BU | University Professors Program | Programs

Graduate

The graduate program is designed for a select group of outstanding students whose educational background, aptitude, motivation, and promise warrant the creation of individual programs of study in fields that extend, modify or link established intellectual disciplines.

Each degree program depends on the particular academic interests of the student and the nature of the subjects to be studied. This program, therefore, may be constructed in a number of different departments; it is also possible that the advisor and the student will construct a program based mainly on a sequence of directed study projects involving a number of faculty members.

General Requirements for Graduate Students in the University Professors Program

1. Major Advisor:

Unless special arrangements are made in advance, new students will be assigned a major advisor and a secondary advisor based on shared academic interests. Advisors must sign all registration and progress report forms. While changing advisors is possible, it is strongly discouraged. Switching of major advisors should occur only as a last resort and by mutual agreement between the original primary advisor, the secondary advisor, the proposed new advisor(s), and the student. Any change of primary advisor must also be given final approval by the Director of the University Professors Program. University Professors have no obligation to accept new advisees who wish, for whatever reason, to change their present advisors. An advisor can also decline at any time to continue if he or she finds a student's work or progress unsatisfactory or if the student's focus changes. Students without advisors will be asked to leave the program.

2. Course Requirements:

Number of Required Graduate Credits:

All candidates for a master’s degree must complete the equivalent of 32 graduate credits. All candidates for a doctoral degree must complete the equivalent of 64 graduate credits (32 if entering with a master’s degree). Transfer students into the graduate program, both at the master’s and doctoral levels must take at least one year of courses for credit. Ordinarily all coursework should be completed after two years. In rare instances some students may be unable to undertake full-time course work. In these cases, students would be allowed to attend half-time, completing course work in four years.

Language Requirement:

The expectation is that doctoral students will attain at least reading proficiency* in one language other than English, unless the Program Coordinator is given written notification of an alternative approved by the major advisor. The graduate student’s own research area may, of course, carry its own demands in terms of languages required to master. In some cases, the major advisor and committee may require a higher level of language proficiency. Graduate students are expected to consult with the major advisor to determine the particular responsibilities with regard to languages and the means by which proficiency will be tested. Language exams or their equivalent (depending on the requirements of the field) must be completed before the prospectus is accepted.

*Reading proficiency is the standard used in the test administered by the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. It involves translation, with a dictionary available, of two pages of text. They offer this test and certification for several languages.

UNI ID 500:

All incoming students must attend two consecutive semesters of UNI ID 500 (1 credit per semester) in the first year of their matriculation. The purpose of this lecture series is to introduce students to the faculty of the University Professors Program and to expose them to different intellectual paradigms. Grading is Pass/Fail.

3. Formation of a Committee:

All master’s and doctoral students must form a committee, which will be chaired by the major advisor. After the required number of course credits has been completed, the committee will be responsible for:

Conducting Comprehensive Examinations for doctoral students (see below #4);
Approving the thesis or dissertation topic (see below #5); and
The committee will also be responsible for a final evaluation of the written thesis and for conducting an Oral Defense of the work by the student (#8).

Only the chairperson of the Thesis Committee (who is also the student's primary advisor) must be in UNI. It is not uncommon for other members to be from different schools or departments at Boston University, or even from institutions outside the University, depending on the nature of the student's research. To make up the Thesis Committee, master’s students need at least one other person in addition to the major advisor and doctoral students at least two other committee members. The major advisor may require involvement of additional faculty on the committee.. The student's major advisor may suggest committee members, but it is the student’s responsibility to identify and recruit appropriate examiners. Though generally the examiners on the Thesis Committee and on the committee administering Comprehensive Exams are the same, membership may change to stay in line with the student's research agenda.

The student and the major advisor determine the academic areas in which the student will be tested in the Comprehensive Examinations. Members of the Comprehensive Exam committee prepare the exam questions. Members of the Thesis Committee participate in a thesis/dissertation proposal meeting and later at the final defense and sign off on the approved document. It is recommended that the core of the committee be formed before completing coursework since members may have opinions on the courses you should take.

[N.B. Around BU, some advisors distinguish between “Readers” and “Committee Members” while others do not. Generally speaking, a “Reader” literally reads and comments on the thesis or dissertation but may not want or have the time to be on a committee. Being a member of the committee would involve extra work, attendance at particular meetings, and being present to vote at the various stages of the process.]

4. Comprehensive Examinations (a.k.a. “Field Exams”, “Comp”s)

After completing all of the coursework, doctoral candidates must complete three or possibly four Comprehensive Examinations. These demonstrate preparedness to work, teach, and tackle a dissertation in the chosen field. Since UNI students are often negotiating their way through unusual territory, it is not uncommon in UNI for students to prepare a bibliography that defines the boundaries of the “field” in which one is working and which would outline the areas for the “comps”. The details of the subjects to be covered and the manner of examination must be worked out in consultation with your advisor and the rest of the committee. These examinations should be taken within a year after completing required course credits. The Comprehensive Examinations may involve either written or oral components. The format differs according to the demands of the examining professors.

After the exams have been passed, the major advisor must submit a memorandum to the Program Coordinator certifying that the candidate passed the Comprehensive Examinations and listing the names and departments/institutions of the committee members. Failure to pass the Comprehensive Exams ordinarily leads to expulsion from the program.

5. Thesis/Dissertation Proposal (a.k.a. “Prospectus”) and Defense:

Proposal: Within a year after completing coursework (and for doctoral candidates soon after completing one's Comprehensive Examinations and fulfilling the language requirements), students should prepare a thesis/dissertation proposal, whichmust be approved by your committee before going ahead with research. The proposal should provide a detailed accounting of the planned dissertation, for example with a tentative “Table of Contents” with chapter summaries, a plan for research or data collection, and a preliminary bibliography. Check with your advisor to obtain details of the format, detail, and length he or she expects. For some, a proposal is a 5-10 page summary; for others, a “prospectus” may consist of a major piece of writing that represents a substantial portion of the core of the dissertation. Advanced students also must give a public defense of their thesis prospectus, to be attended byinterested faculty and students. This will allow other members of the UNI community to hear about ongoing research and at the same time providing the student with the experience of presenting research in a formal manner.

Defense of the Thesis/Dissertation Proposal: It is the student’s responsibility to arrange a meeting of the committee for the defense of the proposal. Public announcement should be made to UNI faculty and interested parties in other departments about the date and time of the defense of the dissertation proposal.

6. Continuing Full-Time Study (CFTS)

After completion of graduate course credit requirements, students register for Continuing Study (CFT, zero credits) while they write their Master's thesis, or for doctoral students, take comprehensive examinations and write their dissertation. Students must be registered at least for Continuing Full-Time Study (CFT) at Boston University during the semester in which the thesis/dissertation defense takes place (fall semester for January degrees and spring semester for May and September degrees).

7. Choose a Name for the Field of the degree:

An unusual feature of UNI is that students mayname the field within the M.A. or Ph.D. degree. This title will appear on the diploma. The Program Coordinator will supply you with a form for that purpose early in the semester in which you are due to graduate. It must be approved and signed by your major advisor.

[The UNI Ph. D. reflects the recognized disciplines covered by the comprehensive examinations and not merely the title of the dissertation. In exceptional cases, the degree title may name a single discipline that is not taught currently by a department of the University or is taught in a department that does not offer a Ph. D. program as yet.]

8. Thesis or Dissertation defense:

The oral defense of the thesis or dissertation should be scheduled before the fall or spring deadlines for submission of the final, approved thesis or dissertation. [The exact date varies each year as the academic calendar shifts.] It is the student’s responsibility to arrange a meeting of the committee for the defense. Students must submit the final copy of the thesis/dissertation to each member of the committee at least one week before the date of the defense. Upon the successful defense of the M.A. thesis/Ph.D. dissertation, all committee members must sign multiple copies of the Approval Page. N. B. Double-check that you have the correct and full titles of each member on the “Approval Page.”

Public notification will be given to all UNI faculty and interested parties in other departments about the date and time of the doctoral defense. Common practice has it that anyone with a Ph.D. may attend the dissertation defense. Others may be invited at the discretion of the advisor and the candidate.

The major advisor will designate a member of the committee as Chair (“First Reader”), or chief examiner of the defense team. The participation of the major advisor in the defense is at the discretion of the chief examiner.

The major advisor must submit a memorandum to the Director via the Program Coordinator certifying that the student successfully completed a defense of the thesis/dissertation and name the committee members and their affiliations.

9. Preparation of Theses and Dissertations

Make sure you follow carefully the University Guidelines for preparation of theses and dissertations, which include the quality of paper you should use, the size of the margins, etc. [The Mugar Library Guide must be downloaded from http://www.bu.edu/library/guides/theses/. There are two links on that page to separate PDFs. The first PDF holds the text of the guide, and the second has the sample pages. You must access both files.] The document has to be approved by a particular person in the library whose job is to ensure that theses and dissertations conform to the standards. Several of the criteria are dictated by University Microfilms in Michigan because of their needs for photographing copy. Note that each of the three unbound copies (one turned in to the Program Coordinator and two for the library) must contain a the Approval Page with the original signatures of your committee, not a photocopy.

10. Length of time allowed for finishing degrees

Master's candidates are normally expected to complete their programs within three years. Doctoral candidates, post-Master's, are expected to complete within five years and post-Bachelor's, within seven years. Years one and two are devoted to coursework, year three to the Comprehensive Exams, Language Exams, and Prospectus, years four and five to research and completion of the thesis. Under extraordinary circumstances, these limits may be extended.

Effective Spring Semester 2005/2006

Sample PhD Thesis Topics

Erika De la Rosa De la Fuente, PhD ’06
Mexican Lottery: Winning and Losing in Privatization

Augusto Ferraiuolo, PhD ’06
Ephemeral Identities: The Religious Festive Practices in Boston's North End

George Pati, PhD ’06
Experience, Expression, and Emancipation: Encountering Bhakti in Kumaran Asan's Malayalam Poems

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