PhD in American Studies

The American Studies Program (AMST) at Boston University is a nationally recognized leader in American Studies. AMST students and faculty study the disparate yet interconnected cultures of colonial North America and the United States as seen in the ideas and actions of its people, and as expressed in a range of forms, especially culture, the arts, media, literature, and institutions—often through a global or transnational lens. The program is attuned especially to the importance of race, gender, sexuality, and inequality, and it maintains active collaborations with many cultural institutions in the region, especially in the Boston area. The large, prestigious PhD program has produced tenure-track professors, public historians, museum curators, and directors at major universities, museums, and other cultural and historical institutions. Intellectually vibrant, this interdisciplinary program seeks to give students, at all levels, skills that will prepare them for careers both in and outside the academy. The program welcomes applicants with degrees in related disciplines where the focus has been on aspects of American culture.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate the ability to develop and coherently define one’s own interdisciplinary field of inquiry within American Studies and attain mastery of this subject matter as well as command of broader theoretical and methodological approaches.
• Make an original and significant contribution that advances knowledge in the field and engages existing scholarship.
• Show a commitment to professional development at the highest levels of academia through engagement in professional societies, publication, and other scholarly activities.
• Be able to mentor students and to teach at the undergraduate level.

Course Requirements

Students must complete 64 units before proceeding to their PhD Qualifying Examinations. Students with prior graduate work may be able to transfer course units. For details, see the Transfer of Units policy. Course requirements are as follows:

Eight courses must be taken at the 700 level or higher (all other courses at the 500 level or above), including two required courses:

• CAS AM 735 Studies in American Culture
• CAS AM 736 The Literature of American Studies

Aside from these two required courses, students devise their own programs of study, choosing courses from a variety of disciplines. Courses should be selected in consultation with the students’ advisor. Students may not take more than four-and-a-half courses for degree credit in any one semester. Students may register for directed study or research with approval of the program director and the faculty member concerned. A candidate for the PhD degree may not register for more than twelve units in directed study in a single term.

Language Requirement

All students pursuing a PhD in American Studies are required to demonstrate graduate-level reading proficiency in a modern foreign language prior to completion of the degree. This can be accomplished in one of the following ways: through an examination given by the program, by fulfilling a language requirement through a master’s program, or by successfully completing a language reading course numbered 621 offered through the Graduate School. International students who submit TOEFL scores with their applications can use English to fulfill this requirement.

Major Paper and Qualifying Examination

Before attempting the Qualifying Examination, students must submit a polished Major Paper, usually around 25–30 pages and often a revised essay written for a graduate seminar, that employs a range of interdisciplinary methods. Two readers will review the final paper and offer suggestions for revision. Once the paper is approved, the Major Paper Approval Form must be signed by first and second readers, as well as the Program Director, before the PhD Qualifying Examination can be scheduled.

By the end of the third year in the program, a student must pass Oral Qualifying Examinations in a major and two minor fields. The major field must be presented in full historical depth and with an awareness of global contexts. At least one of the minor fields must be in a discipline different from the major. Details on the composition of the major and minor fields are available on the program website. All parts of the qualifying examination or equivalent must be passed before the dissertation prospectus will be accepted by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Dissertation and Final Oral Examination

Candidates shall demonstrate their abilities for independent study in a dissertation representing original research or creative scholarship. A dissertation prospectus of no more than 20 double-spaced pages must be completed and approved by the first and second readers of the dissertation, the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Department Chair/Program Director.

Candidates must undergo a final oral examination in which they defend their dissertation as valuable contributions to knowledge in their fields and demonstrate a mastery of their fields of specialization in relation to their dissertation.

All portions of the dissertation and final oral examination must be completed as outlined in the General Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree. Further details on the composition of the Dissertation Committee can be found on the program website.

PhD students leaving the program with a terminal master’s degree must complete 8 courses at the 700 level or higher (including AM 736 and AM 735), pass the language exam, and complete a Major Paper.