Graduate Handbook

I. Introduction

This document is meant as a general guide to the requirements and procedures of the University of California Tri-Campus Graduate Program in Classics. The Tri-Campus program is an innovative joint Ph.D. program, established in 1998, that combines faculty from three UC campuses (Irvine, Riverside, San Diego). The goal of the program is to provide a graduate education that unites the main currents of modern literary, cultural, and social-scientific theory with the traditional skills and methodologies of Classical philology.

II. The Role of the Joint Executive Committee

The Tri-Campus Program is administered by a Joint Executive Committee (JEC), which consists of six representatives, two from each campus serving staggered, two-year terms. The JEC's responsibilities include: reviewing graduate applications and admitting students to the Program; reviewing and deciding on student petitions; making policy decisions concerning the Program, including changes in the Program's requirements and procedures; and interpreting the Program's requirements and procedures. The JEC elects from its members a chair to serve a three-year term. It is the chair's responsibility to manage budgetary issues, schedule and set the agenda for quarterly JEC meetings, identify faculty to teach graduate courses, and generally look after the smooth operation of the Program.

III. The Role of the Graduate Advisor

The Graduate Advisor is a faculty member responsible for supervising graduate study in the Program and monitoring the academic progress of graduate students. The Graduate Advisor coordinates the various elements of the academic program and advises students and other faculty members about program requirements and University policies. The Graduate Advisor keeps records for each student and for the whole program; ensures that each student understands program requirements and strives to make satisfactory progress (see section V below); and oversees the formation of examination and dissertation committees. The Graduate Advisor is also instrumental in the nomination of students for fellowship support and assistantship appointments. In addition, the Graduate Advisor provides general help to students as they attempt to negotiate the academic and administrative hurdles on their way to completion of their degrees. The Graduate Advisor is an ex-officio member of the Tri-Campus JEC for the duration of his or her tenure, normally two years (with possibility of reappointment).

IV. The Role of the Student Representative

Each year graduate students elect a representative who attends JEC meetings as a voting member and represents the interests of the graduate students. The voting rights and attendance of the graduate student representative are circumscribed by requirements of confidentiality. Other graduate students may also be invited to attend meetings as observers and to participate where appropriate.

V. The M.A. and Ph.D. Programs

A student's Ph.D. career may be thought of as covering three stages: course work, qualifying exams, and candidacy (writing the dissertation). For Ph.D. students the normative time for completion of the degree is six years: four years to advancement to candidacy, and two additional years to final approval of the dissertation. The maximum permitted time to degree is eight years. The M.A. degree in Classics may be awarded either upon advancement to candidacy or upon completing the M.A. degree requirements (see below).

COURSE WORK

Grading and Assessment

Graduate students must meet with the Graduate Advisor early every fall quarter in order to discuss their progress through the curriculum and their plans for the coming academic year.

For a graduate student, only the grades A+, A, A-, B+, B, and S represent satisfactory scholarship, and only coursework in which these grades are received may be applied to degree requirements. If the student has a grade point average of at least 3.0 in all courses applicable to the degree, one course in which a grade of B- is earned may be accepted by petition in partial satisfaction of degree requirements. Graduate students may not apply courses graded Pass/Not Pass toward any degree or satisfactory progress requirements. A grade point average below the B level (3.0) is not satisfactory, and a student whose grade point average is below that level is subject to academic disqualification. A student who accumulates more than one outstanding grade of Incomplete is considered to be at risk.

In addition to a letter grade, faculty teaching graduate courses submit to the Graduate Advisor for student files a brief written evaluation for each student, commenting on the student's performance. The JEC conducts an annual review of each active graduate student in the Program at the JEC's spring meeting. This review is led by the Graduate Advisor; for students in coursework the review is based on these written evaluations and any exams taken.

For the M.A.:

M.A. students must successfully complete a minimum of twelve approved, seminar-level courses. The twelve courses must be distributed as follows:

• Nine quarters of Classics 220.
• At least three quarters of Classics 200A, 200B, 200C, 203A, 203B or 201; a fourth quarter may be substituted for a Classics 220.
• Up to one quarter of Classics 290 for research and writing of the Master's paper may be substituted for a Classics 220.
• If remedial work is required in Greek or Latin, one enhanced upper division Greek or Latin course enrolled as a Classics 280 may be substituted for a Classics 220, with the Graduate Advisor's approval.
• With the Graduate Advisor's approval, M.A. students may substitute one external graduate seminar in a relevant area outside of Classics for one Classics 220 seminar. This course may be taken on any of the three participating campuses.

SAMPLE M.A. Program

Year 1

For the Ph.D.:

Ph.D. students must successfully complete a minimum of eighteen approved, seminar-level courses. The eighteen courses must be distributed as follows:

• Four quarters of Classics 200A, 200B, 200C, 203A, 203B and 201.
• Twelve quarters of Classics 220.
• Two external graduate seminars, from departments or programs outside of Classics. These may be taken from the offerings of any of the three campuses.
• Students may take up to two quarters of enhanced upper division Greek or Latin courses (enrolled as 280's) in place of Classics 220's with permission of the Graduate Advisor if remedial work is required in Greek or Latin.
• Where appropriate, in the third year of course work, a second Classics 200A, B, or C, may be substituted for a 220.
• Classics 280, Independent Study (supervised research) may be substituted for Classics 220's ONLY with the permission of the Graduate Advisor.
• Up to twelve equivalent graduate-level courses completed elsewhere may be substituted for Tri-Campus Program courses with approval of the JEC.

Classics 280 may be used, normally in the fourth year, to provide time to work on the Greek and Latin reading lists and to prepare for Qualifying Exams, but these courses do not count towards the required eighteen courses.

A SAMPLE Ph.D. PROGRAM

Year 1

Note: many students will find it preferable to take some qualifying exams in the third year. This should be planned in consultation with the Graduate Advisor.

Examinations

Diagnostic Exams: Immediately upon entering the program, the student takes diagnostic translation examinations in both Greek and Latin to establish his or her level of competency and to determine where effort should be directed. In the second year of course work students will take as diagnostic exams the Latin and Greek translation exams administered as part of the normal Qualifying Exam sequence.

For the M.A.:

1. Foreign Language Requirement: Students must demonstrate reading knowledge of German, French, Italian, or another approved modern research language, either through appropriate course work or by examination.
2. Complete one of the following: 
   Plan I: Master's Thesis 
   Plan II: One Comprehensive Examination including Greek and Latin language (one hour) and literature (two hours) administered by the Master's committee.

The Graduate Advisor, in consultation with the student and the JEC, recommends to the Graduate Dean a three-member Master's committee composed of program faculty from at least two campuses to set and evaluate the MA exams or to evaluate the Master's thesis.

For the Ph.D.:

1. Foreign Language Requirements: Ph.D. students must demonstrate reading proficiency in one modern research language by the end of their second year either through appropriate course work or by examination. Proficiency in a second modern research language is expected by the end of the third year. The two research languages in question are normally German and either French or Italian.

When this requirement is fulfilled by examination, the Graduate Advisor appoints one examiner to set and evaluate the exam. The exam is normally two hours long, and the student is permitted use of a dictionary.

2. Ph.D. Qualifying Exams: Ph.D. students must pass a set of five written qualifying exams. These exams are: Greek translation and Latin translation (three hours each); Greek history and Roman history (three hours each); history of Greek and Roman literature (three hours). These exams are administered and evaluated on a regular schedule over the academic year (see below) by examination boards composed of three faculty members from at least two campuses, appointed for that purpose by the Graduate Advisor.
   These exams are based on the Tri-Campus Reading Lists and should be completed by the end of the fourth year. The exams on Greek and Roman history are based upon up to six books each, specified in the relevant reading list. The exam on the history of Greek and Roman literature is based upon the Greek and Latin Reading Lists and upon the books prescribed on the reading list for this exam. Students are expected to read, in the original, all works on the Greek and Latin Reading Lists, whether or not they have appeared in courses. Students may negotiate substitutions on the Greek and Latin reading lists in consultation with the Graduate Advisor. The substitutions can comprise up to 20% of the total length of the reading lists so as to accommodate the particular research interests (authors, periods, or genres) of individual students if these interests are not already represented by those lists (e.g., medical writings, Latin panegyric, Hellenistic epigram, inscriptions, Byzantine texts, etc.).
   The exams in both Greek and Roman history and the history of Greek and Roman literature will be made up of identifications (1 hour) and essay questions (2 hours). Students will be prompted to answer 9 out of 18 identifications in the history exams and 12 out of 24 identifications in the history of literature exam. In the history exams, all questions will be distributed either by period or by terms, events, and historical actors. In the history of literature exams, all questions will be distributed evenly over two literatures (Greek/Roman).The translation exams will be comprised of 6 passages, 4 of which will count towards the 3-hour exam, distributed evenly over poetry (50%) and prose (50%). Students must choose 2 out of 3 passages in each of these two categories. All translation passages will derive from the reading lists (no sight passages). Students failing segments of the Qualifying Exams may normally retake those sections only once after the interval of one quarter or the summer break, as the case may be. Students may retake segments of the Qualifying Exams more than once only at the discretion of the JEC. A grade of "pass" in all examinations is required for admission to candidacy.
3. Prospectus and Oral Examination: In order to advance to candidacy for the Ph.D. and enter the dissertation stage, a student must submit a substantial dissertation prospectus, comparable to a research paper in scope and detail, and pass an oral examination. The oral examination is administered by the candidacy committee (see next paragraph) and is to be taken only after the other exams have been passed. The oral examination is normally two hours (one hour general knowledge and one hour on the dissertation prospectus).

   After the written qualifying exams have been passed and while the student is preparing the prospectus, the Graduate Advisor, in consultation with the student and the JEC, recommends to the Graduate Dean a five-member candidacy committee, composed of four program faculty from at least two campuses and one outside member holding tenure on one of the participating campuses (i.e. not a member of the program faculty) to organize and administer the oral examination. One member is specified as the committee chair. All committee members should normally be voting members of the Academic Senate of the Irvine, Riverside, or San Diego divisions. Any exceptions must hold a Ph.D., be qualified for a UC faculty appointment and must be supported by a memo of justification and a CV submitted by the Graduate Advisor to the Graduate Dean for approval at least two weeks prior to an exam.

The Ph.D. qualifying sequence, then, may be summarized as follows:

1. Foreign Language Requirement (two languages);
2. Greek and Latin translation exams (three hours each);
3. Greek and Roman history exams (three hours each);
4. History of Greek and Roman literature exam (three hours);
5. Dissertation prospectus;
6. Oral examination (two hours).
   

The usual schedule for the qualifying examinations is: 

The exams are normally held during the seventh week of the quarter. The precise dates are set by the Graduate Advisor.

M.A. THESIS, PH.D. DISSERTATION AND DEFENSE

For the M.A.:

The Master's thesis comprises a substantial piece of original research. It should exceed the breadth and depth expected for a seminar paper, which can provide a good foundation for the Master's thesis. There is no oral examination of the M.A. thesis.

For the Ph.D.:

When the student has advanced to candidacy, the Graduate Advisor, in consultation with the candidate and the candidacy committee, will recommend to the Dean of Graduate Division a doctoral committee composed of at least three members. A majority of the members must be Program faculty, and at least two of the three Program campuses must be represented in that majority. The doctoral committee will serve as the examination committee for the dissertation defense. The defense is scheduled upon submission of the completed dissertation to the doctoral committee. Members of the committee must be supplied with a copy of the dissertation at least three weeks before the defense date. The dissertation defense is an oral examination that is open to the public.

VI. The Emphasis in Comparative Literature

Students wishing to fulfill this Emphasis should inform the Graduate Advisor at an early stage and regularly consult with him or her on course selection and Emphasis requirements. Upon graduation, students will receive a letter from the Graduate Advisor certifying the student's completion of the Emphasis.

Course Work

Students must take at least five graduate courses in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature. The following stipulations apply: (i) one of the courses should be Criticism 220A or 220B, or Comparative Literature 200; (ii) at least three of the courses should have a Comparative Literature designation; (iii) one of the courses could be Humanities 270 (Critical Theory). Students may devote the required outside seminars to this Emphasis and may also, with the Graduate Advisor's approval, make appropriate substitutions of courses in the Emphasis for Program core courses.

Qualifying Exams

The student will take the same Qualifying Examination sequence as required for the Ph.D. in Classics. The only difference is that at least one essay question on the History of Literature Qualifying Examination must be on a Comparative Literature topic. This question (or questions) should be set in consultation with a professor from the Comparative Literature Program who would serve as a member of the student's exam committee. The student should be able to demonstrate some expertise in comparative critical methodologies as well as knowledge of a literature and tradition outside the field of Classics.

Dissertation Committee

The requirements are the same as for the Classics Ph.D. (as defined above). The only difference is that one member of the student's doctoral committee must be from the Program in Comparative Literature.

VII. Attendance at Colloquia and Other Program Events

Seminars, colloquia, and other activities relevant to the development of Classics graduate students are organized regularly by the Program. Since these activities are a fundamental part of the student's professional training, all students are required to attend them. Students are also encouraged to attend colloquia offered by other programs and departments.

VIII. Mentoring and Unsatisfactory Progress

Mentoring

A faculty mentor will be assigned to each new student upon entering the program. Students are encouraged to select a permanent mentor from the Program's faculty in the course of their first year in the Program. A minimum of one meeting per quarter is to be held between mentor and the graduate student. The mentor is required to produce an annual assessment of the graduate student's timely progress.

Unsatisfactory Academic Progress Policy

The Graduate Advisor or other appropriate faculty member is required to communicate in person and in writing with students who are experiencing difficulties in their academic program that negatively impact their ability to progress satisfactorily and in a timely manner toward the degree. Specifically, the Graduate Advisor, the mentor, or Chair of the Dissertation Committee should meet with the student to: convey academic expectations using specific relevant examples; try to ascertain if there are personal problems that require outside help; counsel the student on what exactly is required to correct the deficiencies; provide the student with a reasonable period of time to correct their deficiencies; and provide the student with a list of resources (URLs are sufficient) available to them for consultation, including the graduate advisor, department chair, associate dean of the school, the graduate dean's office, the ombudsman, OEOD, the Counseling Center, and any other office deemed appropriate. The graduate advisor, associate dean of the school, and/or the Graduate Dean may be consulted prior to or following such meetings.

IX. Support for Graduate Students

A variety of fellowships and teaching assistantships is available to Classics Graduate students on a competitive basis. These include Chancellor's Fellowships, Regents' Fellowships, Dissertation Fellowships, as well as the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Fellowship. Several Teaching and Research Assistantships are also available which provide a stipend in addition to tuition and fees. Teaching Assistantships are usually held on the UC Irvine campus, though may also be available from UC Riverside and UC San Diego. Teaching Assistants are subject to regular review. Continuation of support is contingent upon satisfactory performance as teaching assistants, as well as satisfactory academic progress and fulfillment of other program requirements. Support from various sources may be extended to students in good standing for up to six years.