Program Learning Outcomes

4+1 M.A.

1. Core Knowledge 

• Extending their BA coursework, students will broaden their understanding of various subfields of art history, theoretical debates and frameworks, and historical contexts.  
• Students will identify a field or fields and begin to develop specialized knowledge. 

2. Research Methods and Analysis. Students will:

• Read and critically evaluate art historical literature.
• Attain competence in the use of resources for art historical research.
• Become acquainted with graduate-level methods of research in art history.
• Engage in research at the beginning graduate level.

3.Scholarly Communication. Students should be able to:  

• Understand current debates in the field.
• Present their research in effective oral presentation.
• Engage in Q&As and other kinds of current research and graduate-level conversation and argumentation.
• Increase skills in analytical academic writing to near-professional or professional level.

4. Professionalization. Students should be able to:  

• Determine whether to pursue further training in a Ph.D. Program.
• Investigate career options related to art history: museum curator, art gallery jobs, etc.
• Manage their time for the various demands of any career.
• Understand complex curricular and bureaucratic structures, how to think critically about them, and how to problem solve without alienating colleagues or administrators.

5. Independent Research 

• Students will conceive, research, write, and revise an original Master’s Thesis.

The faculty of the Department of Asian American Studies have defined the following program learning outcomes (PLOs) for the 4+1 program:

1. Core Knowledge- Students will demonstrate a mastery of core knowledge in the field of Asian American Studies.
2. Research Methods and Analysis- Students will demonstrate knowledge of and the ability to utilize interdisciplinary research methods and analysis.
3. Independent Research- Students will be able to conduct independent research resulting in the original production of the Master’s thesis or comprehensive exam.
4. Communication- Students will be able to communicate to scholarly audiences as well as translate academic knowledge to non-academic audiences.

The success of each PLO will be determined by the students’ ability to navigate the following requirements:

1. Students will demonstrate the mastery of core knowledge in the field of Asian American Studies in the following ways:

1. The students’ ability to achieve a 3.5 G.P.A. as part of the requirements for graduation.
2. The production of the thesis/comprehensive exam prospectus, as part of the curriculum in ASIANAM 200D- Introduction to Asian American Studies Research. Students will articulate the significance of the proposed thesis/comprehensive exam project in relation to the core knowledge in the field of Asian American Studies.

2. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of and ability to utilize interdisciplinary research methods and analyses in the following ways:

1. The production of the community engagement research project and presentation, also known as the Community Action Plan, as part of the curriculum in ASIANAM 200C-Leadership and Social Change in Asian American Communities.
2. The production of the thesis/comprehensive exam prospectus, as part of the curriculum in ASIANAM 200D- Introduction to Asian American Studies Research. Students will articulate the significance of the proposed thesis/comprehensive exam project and explain the relevant interdisciplinary research methods to be used for the project.
3. The successful completion and defense of the capstone project.  Students will explain their research methodology and analyze the outcomes of their approach.

3. Students will demonstrate competency in independent research in the following ways:

1. The production of the thesis/comprehensive exam prospectus, as part of the curriculum in ASIANAM 200D- Introduction to Asian American Studies Research.  
2. The successful completion and defense of the capstone thesis/comprehensive exam project.  Students will demonstrate an advanced understanding of independent research by becoming the primary lead in their area of focus and the type of research they produce. The faculty advisor will mentor students on best practices to achieve their research goals.

4. Students will demonstrate their ability to communicate with a scholarly audience in the following ways:

1. The production of the thesis/comprehensive exam prospectus. This work is designed for the assessment of the faculty advisor and thesis/comprehensive exam committee. Students must articulate the significance of the proposed thesis/comprehensive exam project in relation to the core knowledge of the field.
2. The presentation of core knowledge in the field of Asian American Studies as part of the requirements of the core curriculum. Master’s students will be enrolled concurrently with Humanities doctoral students and, as such, are expected to contribute to class discussion at the doctoral level.

Students will demonstrate their ability to translate academic knowledge to non-academic audiences in the following ways:

1. The completion of the guest facilitator project, as part of the curriculum in ASIANAM 200C-Leadership and Social Change in Asian American Communities. Students will research, interact, and write about Asian American community members, artists, and organizations. Students must communicate with their fellow students and guests about the significance and relevance of the work being done in the community as it relates to the core knowledge of the discipline.
2. Through the M.A. exam defense with the faculty committee, students must reflect on the significance of their completed project in relation to the core knowledge in the field of Asian American Studies as well as the ways in which their methodology and process may have shifted as they conducted their research. As this defense will be open to the public, particularly the local Asian American community, students must tailor their communication to a non-academic audience.  

M.A./Ph.D.

1. Core Knowledge
• Students will be able to: translate Latin and Greek texts from program reading list; translate (with dictionary) modern scholarship in German and either French or Italian; demonstrate knowledge and understanding of ancient history; demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history of ancient literature.
2. Research Methods and Analysis
• Students will gain an understanding of Classics research at the scholarly level. This includes various sub-disciplines such as classical philology and textual criticism.
• Students will also gain familiarity with relevant theoretical approaches from other disciplines (modern literary, cultural, social-scientific).
• Students will engage in extensive research at the graduate level in order to write a dissertation expected to lead to the first book. 
3. Pedagogy
• Students will be able to: lead group discussion sections; grade papers and exams fairly; comment on papers and exams in a way that supports student learning; hold office hours and answer questions on course content and assignments; give short lectures; plan courses and construct syllabi; select appropriate books for courses; deal appropriately with issues of academic dishonesty; direct students to campus resources when needed (e.g., counseling center, academic counselors, student health center, etc.)
4. Professional Engagement and Communication
   • Students should gain familiarity with the ‘state of the field,’ i.e., the current questions being addressed by scholars;
   • Students should also: present their own work-in-progress in on-campus forums; present papers at conferences; submit papers to professional journals
5. Professionalization
   • Students should be able to assess their own commitment to the profession and determine whether they are suited to it. Students should also be able to:
   • Perform well in interviews (i.e., discuss their research and teaching in a competent and engaging way);
   • Understand institutional issues and participate in department discussion of policy, appointment decisions, etc.;
   • Contribute to program development and to solving problems at the program level;
   • Develop their own readiness to become faculty members at post-secondary institutions.

Ph.D.

• We train our students to understand diverse topics, approaches to literature and culture, bodies of literary and cultural work, and theories of reading and interpretation. They will train to become experts in a chosen area of specialization. They will also have a sense of interpretive questions and debates current in the profession. This is achieved in coursework, paper writing and revision, speaking at conferences (at UCI and nationally), and reading of professional literature.
• They will demonstrate reading knowledge of two foreign languages through exams or approved translation projects. (We offer five ways to satisfy the language requirement; for the full discussion see http://www.humanities.uci.edu/complit/graduate/).
• Students will demonstrate a competence in their field of specialty through course work, seminar papers, independent study, leading to a professional dissertation.
• Students will learn to develop and sustain essay- and book-length research projects. This is achieved by having them revise their MA papers, develop a prospectus and research program for their dissertation, and through work with their dissertation committees.
• Students present their work in fora across campus, organize a graduate student conference in their third year, participate in colloquia and talks on campus and at professional meetings, present their work at academic conferences, connect with scholars outside UCI in their disciplines, and send their work for publication in peer-reviewed professional journals.

2.Research methods and critical analysis

• Students will gain an understanding of research at the graduate level. This work will be modeled in graduate seminars and in discussions of the student’s work. They also examine and discuss the published scholarship in the areas of their course work and in their own developing areas of interest. In their first year, students typically take nine courses toward their degree where they write seminar essays. One of these is our methodology course, CL200A, which reviews and engages different methodologies in the profession. In their second year, normally, they revise an essay for the MA. Students receive written comments on their work and meet with faculty to discuss their work. They also participate in colloquia and talks that reinforce and model professional constructions of comparative literature work.
• Students will need to develop new methodologies that move the field forward. This is encouraged through interdisciplinary work that draws on diverse disciplines and by bringing students into contact with emergent discourses in and in the periphery of the profession. Fostering a broad range of talks and courses in SOH will be crucial for that work.

3. Teaching

• Students learn to develop expertise as classroom teachers, to engage students in person, and to see learning as a developmental process. Teaching in Comparative Literature is not only about the delivery of information or content, but rather connects learning with personal engagement and develops ways of thinking, asking questions, and interacting with others. Students learn this work in their own graduate classes where they routinely participate in person and give presentations or lead class discussion. They also take the required pedagogy course E398 in English, where they attend regular staff meetings during the teaching of composition.
• Students need to learn how to develop new and untested curricula that move the profession forward. They need to be encouraged to take risks in class as well as to do what is tested and recognized.

4. Our students will be able to

• Design courses at the appropriate learning level and develop syllabi for the quarter;
• Select course materials;
• Shape writing assignments;
• Guide students in argumentative writing, teaching them to develop a thesis and to conduct research to support their work;
• Lecture in class and lead group discussion;
• Comment on student papers in a way that encourages student to learn and revise;
• Hold office hours on course content and writing assignments;
• Grade papers and exams constructively and consistently, and
• Direct underperforming and/or troubled students to UCI support resources including academic and personal counseling.

Students learn and develop these skills in their own class experience, through the E28 workshop offered in English for students teaching composition, in 18 quarters of teaching or being a TA in courses taught by regular faculty.

5. Professionalization

Preparing for becoming faculty is part and parcel of the coursework and student activities, including teaching, in our program. Opportunities for professional development include participation in all department committees; representation at faculty meetings; mock interviews (in preparation for job interviews); mock job talks; presentation of dissertation research in a public, on-campus forum; a workshop on academic publishing; presentation of papers at professional conferences both at UCI and elsewhere; and opportunities to apply for fellowships at research libraries and elsewhere.

1. Our students should be able to present their work to their peers and to discussion groups and fora. See above for the work we expect in this regard.
2. Students will learn to distinguish their suitability for sustained work in the profession from enthusiasm for learning, literature, and culture. This is achieved through consistent engagement with the student at each stage of her or his work.
3. Students will learn about the operation of departments and professional bodies; they also learn to organize symposia and events and to be constructive institutional citizens by helping identify and solve issues of concern to the department. Students will do this by participating in department governance and having representational members in all department committees.
4. Students will learn to discuss their own and others’ work constructively and professionally. They learn to present their research in preparation for job interviews and professional work. The department offers ongoing workshops to help students transition to professional work environments.

Ph.D.

1. Critical Knowledge & Transdisciplinary Analysis of Culture and Theory

• We train students to produce theoretically-driven critical knowledge of society and culture from topic-focused research on race, gender, and sexuality. This training supports students to formulate scholarly arguments against accepted disciplinary boundaries and forge transdisciplinary horizons of debate beyond accepted interdisciplinary approaches to cultural identity, social difference, and political critique. This is achieved through our core curriculum, flexible elective coursework across various departments in the humanities and social sciences, paper writing and revision, a Master’s paper, speaking at conferences (at UCI and nationally), comprehensive and directed reading of professional literature, a qualifying exam of dissertation reading lists and prospectus by a five-member faculty committee, and a professional dissertation.
• Students demonstrate reading knowledge of one foreign language through an exam or approved coursework.
• Students demonstrate basic knowledge of Marxism and psychoanalysis in the critical tradition, as well as traditions of knowledge emerging from radical social movements,  through our core seminar sequence, CLT/THY 200 A/B/C. This core seminar sequence is supplemented with additional coursework from across the humanities and social sciences planned between the student and their advisor.
• Students use the seminar papers they write during their first and second years of coursework to develop a Master’s thesis which lays out a new, original framework for developing questions and analyzing their chosen transdisciplinary topic. The originality of students’ methodological frameworks emerge from coursework and directed research that draw on diverse disciplines, interdisciplines, and emergent critical discourses on race, gender and sexuality.
• Students demonstrate competent knowledge of their chosen transdisciplinary topic through core and elective course work, seminar papers, independent and directed study, a  Master’s paper approved by a three-member faculty committee, passing a qualifying exam of dissertation reading lists, and building and defending a dissertation prospectus.
• Students present at and participate in various academic and nonacademic venues where they receive and provide feedback on research, including the Culture & Theory graduate student colloquium, graduate student conferences at UCI and across the country, professional academic meetings and conferences, thematic speaker series, and publishing and editing written work in peer-reviewed professional journals.
• Students develop and write essay- and book-length research projects that advance their transdisciplinary topic in relationship to existing disciplinary and interdisciplinary debates on race, gender and sexuality. This is achieved by researching and writing a Master’s paper, incorporating feedback from their qualifying and dissertation committee members, and building a prospectus and dissertation research and writing program.
• Students demonstrate doctoral knowledge of their chosen transdisciplinary topic by writing a professional dissertation approved by their faculty committee.

2. Teaching

• Students develop basic knowledge as classroom teachers, to engage students in person and remotely, and to see learning as a developmental process. Students are trained to deliver information and content, as well as develop ways of thinking, asking questions, and interacting with others. This is achieved through a pedagogy course they are required to take in order to hold a position as a teaching assistant; and their responsibilities as teaching assistants in various courses in the School of Humanities.
• Students who have earned a Master’s degree are eligible to teach their own undergraduate courses. As a Graduate Student Instructor, students: design courses at the appropriate learning level and develop syllabi for the quarter; select course materials; shape writing assignments; guide students in argumentative writing, teaching them to develop a thesis and to conduct research to support their work; lecture in class and lead group discussion; comment on student papers in a way that encourages student to learn and revise; hold office hours on course content and writing assignments; grade papers and exams constructively and consistently, and direct underperforming and/or troubled students to UCI support resources including academic and personal counseling.

3. Professionalization

• Opportunities for professional development include participation in all department committees; representation at faculty meetings; mock interviews (in preparation for job interviews); mock job talks; presentation of dissertation research in a public, on-campus forum; a workshop on academic publishing; presentation of papers at professional conferences both at UCI and elsewhere; and opportunities to apply for various fellowships and external research grants.
• Students discuss their professional goals in greater detail with their advisors and mentors, and develop plans to achieve these goals by annually filling out an Independent Development Plan.
• Students learn institutional processes and policies that govern and regulate departments and professional bodies so that they can maximize campus resources for individual dissertation projects; collective programming that promotes intellectual exchange, such as symposia and workshops; and participating in program and campus efforts to improve research, teaching and professionalization so that they are better aligned with the UC’s mission.
• Students promote the program’s, campus’s, and UC’s goal of inclusive excellence through all of the above professionalization activities

Comprehensive Priorities

M.A.

1. Core Knowledge
   Students will acquire and demonstrate competence in fundamental tools and methods of literary study, including close reading, literary history, concepts of genre, and cultural analysis.
2. Disciplinary Knowledge
   Students will gain an understanding of literary study at the graduate level. Through coursework and seminar papers, they will become familiar with work in a range of genres and historical periods, and become acquainted with central issues (historical, interpretive, methodological) at stake in a variety of disciplinary subfields. Students will also acquire a sense of current debates within the profession as a whole.
3. Independent Research and Writing
   Students will advance as writers, writing and revising analytic essays that meet high standards of methodological rigor. Through mentoring and independent study, students will learn how to formulate a problem as part of a larger disciplinary conversation, and sustain an essay-length research project. In their final year of coursework, students will produce an MA thesis—a work of scholarship comparable in scope and format to articles that appear in peer-reviewed journals of literary and cultural study.
4. Academic and Intellectual Community
   Students will develop the skills necessary to participate in the conversation of academic professionals. By participating in seminar discussion, presenting work to a community of peers and professors, reading extensively in critical literature, and writing in scholarly genres, students will learn to convey complex ideas clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing.
5. Pedagogical Reflection
   Students will deepen skills crucial for teachers of literary texts. Observing the practice of experienced professors and sharing techniques with engaged peers and colleagues, students will learn to communicate complex ideas at a variety of levels and deliberate together to consider which skills and competencies are translatable into pedagogical settings beyond the university.

MFA

1. Studio Arts Model of Training

   Writers accepted into the Programs In Writing are accepted on the strength of their already accomplished poetry or fiction.  Writers work and submit work to their six workshops, spread out over two years, one workshop a quarter, conducted or facilitated by core faculty and visiting writers.  The primary work of the writer while in the Programs In Writing is the generation of their own poetry or fiction, and an ever increasing ability to read the work of others, both their peers and the literature at large, whether canonical, or popular, no matter good, bad or indifferent.  All writing is their study, all writing writers go to school on.

   Roughly, fiction writers submit anywhere from 50 to 60 pages per workshop, and poets submit several poems over the course of a quarter.

   All work is responded to in writing, and often responded to copiously.

   This work is in constant deliberation, whether in workshop or being presented, even performed, by its author in the MFA Reading Series.  Being read, certainly a kind of scrutiny, is a constant, but because the cohorts tend to be harmonious, all writers supported equally, the focus remains on a writer’s work, its individuality, what it wants to be on its own terms.

   The Programs In Writing at UC Irvine is distinct from other writing programs around the country because we do not operate on the star system.  Our selection is careful, and each writer arrives dedicated to work we find to be the emanation of an individual; in turn, we are dedicated to that work, its progress, and we do not elevate one writer above another, but find them equally promising in their accomplishments on the page.

   Writers usually arrive already embarked on a project.  Much of our work as core writing faculty is mentoring.  This is quite distinct from what happens in workshop; mentoring takes whatever shape it needs to take in order to respond to the individual writer, and the individual project’s needs.

2. Disciplinary Knowledge

   Writers admitted to the Programs In Writing are required to take 5 seminars over the course of two years.  Their first seminar is in pedagogy, taken their first quarter to aid in their teaching of composition.  Students teach composition for their first year for three quarters.  The other four seminars are chosen from graduate course offerings with the Departments of English and Comparative Literature.  Occasionally a writer takes courses in other departments, particularly when the material for their original work warrants this.  For example, a novel being written that takes place in the Jerusalem--its author may wish to study Arabic, or Palestinian Literature.

   Students should be able to take graduate seminars in craft, but that has been prevented for the last ten years, not by the Program, but by department chairs. 

3. Teaching

   Students learn to develop expertise as classroom teachers, to engage students in person, and to see learning as a developmental process. Teaching is not only about the delivery of information or content, but rather connects learning with personal engagement and develops ways of thinking, asking questions, and interacting with others. Students learn this work in their own graduate classes and workshops where they participate weekly and show their own work, and are critiqued, or read carefully.  Students often give presentations and are constitutive of classroom discussion.  They also take the required pedagogy course E398 in English, where they attend regular staff meetings during the teaching of composition.

Our students will be able to:

Design courses at the appropriate learning level and develop syllabi for the quarter;

Select course materials;

Shape writing assignments;

Guide students in argumentative writing, teaching them to develop a thesis and to conduct research to support their work;

Lecture in class and lead group discussion;

Comment on student papers in a way that encourages student to learn and revise;

Hold office hours on course content and writing assignments;

Grade papers and exams constructively and consistently, and

Direct underperforming and/or troubled students to UCI support resources including academic and personal counseling.

Students learn and develop these skills in their own classroom experience, through teaching in the composition series, 39A, 39B or 39C, and conducting their own poetry or fiction workshops, Writing 30 or Writing 31.  Third-year writers often teach poetry or fiction workshops at the intermediate level.

4. Accreditation

   For all intents and purposes, 100 percent of the students admitted to the Programs In Writing submit a thesis and obtain their MFA degree.  What has been achieved is the sustained work of composing a novel or a collection of short stories or a collection of poems.  A writer cannot really be credentialized, which is why not one penny has ever been spent at UC Irvine on advertising for the Programs In Writing.  Advertising would suggest that a program could make a writer, or could credentialize a writer; it cannot legitimately do such a thing.  What the Programs In Writing provides is time for a writer to become more intensely their own standard; this is achieved solely by the writer, and is solely recognized in the quality of the work the writer produces.  We have a solid publication record to illustrate this result, this standard at work.

Ph.D.

1. Core Knowledge 

• Students will gain an understanding of various visual arts and media, theoretical debates and frameworks, and historical contexts.  
• Students will understand the intersections of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. 
• Students will demonstrate competence in a field or fields of their specialty. 
• Students will demonstrate a capacity to carry out a sustained research project. 
• They will demonstrate reading knowledge of a language other than English. 

2. Research methods and analysis 

• Students will gain an understanding of research at the graduate level. 
• Students will engage in extensive research at the graduate level in order to write a dissertation.

3. Pedagogy. Students will be able to: 

• Lead group discussion. 
• Model visual analysis.
• Model critical reading strategies.
• Give short lectures.
• Comment on papers in a way that leads to student learning and revision.
• Hold office hours.
• Grade papers and exams fairly. 
• Deal with plagiarism.
• Direct underperforming and/or troubled students to UCI resources such as academic counseling and personal counseling.
• Propose new courses.
• Plan and teach original syllabi.

4. Scholarly Communication. Students should be able to:  

• Understand current debates in the field.
• Present their research in public oral presentations.
• Publish their research.
• Engage in Q&As and other kinds of current research and state-of-the-field conversations.
• Write effective abstracts and proposals for grants, fellowships, and jobs.

5. Professionalization. Students should be able to:  

• Understand the research, teaching, and service expectations of an academic faculty career.
• Determine if an academic career is the best path for them—or if an alternative career is best.
• Present and publish research. 
• Teach effectively.
• Manage their time for the various demands of any career.
• Learn how to engage colleagues in the field.
• Understand complex curricular and bureaucratic structures, how to think critically about them, and how to problem solve without alienating colleagues or administrators.
• Write effective abstracts and proposals for grants, fellowships, and jobs.
• 6. Independent Research 
  • Students must be able to conceive, research, write, and revise original work.
  • Apply for grants and fellowships 

Ph.D.

1. Core Knowledge

• Students will acquire an understanding of various topics, approaches, genres, theoretical issues in German literature and culture.  They will gain adequate historical coverage.
• They will determine reading knowledge of two languages or extensive competence in one language other than German and English.
• Students will demonstrate a capacity to carry out a sustained research project.

2. Research Methods and Analysis

• Students will gain an understanding of research at the graduate level.
• Students will engage in extensive research at the graduate level in order to write dissertation (leading to their first book).

• Receive intensive training in the teaching of German.
• Gain practical experience in the teaching of German.
• Develop teaching units for the learning of German.
• Gain practical experience in the planning and writing of syllabi both in German language teaching and upper-division classes in German literature and culture (MA exam).
• Select course books.
• Shape writing assignments.
• Guide students in language learning and research.
• Give lectures (in upper-division classes for which they TA).
• Comment on papers in a way that leads to student learning and revision.
• Hold office hours on course content and writing assignments.
• Grade papers and exams according to established criteria.
• Deal with plagiarism issues.
• Direct students to UCI resources set up to support them (academic counseling, etc.).

4. Professional Engagement and communication.  Students should:

• Gain familiarity with current questions being addressed by scholars in a range of academic fields.
• Present their own work in progress in on-campus forums.
• Present papers at conferences.
• Organize reading groups and discussion sessions.
• Submit papers to professional journals.

5. Professionalism. Students should be able to:

• Assess their commitment to the profession as a teacher of German and a scholar of German literature and culture.
• Become part of the community of scholars.
• Perform well at scholarly meetings.
• Perform well in interviews (being able to communicate clearly their research and their teaching experience).
• Understand institutional issues on the level of the department and the School of Humanities.
• Participate in discussions of educational policy and appointment decisions

M.A. / Ph.D.

Students will have:

1. Foundation in critical theory and methodology in historical inquiry.
2. Foundation in debates and methodologies of a first regional field (Latin America, U.S., Asia, Europe, North Africa & Middle East, or World History).
3. Foundation in debates and methodologies of a second field, either regional or thematic, including the above-named regional areas and thematic emphasis such as History of Gender and Sexuality; Global Migrations, Slavery, and Diaspora; Science and Medicine; Environment; Empire and Colonialism.
4. Ability to conduct research with primary and secondary sources and to write a strong, analytical historical research paper.
5. Comprehensive teaching knowledge in two or more historical fields. (Required for passing qualifying exams.)
6. Strong written expression of proposed dissertation project in both grant applications and the required dissertation prospectus. (Vetted in spring of the third year.) Includes a strong narrative explaining the arch of the project, key research questions, methodologies, archival and other sources, and a compelling argument for why this project should be undertaken.
7. Successful execution of the research and writing of a dissertation – an original piece of scholarship based on archival research and other sources with a clear argument in each chapter and for the project as a whole. The dissertation should make an original contribution to a field (or subfield) of debates in the discipline of history.

M.A.

1. Core Knowledge
   • Students will acquire an understanding of various topics, approaches, genres, theoretical issues in European thought and culture.  They will gain adequate historical coverage.
   • Students have three Core Seminars that emphasis different core knowledges: diachronic study, periodization, and European thought in non-European contexts.
   • They will have already demonstrated reading knowledge in one European language other than English.
   • Students will demonstrate a capacity to carry out a sustained research project.
   • Because the program is interdisciplinary, students will be exposed to a variety of approaches (history, philosophy, literature, cultural studies). Each student will then focus on one discipline for their final quarter of study (thesis or exam).
2. Research Methods and Analysis
   • Students will gain an understanding of research at the graduate level.
   • Students will engage in extensive research at the graduate level in order to write their M.A. thesis. (Students do have the option of an exam but will nonetheless take seminars that teach research methods.)
3. Pedagogy
• The M.A. has no independent teaching for its students. Occasional TAships may be available in departments in the School of Humanities with the required training.
4. Professional Engagement and communication.  Students should:
   • Gain familiarity with current questions being addressed by scholars in a range of academic fields.
   • Present their own work in progress in on-campus forums.
   • Organize reading groups and discussion sessions.
5. Professionalism. Students should be able to:
   • Assess their commitment to the profession. One of the main goals of the M.A. is for students to become better prepared for eventual Ph.D. programs.
   • Become part of the community of scholars.
   • Perform well in interviews (being able to communicate clearly their research and their teaching experience).

Ph.D.

1. Core Knowledge
   At the end of our graduate program, a student should have acquired a body of core knowledge in philosophy. He or she should be familiar with many of the important periods in western philosophy (e.g. ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, early modern philosophy, Kant and German philosophy after Kant, the history of early analytic philosophy). In addition, a student who has completed our graduate program should have a general knowledge of the major trends in the core areas of contemporary philosophy (ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology).
2. Independent Research
   At the end of our graduate program, a student should have acquired the philosophical and writing skills required to produce original independent research that satisfies the standards of clarity, argumentative rigor, and scholarly competence operative in professional philosophy.
3. Professionalism
   At the end of our graduate program, a student should have submitted work to, and ideally presented the work at, a professional philosophy conference. In addition, a student should have submitted work for publication (and, ideally, had that work accepted for publication) in a recognized professional philosophy journal.
4. Pedagogy
   At the end of our graduate program, a student should have acquired the full range of pedagogical skills required to be an effective teacher of philosophy at the university or college level. This includes, but is not limited to, designing syllabi, preparing a course of lectures, developing strategies for generating philosophical discussion in the class room, and evaluating written work.

Ph.D.

1. Core Knowledge  

• Students demonstrate competence in field of specialty (as defined by reading lists for Ph.D. exam). 
• Students demonstrate broad familiarity with Spanish and Spanish American literatures, with adequate historical and geopolitical knowledge. 
• Students demonstrate knowledge of theoretical issues related to their field. 
• Students show familiarity with interdisciplinary approaches relevant to their area of specialization, such as those pursued in the fields of Critical Theory, Women’s Studies, Visual Studies. 
• Students demonstrate reading knowledge of a foreign language other than Spanish or Portuguese. 

2. Research Methods and Analysis 

• Students gain an understanding of research methods and challenges at the graduate level. 
• Students develop an independent research project in the form of a dissertation. 
• Students develop familiarity with latest research tools and resources. 

3. Engagement with the Profession 

• Show familiarization with current questions and issues being addressed by scholars in their field and in related fields.
• Attend scholarly lectures hosted by department and school of Humanities.
• Gain experience in event organization and service (conference organization, film festival, serve as panel moderator in student conference, etc.) 
• Present in student workshops and brown bag meetings (such as those hosted by the Latin American Studies program)

4. Professionalization  

• Present papers at graduate student conferences, workshops, and major conferences (such as LASA and MLA) 
• Apply for internal and external fellowships and grants. 
• Submit essays to refereed journals. 
• Be prepared to present research and teaching in a clear and engaging way.  
• Know what to expect from MLA job search process (cover letter writing, CV, Teaching Portfolio, conference interview skills, job talk)
• Be familiar with different forms of engagement with the profession (reviews, journal editorial board, disciplinary committees)
• Know what to expect from different job placements (community college, liberal arts college, research university)

5. Pedagogy  

• Be prepared to teach language, culture and literature courses.
• Be able to design specific course syllabi in areas related to research.
• Develop constructive relationships with students throughout the quarter and beyond.
• Be prepared to give short lectures and lead group discussions. 
• Hold office hours and guide students through writing assignments and exams.
• Be able to create suitable writing assignments and exams. 
• Grade papers and exams fairly while offering constructive comments.
• Know how to deal with students with difficulties and issues such as plagiarism or academic dishonesty.

Ph.D.

1. Core Knowledge 

• Students will gain an understanding of various visual arts and media, theoretical debates and frameworks, and historical contexts.  
• Students will understand the intersections of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. 
• Students will demonstrate competence in a field or fields of their specialty. 
• Students will demonstrate a capacity to carry out a sustained research project. 
• They will demonstrate reading knowledge of a language other than English. 

2. Research methods and analysis 

• Students will gain an understanding of research at the graduate level. 
• Students will engage in extensive research at the graduate level in order to write a dissertation.

3. Pedagogy. Students will be able to: 

• Lead group discussion. 
• Model visual analysis.
• Model critical reading strategies.
• Give short lectures.
• Comment on papers in a way that leads to student learning and revision.
• Hold office hours.
• Grade papers and exams fairly. 
• Deal with plagiarism.
• Direct underperforming and/or troubled students to UCI resources such as academic counseling and personal counseling.
• Propose new courses.
• Plan and teach original syllabi.

4. Scholarly Communication. Students should be able to:  

• Understand current debates in the field.
• Present their research in public oral presentations.
• Publish their research.
• Engage in Q&As and other kinds of current research and state-of-the-field conversations.
• Write effective abstracts and proposals for grants, fellowships, and jobs.

5. Professionalization. Students should be able to:  

• Understand the research, teaching, and service expectations of an academic faculty career.
• Determine if an academic career is the best path for them—or if an alternative career is best.
• Present and publish research. 
• Teach effectively.
• Manage their time for the various demands of any career.
• Learn how to engage colleagues in the field.
• Understand complex curricular and bureaucratic structures, how to think critically about them, and how to problem solve without alienating colleagues or administrators.
• Write effective abstracts and proposals for grants, fellowships, and jobs.

6. Independent Research 

• Students must be able to conceive, research, write, and revise original work.
• Apply for grants and fellowships.