of Dissertation Guidance (Graduate School requirement) with no more than ten hours taken before the completion of the PhD Comprehensive Examination.
PhD students are normally allowed to take two independent studies courses, subject to the approval of the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies. However, they may not take more than two (including any taken at the master’s level) except in exceptional circumstances and with the approval of the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies..
Provided that such courses are taught, students must also have taken at least one course (5000-level and above) in five of the eight major periods of French literature: Middle Ages, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th centuries, Francophone literature and film. Students continuing from the MA program at CU will normally have fulfilled this requirement as part of their MA degree.
Students entering the PhD program with an MA in French or equivalent from another university can count five of their previous MA courses toward the 15-course requirement; they must take 10 courses during the first two years of candidacy, up to two of which may be in a related field. Such students must take courses covering four of the eight fields of French literature. Previous coursework will be evaluated, and if at least seven of the fields were not covered at the MA level, courses will be required to attain this coverage.
In summary, for students entering from other MA programs, the requirements are: 1) at least four courses within the department to cover four fields, with these at the candidate's discretion except for the requirement to cover gaps from the MA program; 2) up to two courses in related fields; 3) four additional courses within the department at the discretion of the student.
Students entering the PhD program without an MA in French must consult with the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies.
Language Requirement
A sound reading knowledge of one modern language other than English and French is required. Such reading knowledge must be certified by the student passing a reading examination in the language. The examination normally consists of a timed translation of a literary text or a text dealing with literature (e.g., literary criticism). A dictionary is permitted. This language should be relevant to the student's academic program.
Examination/PhD Comprehensive Examination
As students are finishing their required coursework, they should have a good idea of the way their courses and ideas are coalescing around a given general field and a specific problem within that field. Courses taken outside the department, as well as work in the related field, should fit into this pattern. As this specification of interest toward the area of the dissertation takes place, the student should constitute a Doctoral Committee consisting of five graduate faculty members (one of whom must come from outside the student's department) who will guide the student's work. One of these faculty members will serve as the Director and take responsibility for co-coordinating the work of this ad hoc Doctoral Committee. Once the Doctoral Committee is formed and approved by the Graduate School, the student will begin to prepare for the PhD Comprehensive Examination. Working in consultation with the Director and other members of the Doctoral Committee, the student will formulate a dissertation topic. The students will prepare a list of primary texts pertaining to that topic, and a further list of secondary materials composed of critical and theoretical texts intended to inform the student's approach to the dissertation topic. Those two lists will be circulated to the Doctoral Committee before the Comprehensive Examination. The examination itself will consist of one substantial essay (the equivalent of a 30-page seminar paper) followed by an oral examination. The essay will focus on the dissertation topic. The student will have two weeks to write the essay. Once that essay is written, the Doctoral Committee will conduct the oral part of the examination as a discussion of material covered in the essay, material on the two reading lists, as well as matters pertaining to the general direction of the dissertation and the approach that the student propose to take therein. Normally the Comprehensive Examination should be taken at the end of the student's second year in the PhD program (for students continuing from CU's MA program) or at the end of the third year in the program (for students entering from other MA programs). In both cases, that allows the student a full year of independent study after the conclusion of course requirements. Upon successful completion of the PhD exams, students normally spend the next two years writing a dissertation.
PhD Dissertation
The PhD dissertation must be based upon original scholarship and demonstrate mature scholarship and critical judgment as well as familiarity with the tools and methods of research. It should make a worthwhile contribution to knowledge in the student's special field. Students are advised to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the various Graduate School rules governing the format and deadlines for the dissertation. The dissertation is normally written in English but it is also possible to write in French; the language of the dissertation should be approved by the student's committee.
Oral Defense of the Dissertation
After the dissertation has been accepted, a final oral examination on the dissertation and related topics will be held. The examination will be conducted by a five-member committee, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, which will consist of representatives of areas in which the student has worked. At least one member of the committee will be from outside the student's field of study. The committee should be approved by the Graduate School at least two weeks prior to the oral defense. More than one negative vote will disqualify the candidate in the oral defense.
Plans of Study
Typical Six-Year Structure for Entering MA Students
The PhD degree is intended to be completed in six years. The MA would normally be awarded after two years in the program. The standard sequence of courses is as follows:
| Year One | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall Semester | Credit Hours | |
| Two seminars | 6 | |
| Supervised teaching | ||
| Credit Hours | 6 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Three seminars | 9 | |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Year Two | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| Three seminars | 9 | |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Two seminars | 6 | |
| MA comprehensive exam | ||
| Credit Hours | 6 | |
| Year Three | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| Three seminars | 9 | |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Two to three seminars | 6-9 | |
| Credit Hours | 6-9 | |
| Year Four | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| Five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| PhD comprehensive exam | ||
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Year Five | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Submission of dissertation prospectus | ||
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Year Six | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Submission and oral defense of dissertation | ||
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 75-78 | |
Typical Five-Year Structure for Students Who Hold an MA in French from Another Institution
The standard sequence of courses is as follows:
| Year One | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall Semester | Credit Hours | |
| Two to three seminars | 6-9 | |
| Credit Hours | 6-9 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Three seminars | 9 | |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Year Two | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| Three seminars | 9 | |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Two to three seminars | 6-9 | |
| Credit Hours | 6-9 | |
| Year Three | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| Five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| Five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| PhD comprehensive exam | ||
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Year Four | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Submission of dissertation prospectus | ||
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Year Five | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| At least five hours of dissertation guidance | 5 | |
| Submission and oral defense of dissertation | ||
| Credit Hours | 5 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 60-66 | |