Degree Requirements

Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online at https://utexas.box.com/v/UTAustinGraduateHandbooks. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Master of Arts

The master’s degree program in Italian studies requires that the candidate have a bachelor’s degree with a major in Italian or demonstrate equivalent knowledge. A Master of Arts in Italian studies may be awarded on the way to the Ph.D provided that the student fulfills the requirements described below.

The program requires 36 semester hours of coursework, which may include one three-hour upper-division undergraduate course approved by the graduate advisor. Students must take at least 24 semester hours of graduate coursework in Italian literature, cinema, and culture offered by the Italian graduate faculty of the Department of French and Italian, and six to nine graduate-level semester hours in a supporting subject or subjects in another program, department, or college. Italian studies students must take C L 380F, French 381M, or another graduate course on critical or literary theory approved by the graduate advisor. Students must also demonstrate reading competence in one foreign language other than Italian by earning a grade of at least B in a reading course approved by the graduate advisor, in a second-year college language course, or on an examination approved by the graduate advisor.

Doctor of Philosophy

Several courses are required of all doctoral candidates; information about them is available from the department. An examination committee is formed for each candidate; with the graduate advisor, the committee oversees the student’s progress and eventually administers a comprehensive examination based on coursework and reading lists.

Although the doctoral degree is not awarded on the basis of a specific number of courses or semester hours of credit, six courses (or eighteen semester hours) beyond the master’s degree are usually required. With the approval of the graduate advisor, one of these courses may be an undergraduate course that satisfies the requirement for proficiency in a foreign language other than Italian. With the help of the graduate advisor, each student is expected to design an individual course of study and define a primary subject and supporting subject(s) of study. The graduate advisor must approve the student’s selection of courses; at least nine hours of coursework must be in one supporting subject. Students must also demonstrate reading competence in a foreign language other than Italian by earning a grade of at least B in a reading course approved by the graduate advisor, in a fourth-semester college course, or on an examination approved by the graduate advisor.

Graduate Studies Committee

The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) in the spring 2023 semester.

Miroslava Benes Douglas G Biow Paola Bonifazio Daniela Bini Carter John R Clarke Penelope J Davies Andrew F Dell'Antonio Alison K Frazier

Luisa Nardini Guy P Raffa Cinzia Russi Circe Sturm Rabun M Taylor Maurizio Viroli Louis A Waldman Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski