Program Overview: Handbook

Contents

Mentoring

On admission to the Program, each student will be assigned a faculty person with an appointment at The Graduate Center to act as mentor. Faculty mentors advise students in course selection and approve their registration each semester, advise students in their progress toward becoming professionals in the field, answer questions about the Program's structure and the procedure through the degree, advise students on the timing of their First and Second Examinations as well as their language requirements, and consult on the selection of a Dissertation Chair and Committee. Students can petition the Executive Officer by memo to have their mentor s changed at any time during their progress toward the degree. Once a student has selected a Dissertation Committee Chair, that faculty person serves as the student's primary mentor and advisor.

Leave of Absence Policies

Each student may petition to take a total of four semesters of leave of absence. Requests for leaves must be made in writing to and approved by the Executive Officer. During a leave of absence, the student is separated from the Program and may not record with the Registrar grades or other confirmations of progress (passing of language exams, level changes, etc.). Students on leave are not issued I.D. renewal stickers and may not use the Graduate Center library. Students on leave should not expect faculty to participate on examinations or in committee work during the period of the leave. However, students are allowed to make up incomplete grades during that time.

Readmission Policies

Students who apply for readmission after a substantial period of being withdrawn from the program must be interviewed by two faculty members selected by the Executive Officer. The faculty members will make a recommendation to the Admissions Committee. If readmitted, such students will be required to take at least one course, usually Theatre Theory or Theatre Historiography, as well as to meet all the current requirements of the program. If GREs are not on file, or are more than five years old, a student will be required to take the GRE and submit current scores.

Transfer of Credits

A maximum of thirty (30) acceptable graduate credits taken prior to admission to the doctoral program may be applied toward the Ph.D. degree, provided the courses were completed with the grade of B or higher. Only courses generally equivalent to work in the Ph.D. Program in Theatre will be eligible for transfer (courses in theatre history, dramatic literature, theory of the theatre, theatre criticism, and film studies), but up to 9 hours of graduate-level production courses may be transferred. During their enrollment at The Graduate Center, students who have not previously taken master's or doctoral-level courses in production, playwriting, or directing may be permitted to transfer a maximum of six credits from such courses taken at another university theatre department. Transfer of credits is not automatic but is arranged upon request to the Executive Officer at the time of matriculation, or later, if the student wishes.

Nonmatriculant Work

Students are normally accepted as nonmatriculants only in unusual cases (i.e., as students already enrolled as matriculants in master's degree programs at any of the CUNY senior colleges, as part of the colloquial arrangement that the Theatre Program has established with NYU and Columbia, or as applicants with completed applications who have not gained an admissions decision for the semester for which they applied. In the last case, no n matriculant status is granted at the discretion of the Executive Officer). Details for application can be found in a special form in the Program office. Students are restricted to a maximum of two nonmatriculant courses, regardless of their success in such courses.

Satisfactory Progress

A grade below B signals that work is not satisfactory and needs to be refined and improved in order to be brought up to satisfactory Program standards. Students are strongly encouraged to complete their course work on time each semester. If students receive permission to take incompletes it is incumbent upon them to finish their work and to have their grades changed as soon as possible. After two semesters outstanding, incompletes automatically revert to permanent incomplete grades on student transcripts and cannot be changed without the written approval of the Vice President for Student Affairs. Each semester the Office of the Registrar monitors student progress. In order to make satisfactory progress, students must:

1) not have more than two “open grades” on their transcripts (i.e., incompletes, or the “no grade recorded” designation),

2) maintain a 3.0 or above grade point average,

3) not have exceeded the time limit for completion of the degree.

If the Registrar determines that a student is failing to make satisfactory progress, he or she will inform the student, who must report to the Executive Officer a plan for bringing her/himself into compliance. If a student is finally judged not to be in compliance, the Registrar will withhold the student's next registration card, and the student may not continue in the Program (see the Student Handbook for appeals procedures).

New York City Doctoral Consortium

Students may cross register for appropriate courses at member institutions. See the Student Handbook for specific details of the procedures to be followed.

Language Requirement

Students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of two appropriate foreign languages during the course of study at The Graduate Center. The first language requirement must be satisfied before or during the semester the student achieves 45 graduate credits. The second language requirement must be passed before the taking of the Second Examination. The foreign language requirement may be satisfied in any of the following ways:

1) translating a passage of approximately 400 words dealing with theatre studies selected by the faculty. This is a two-hour, on-site exam, offered twice annually at the Program's discretion. Students may bring a dictionary.

2) taking a CUNY Graduate Center Language Institute course and passing the translation examination given at the end of the course. Theatre Program faculty will submit the passage to be translated and grade the exam. Students should be aware that the Theatre Program’s standard for passing the examination may be different from that of the Language Institute faculty and that taking the course is not a guarantee of passing the examination.

3) submitting a satisfactory translation of previously untranslated material. Each student will receive a prose passage of approximately 2,500 words, chosen by a faculty member, that is not easily available in translation, and accompanied by a signed statement from the student that the translation is her/his own, unassisted work. Examinees may use a dictionary, and the translation must be accomplished within one semester or over the summer. This option may not satisfy more than one language requirement. This option may not be used during the fall semester if the student plans to take the second exam in January or during the summer if the student plans to take the second exam in August.

4) passing an intermediate college-level language course with a grade of A, as part of either an undergraduate or a master’s program. (Note: a final passing grade in The Graduate Center's Language Reading Program translation course does not fulfill this requirement.)

5) submitting certification in a foreign language obtained as part of a previous M.A. program.

6) a non-native English speaker who completed high school or the equivalent in a school in which the language of instruction was not English will be considered to have fulfilled the language requirement for one of the two required languages.

Students must declare in writing to the Executive Officer the option and language they are choosing. If a student chooses options 1-3, the declaration must be received one month before the examination takes place or the translation is picked up. Also, in the case of options 1-3, if the Theatre Program Faculty member who grades the examination judges it to be a failure, then a second Theatre Program Faculty member will grade it as well. The Executive Officer, in consultation with the Deputy Executive Officer, will adjudicate discrepancies. If the student is deemed to have failed the exam, then that student may take it again at the next sitting. There is no limit to the number of times a student may take the exam.

En-route Master's Degree

A student may opt to apply at the Theatre Program office for an en-route M.A., which will be awarded by a CUNY senior college. The student must have completed 45 GPA credits with an average of B (courses taken for P credit ordinarily cannot be included) and passed the First Examination and must submit a major research paper and meet other requirements that may be established by the degree-granting college.

U900 Progress Committee

After a student has completed sixty (60) credits and passed both language exams, he/she must take the Second Examination within the two subsequent semesters. In the first semester after advancement to candidacy, and in all semesters until graduation, the student must submit a report detailing progress, which will be requested by the U900 Progress Committee. Failure to demonstrate regular semester-by-semester progress toward the degree may result in a recommendation by the U900 Progress Committee of termination of a student's program. If there are disagreements between committees over the best course of action for a student to complete his or her dissertation, the U900 Committee and the Dissertation Committee will meet to negotiate the most appropriate plan.

Examination Committee

The Examination Committee is comprised of three faculty members with Graduate Center appointments, or two Graduate Center faculty appointments and a doctoral faculty member from the constituent campuses. This standing committee will write and grade each examination and hold the oral examination. The Committee will ensure consistency between examinations regarding Program expectations, the content, concept, and rigor of the examinations and evaluation procedures.

First Examination

The First Examination is taken after the student has completed thirty (30) course credits of work in the Program and before the completion of forty-five (45) credits. The Graduate Center requires that the student be officially registered both in the semester before he or she takes the exam and in the semester of the exam. Students will be asked to sign up for the First Exam during the semester before it is taken. Once a student has signed up, he or she cannot withdraw from the upcoming sitting of the Exam without a written justification that has been accepted by the Executive Officer in consultation with available members of the U900 Committee. The exam will be given at the start of each semester, with the aim of having results decided in time to benefit students’ registration and level changes. The exam will consist of written and oral components, as follows:

(1) Three essay questions to be written and graded by the Standing Examination Committee. The questions will overlap theory, history, and structure. The purpose of the written component is to test: a) students’ ability to organize knowledge; b) their preparation for advanced thinking; and c) their ability to choose illustrative examples. Samples of recent exams may be reviewed in the Program Office. The essays are to be answered in four hours and may be written on computers. There will be no choice of questions. Primary sources (plays, theory) should be cited, and if a student knows relevant secondary materials, they should be cited, but are not required.

(2) A 90-minute comprehensive oral examination for each student, beginning from the essays and moving out into the field of theatre generally. This examination will be conducted by the Standing Examination Committee and will be scheduled as soon as convenient after the writtens (within two weeks, if the calendar permits).

After the oral, the student will be excused for ten minutes, while the Standing Examination Committee confers. The student will then be invited to a twenty-minute diagnostic meeting, during which his or her strengths and weaknesses, as demonstrated by course work to date and by the exam, will be addressed. The results of the examination will be announced to the student at this meeting: high pass/pass/fail.

Both parts of the procedure must be judged passing for the student to pass the examination. Either part of the exam, or both parts, may be repeated once, if necessary. A student who does not answer all three questions on the written exam will be considered to have failed and not be allowed to proceed to the oral portion of the examination. Thus both parts of the exam will be deemed failures and require repeating at the next sitting of the exam. A student who fails must repeat the exam at the next sitting. Two failures of the First Exam constitute withdrawal from the program. Termination decisions can be appealed (see Student Handbook).

Preparation for the Second Examination: Students who pass the First Examination will be encouraged to talk at the diagnostic discussion about how they plan to shape their further study. At separate meetings with the Executive Officer, held within a month of passing the First Examination, students should identify a mentor with whom they can then start planning their Second Examinations. This choice should be made carefully, since changing mentors may delay a student’s progress. The mentor must be a member of the Graduate Center Theatre faculty, based either at the Graduate Center or at one of the CUNY colleges. Working with the mentor, the student will shape a course of study with two objectives, preparation for the Second Exam and for writing a dissertation. Further courses should be chosen with these goals in mind.

By the beginning of April if the First Exam is passed in January, and by the beginning of November if the First Exam is passed in August, the student will present to the Standing Examination Committee the fields in which he or she intends to prepare lists of books, along with a one paragraph rationale for each field. The purpose of this review is to ensure consistency and standards. The committee will either approve the fields or send them back for revision, if need be. By the beginning of November if the First Exam is passed in January, and by the beginning of April if the First Exam is passed in August, the student will present to the Standing Examination Committee the lists of books for the three fields in which he or she is to be examined. One of these will be the conceptual or historical field in which the student’s projected dissertation will be intervening. The other two may also be related to the dissertation field, but must be distinct from it. They may be either historical or conceptual. The presumption is that the student should be prepared to teach an upper-level undergraduate course in any of these fields.

The following list of fields is intended to be inspirational, not prescriptive. Sample conceptual fields: post-colonial theory, gender and sexuality, critical race theory, opera, popular entertainments, sociology of culture, Marxist theory, theories of visual culture, musical theatre; a national theatre. Sample fields in the history of theatre: ancient Greek and Roman; medieval European; Early Modern European (sixteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries); Europe, 1630-1790; Europe and America, 1790-1880; Europe and America, 1880-1945; Europe and America, 1945-present; Latin American; Japanese; Chinese; South Asian; African; Arabic. There is also the option, for a student getting the certificate in Film Studies, to write an examination in film on Silent Cinema, Modern European (sound cinema in Europe), American Cinema, or Third World Cinema.

For the purposes of the exam, the dissertation field will be defined by a reading list of approximately 30 major books and the other two fields by reading lists of approximately 25 major books each, along with a rationale for each field. Articles may be substituted for five of the books, at most, at the rate of approximately five articles to a book, with an explanation included in the rationale. Play scripts will not appear on these reading lists, but knowledge of relevant plays will be covered on the examination. To ensure consistency and standards, the reading lists will be reviewed by the Standing Examination Committee, which will approve them or send them back for revision, if need be. To allow for inclusion of newly published material, a student may make slight revisions in the reading list up to four months before taking the Second Exam. Approval of the lists and accompanying rationale completes the responsibility of the Standing Examination Committee for the Second Exam.

By this point in the process, the student and mentor will have constituted the student’s Second Exam Committee and informed the Executive Officer in writing. Usually, this committee will be composed of the mentor and two members of the Graduate Center Theatre Faculty; two of these three members must be central appointments in Theatre. The option is available to include a fourth person from this program or elsewhere.

Second Examination

The Second Examination must be taken within one academic year after the completion of all course work (60 credits). The Graduate Center requires that the student be officially registered both in the semester before he or she takes the exam and in the semester of the exam. It will be given at the start of each semester, with the aim of having results decided in time to benefit students’ registration and level changes. Students will be asked to sign up for the Second Examination during the semester before it is taken.

The Second Examination will be written and graded by the student’s individual committee; it will consist of written and oral components, as follows:

(1) On each of three days, separated by at least one day, the student will answer a question about a chosen field. The questions may have subdivisions, but there will be no choice of question. To answer these questions, the student will draw upon and cite the books on his or her reading lists and will be expected to demonstrate a breadth and depth of knowledge within the confines of the reading lists.

(2) The student will then go on to a two-hour oral examination, to be scheduled as soon as convenient after the writtens (within two weeks, if the calendar permits). The oral will begin with discussion of the writtens, but will branch out to material not covered on the writtens, though within the parameters of the reading lists. The mentor, not the student, is responsible for confining discussion to the agreed-upon list. The results of the examination will be announced to the student at the end of this meeting: high pass/pass/fail.

Either part of the exam, or both parts, may be repeated once, if necessary. Two failures constitute withdrawal from the program.

Advancement to Candidacy

A student will advance to candidacy upon

1) completion of coursework with at least a B average;

2) fulfillment of both language requirements; and

3) passing the Second Examination.

The Assistant Program Officer will submit an application for candidacy to the Office of the Registrar on the student's behalf.

Master of Philosophy Degree: When an application for Advancement to Candidacy is submitted to the Office of the Registrar, the Registrar's Office will forward to the successful candidate an announcement of candidacy and an offer to apply for the Master of Philosophy degree: this degree is conferred upon any candidate who responds to the Office of the Registrar using the form enclosed with the announcement of candidacy. The M.Phil. is an interim degree available to ABDs and is not required or necessary.

Dissertation Committee

Dissertation Committees are comprised of at least three doctoral faculty members, one of whom must have a Graduate Center appointment in Theatre. When a student has been advanced to candidacy, he/she should discuss the possible chair for the Dissertation Committee, as well as possible committee members, with the mentor. The mentor must approve the Dissertation Chair and the Committee, in a memo written to the Executive Officer, before the student can go on to write the dissertation proposal.

Dissertation

The first step in the writing of a dissertation is gaining the Dissertation Committee's approval of a proposal. The 10-15 double-spaced pages should include a narrative description of the project, which refers in detail to scholarship bearing on the topic. The proposal should describe the methodologies the student intends to employ, research questions, a description of the topic's significance in the field, a consideration of the historical and critical context in which the topic will be investigated, chapter outlines that clearly articulate how the dissertation will be organized, and a selected bibliography. Because the Dissertation Chair and Committee members should be consulted regularly, both the preparation of the proposal and the writing of the dissertation will progress more smoothly if the student is in residence.

Dissertation proposals and dissertations in the Theatre Program are to be prepared according to the guidelines furnished by the Registrar's Office (available from the Theatre Program office). They should follow the style outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style. Since the dissertation proposal is an integral part of many fellowship applications, it should be written not only for the Dissertation Committee but also for the non-specialist reader. In addition, students should attach a research and writing plan to the proposal, outlining a schedule for their writing.

When the dissertation proposal has been approved by the Committee Chair, the student shall notify the Executive Officer, who shall direct the Assistant Program Officer to schedule a meeting of the Dissertation Committee, the Executive Officer, and the student, at which the student shall present the proposal. All members of the Committee should receive copies of the proposal at least two weeks in advance of this meeting. The Committee and the Executive Officer, after meeting with the student, may approve the proposal, ask the student to revise and re-submit the proposal, or authorize the Chair to approve the requisite changes. If the Committee does not approve the revised proposal at its second meeting, the student must choose a new topic and may reconstitute the committee. Titles of approved proposals are registered for publication with “Dissertations in Progress” published each year in Theatre Journal.

Once the Committee Chair has approved chapter drafts, the student is advised to circulate them to all committee members who are willing to read them. When the completed version of the dissertation, including notes and bibliography, has been approved by the Committee Chair, it is distributed to other members of the Committee, and an oral examination or defense is scheduled.

To schedule the dissertation defense, the student must first approach the Committee Chair and other members of the Committee to find a mutually acceptable time, and then inform the Assistant Program Officer of the agreed date and time. The office will then arrange a location and send a written announcement of the appointed date, location, and time to the student and committee members. To read a completed dissertation draft, the Committee must have a minimum of three weeks before a defense, not including scheduled vacation time, unless other arrangements are made with the committee and approved in writing by the Committee Chair and Executive Officer. At the defense, the Committee may make one of four decisions: it may approve the dissertation as presented; it may ask for minor revisions which must be approved by the Committee Chair; it may ask for major revisions which must be approved by the entire Committee; or it may refuse to approve the dissertation.

A copy of the approved dissertation must be deposited in the Mina Rees Library (see the Dissertation Assistant well in advance for details), and the student must be registered during the semester in which the degree is granted.

Time Limit for Degree

All requirements must be completed no later than eight (8) years after matriculation, or seven (7) years after matriculation if the student has transferred thirty (30) hours of advanced standing graduate credits.

Doctoral Theatre Students Association (DTSA)

The purpose of this organization is to promote an atmosphere of community and sociability among students in the Theatre Program at The Graduate Center. The association therefore plans departmental activities throughout the academic year that are of professional, cultural, and social interest to its membership.

All doctoral students in Theatre who are currently matriculated at CUNY are voting members of the DTSA. Associate members include alumni and departmental faculty, as well as students on leave from the Program.

The DTSA is the official sponsor of the annual Edwin Booth Award, which is given each year to an individual or institution, selected by the membership, in recognition of significant contributions to American theatre. The award is given in a public ceremony in the spring semester.

Notice of Nondiscrimination

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York is an equal opportunity and affirmative action institution. The Graduate Center does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sexual preference, alienage or citizenship, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, marital status, veteran status, or disability in its student admissions, employment, access to programs, and administration of educational policies.

The Graduate Center is committed to promoting pluralism and diversity and combating racism and bigotry. Concerns, questions, complaints, and suggestions about affirmative action and equal employment may be addressed to any member of the Graduate Center Affirmative Action Committee through the Affirmative Action Officer.

The City University of New York prohibits sexual harassment and has instituted policies, procedures, and educational programs to prevent and address sexual harassment. For more information, please contact the coordinator of the Sexual Harassment Panel and see the Graduate Center Student Handbook.

Contacts

Affirmative Action Officer: Edith Rivera-Cancel, Room 7301.05; 212-817-7410.

504/ADA Coordinator: Vice President for Student Affairs Matthew Schoengood, Room 7301; 212 -817-7409.

Title IX Coordinator: Vice President for Student Affairs, Matthew Schoengood, Room 7301; 212-817-7409.

Coordinator, Sexual Harassment Panel: Professor Michelle Fine, Room 6402.05; 212- 817-8011.

Ombuds Officer: Professor Rolf Meyersohn, Room 7313; call for appointments at 212-817-7191. The Ombuds Officer offers complete confidence to any individual in the GSUC community in discussing informal as well as formal solutions to any problem.

Executive Director for Human Resources: Yosette Jones Johnson, Room 8403.03; 212-817-7700.

Level Designations

Level I: Includes all students who have accumulated fewer than 45 hours and have yet to pass the First Examination.

Level II: Includes all students who have 45 hours or more and who have passed the First Examination.

Level III: Includes only those students who have fulfilled the requirements above and have completed course work, fulfilled both language requirements, and passed the Second Exam. These students are considered to have advanced to candidacy.

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