phd in french

The French Department’s doctoral program reflects the interdisciplinary priorities that have long defined the pursuit of knowledge here at Berkeley. We are committed not only to providing students strong coverage of the field of French and francophone literature and culture, but also to doing so through the critical application of innovative methodologies, and by continually bringing French studies into productive dialogue with developments in parallel disciplines. Our faculty’s interests are both historically and methodologically diverse; their strengths are complemented by a variety of programs—centers, working groups, and so on—that regularly bring scholars of the humanities together across campus. And the relaxed and non-hierarchical atmosphere lends itself to free and passionate inquiry. We invite you to explore our offerings.

A Short Description of the M.A./Ph.D. in French

The doctoral program in French is designed to train students to undertake original research, to engage in scholarly and critical writing, and to prepare for teaching careers at the college and university level. The following information is intended only to provide a brief overview of the program’s main features and requirements. For complete information, please see the  Guide to Higher Degrees in French . Visit our application page for  information on the application process . 

For students entering with a B.A. in French, the French doctoral program normally takes six years to complete. (Students entering with the M.A. will typically spend five years in the program.) This time may vary, depending on each individual student’s preparation; it is divided as follows:

The M.A. Phase

During the first four semesters of graduate study students complete a minimum of eight courses, six of which must be graduate level (200-level). All M.A.-level coursework must be completed with at least a 3.5 GPA. In the fourth semester students take a written M.A. exam, based on a tailored list of representative works from the French and francophone traditions. Upon successful completion of coursework and the M.A. exam, candidates are awarded the M.A. and then considered for admission to the Ph.D. phase of the program.

Please note that the French Department does not admit applicants whose ultimate goal is the M.A. degree.

The Ph.D. Phase

In three semesters students complete four more courses at the graduate level (200-level). During the last semester in the Ph.D. phase students take their qualifying exams, based on a set of specialized reading lists developed in close consultation with faculty members. These exams, which contain both written and oral components, are intended both to test general knowledge of a period and to provide students with a chance to develop ideas that will be useful in the definition of the dissertation topic.

The Dissertation Phase

Following successful completion of the qualifying exams, students are advanced to candidacy and enter the dissertation phase of the program, which consists of four semesters. Students first write a dissertation prospectus in consultation with their dissertation committee, and then proceed with the dissertation itself.

Program Features

Flexibility and broad competency.

The Ph.D. program in French has been formulated to allow students maximum flexibility to pursue their scholarly interests while guaranteeing the acquisition of broad competency in the discipline of French and francophone literature and culture. Students are expected to acquire expertise in works of all periods but are also encouraged to develop interdisciplinary and specialized perspectives.

Incoming students are assigned a faculty mentor as well as a graduate student “buddy” so as to ease their transition into departmental and professional life. We view student-faculty contact as one of the cornerstones of our program’s success.

In-Depth Pedagogical Training

The department provides all Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) with in-depth pedagogical training, including pilot classes and pedagogical theory. Many of our students find themselves wanting to do supplementary work in planning innovative new language courses, and are able do so through the resources provided by the  Berkeley Language Center . Many advanced graduate students develop their own reading and composition courses or serve as instructors in neighboring departments such as Art History, English, and Comparative Literature; these instructorships often offer the opportunity to plan and execute a literature or culture course of your own design.

The  GSI Teaching and Resource Center  provides weekly teacher-training workshops throughout the semester; individual teaching consultations; grants for GSIs to improve the quality of teaching at Berkeley; and a summer institute for preparing future faculty.

Romance Languages and Literatures Program

The  Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL)  is a doctorate in three Romance languages and literatures (French, Italian and Spanish, including Spanish-American), prepared with emphasis in the literature or in the linguistics or philological history of one of the three. The RLL Program offers students the opportunity to tailor a course of study in French, Spanish and Italian to their interests. Applicants to the RLL program with a French emphasis are evaluated by French Department faculty and the program’s requirements are different from those listed above.

If you have any questions regarding the graduate program in  Romance Languages and Literatures  with an emphasis in French, please contact the  Graduate Student Services Advisor .

The Designated Emphasis

Students may consider the option of pursuing a Designated Emphasis (DE) in  Critical Theory ,  Film Studies ,  Women, Gender, and Sexuality ,  Renaissance and Early Modern Studies ,  European Studies  or  New Media . Students pursuing a Designated Emphasis take certain prescribed courses within these disciplines, and write a dissertation that partially encompasses the chosen field of study. In addition to providing students an institutional mechanism for incorporating this sort of work into the Ph.D. program, the Designated Emphasis assures prospective employers that you have demonstrated expertise in an auxiliary field, and it will appear on your final degree. The  Program in Medieval Studies  also offers a joint degree in French and Medieval Studies.

Interdisciplinary Centers and Working Groups

A number of interdisciplinary centers and groups regularly bring noted scholars and artists to campus. The  Center for the Study of Sexual Culture , brings together researchers with a common interest in the ways sexuality takes on different meanings in different cultural contexts.

The French Studies Program  organizes lectures, visits by scholars, and conferences involving France and the French tradition(s) across the disciplines of the Humanities and the Social Sciences.

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies  promotes the interdisciplinary study of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the University of California, Berkeley, and beyond, raising public awareness of the region’s diverse peoples, languages, cultures and their connection to wider global contexts.

The  Townsend Center for the Humanities  promotes research and ongoing conversation among and within academic disciplines. It hosts art exhibits, lectures, and conferences and sponsors a large number of  working groups , which meet informally and are run and attended by both graduate students and faculty. The Center also provides funding to support student journals.

Fostering intellectual life among students is a priority. Click here for information on  current student interests .

Job Placement

The Department is committed to helping graduates secure employment. This includes workshops on aspects of the job market in both spring and fall, reviewing and editing of curriculum vitae and letters of application, mock interviews, and works-in-progress talks that help candidates learn to present their research.

The Department has an  excellent record in placing students  who apply nationally and internationally for positions; in the last several years our students have been offered tenure-track appointments at Middlebury College; Davidson College; Macalester College; Scripps College; Wellesley College; University of Texas, Austin; University of Texas, San Antonio; University of Michigan; University of MInnesota; Pomona College; University of Texas, El Paso; and the University of Washington.

Financing Graduate Study

Each year, a limited number of outstanding admission candidates are nominated to the campus-wide multi-year fellowship competition. Successful nominees receive two years of fellowship support and two additional years of appointment as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) in French. Students who are not awarded a multi-year fellowship may be awarded a one year fellowship or a Graduate Student Instructorship in French with coverage of non-resident tuition, when appropriate.

Applicants should note that there are a few non-UC Berkeley sources of funding for graduate education. These include the  Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowships , the  Hispanic Scholarship Fund , the  Jack Kent Cooke Foundation , the  Javits Fellowship Program , and the  Soros Fellowships for New Americans .

The Department offers a number of resources for financing graduate study, including fellowship packages, fellowships for continuing students, and Graduate Student Instructorships. It also awards grants for summer study and travel.

UC Berkeley also provides funding support on a competitive basis to humanities students at various points in their graduate career. The  Graduate Division Summer Grant  provides summer financial support. The  Doctoral Completion Fellowship  provides a full year of fellowship support for students who advance to candidacy within normative time (four years in humanities departments). The  Townsend Center  funds a competitive dissertation fellowship for humanities students.

Exchange Programs and Travel Fellowships

Graduate students in French are encouraged to spend time studying in France and the Department has three yearly exchange programs — with the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), the Institut d’Anglais at the Université de Paris VII, and the Université de Tours François-Rabelais. The Department usually selects advanced students to participate in these exchange programs, but from time to time students who have fulfilled almost all of their other requirements and have not yet taken the Qualifying Exam are selected.

These programs have always been sufficient to assure every student the opportunity to study abroad.

Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) Exchange

Students selected to participate in the ENS exchange receive a Department Traveling Fellowship, which provides support to cover living expenses. ENS provides students with free housing and library privileges for the duration of the exchange.

Paris VII Exchange

Students selected to participate in the Paris VII exchange are hired by Paris VII to teach English language courses. Students are paid a monthly salary in euros for 12 months. Students also receive health coverage under the general conditions of the National French Health Insurance System. Unlike the ENS exchange, Paris VII participants must make their own housing arrangements. Only native English speakers are eligible for this exchange program.

Université de Tours François-Rabelais

Students selected to participate in the Tours exchange are hired by Tours to teach English language courses. Students are paid a monthly salary in euros for 12 months. Students also receive health coverage under the general conditions of the National French Health Insurance System. As in the Paris VII exchange, Tours participants must make their own housing arrangements. Only native English speakers are eligible for this exchange program.

Additional Opportunities for Research/Travel in France

Fulbright IIE Fellowship Applicants must be U.S. citizens holding a B.A. degree or equivalent before the beginning date of the grant. Provides round-trip travel, tuition, books, and stipend for one academic year. Approximately 1,300 awards are available for study in over 140 countries. Applies to coursework, master’s or dissertation research.

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Grants This program provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students who conduct research in other countries, in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of 6 to 12 months.

Georges Lucy Fellowship Program for Study in France This fellowship is for advanced Ph.D. students who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. and whose research topic is unique to France and can only be pursued in that country. The fellowship provides a stipend (currently $25,300) to cover educational fees, necessary travel, and living expenses while in France. Students must be enrolled at UC Berkeley or at an educational institution in France during the tenure of the fellowship. Interested students should submit their application materials to the Graduate Fellowships Office (318 Sproul Hall) by the deadline. One UC Berkeley graduate student is nominated for this fellowship each year.

GSI at the UC Study Center in Paris For a number of years the French Department has had the opportunity to send an advanced graduate student to serve as a Graduate Student Instructor in French in the Education Abroad Program (EAP) at the UC Study Center in Paris. This GSI position is only available in the fall semester.

Walter J. Jensen Fellowship for French Language, Literature, and Culture This fellowship provides a a stipend of at least $10,000 for a minimum of six months of study in France. Phi Beta Kappa will also cover a single round-trip, economy-class ticket for the recipient to travel to France; some additional support may be available to those with dependents. The purpose of the award is to help educators and researchers improve education in standard French language, literature and culture and in the study of standard French in the United States.

Degree Requirements

Course requirements.

Students in the doctoral program must complete 12 courses, including one course in the history of French language (French 201) and one course in literary criticism (French 270 or French 274). Courses completed at Berkeley for the M.A. phase count toward the 12 course requirement.

Students must also fulfill a historical comprehensiveness requirement. This entails completion of a graduate seminar in Medieval literature; three seminars in 16th-, 17th-, 18th-century or early modern studies; three seminars in 19th-, 20th-century, Francophone Studies, or Modern Studies. Outside of these requirements, students are allowed, and indeed encouraged, to pursue their interests in other departments. Students wanting to improve their general background are also permitted to take up to two undergraduate courses for credit towards their degree.

The proseminar (French 200) is taken during the first semester of graduate study at Berkeley. This one-hour-a-week class, which does not count toward the Ph.D. requirement, is designed to give new graduate students a broad view of the Department’s faculty, the courses they teach, and their fields of research. In addition, it introduces students to aspects of their graduate career, issues pertaining to research methodologies, and critical debates across the profession.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students may fulfill the foreign language requirement either by demonstrating a reading knowledge of two languages (Option I) or by demonstrating an exceptionally thorough reading knowledge and an adequate knowledge of the grammatical structure of one language (Option II). If you have questions about how to fulfill the foreign language requirement, contact the Graduate Student Services Advisor at  [email protected] .

The language(s) will be chosen after consultation with the Head Graduate Advisor, and in view of the student’s intended Ph.D. Program Proposal. For example, for students intending to work in the Middle Ages or Renaissance, it would be advisable to choose Latin, or perhaps Italian. For students interested in modern philosophy, German might be wise. Whatever the choice, it should have an intellectual or scholarly relationship to the student’s area of specialization, or with the field of Romance languages more broadly.

Additional Requirements

Doctoral students must fulfill additional requirements, including passing the Qualifying Exams and composing a dissertation prospectus, which must be approved by the student’s dissertation committee. For more information on additional requirements, consult the  Guide to Higher Degrees in French .

• M.A. / Ph.D In French
• Ph.D In Romance Language and Literatures (RLL)
• Applying to The Graduate Program
• Teaching Assistantships
• Job Preparation and Placement Record
• Guide to Higher Degrees in French
• Commencement

Ph.D. Program in Modern French Studies (FRMS)

Our Ph.D. program combines training in literary, cultural and language studies with individualized research to open new, innovative understandings of the French-speaking world of yesterday and today. 

Related Links

• Application fee waiver
• Ph.D. Handbook (PDF)
• French Program Graduate Funding
• French Graduate Placement

The Ph.D. in modern French studies at the University of Maryland offers comprehensive training in French and Francophone studies, including teaching, research and professionalization. The program offers seminars in French and Francophone literature, culture and film, in addition to French language and linguistics. With the guidance of internationally recognized faculty specializing in a range of genres and issues and reflective of the diversity and complexity of the French-speaking world, students develop competencies in innovative research methods and approaches such as critical theory, gender and sexuality studies, colonial and post-colonial studies, cultural and media criticism, ecocriticism and digital humanities, among others. The French Ph.D. program fosters collaborative work across disciplines, languages, media, centuries and fields. Students may pursue graduate certificates in affiliated programs such as women, gender and sexuality studies, comparative literature and digital humanities, as well as participate in Graduate School field committees in film studies and in medieval and early modern studies. Students are encouraged to pursue independent and innovative thinking through individualized curricula and research projects with the support of the French program’s intellectual community.

Students are normally granted full funding for four years, with the possibility of an additional year, contingent upon availability of funds. Annual renewal of financial support is based on satisfactory performance and progress in the program. The program also provides thorough pedagogical training and teaching experience in French language, literature and culture courses.

Students who have graduated from our program have pursued careers in higher education and beyond. For a complete list of Ph.D. graduate placements .

Admissions Information

Entry into the Ph.D. program is open to students who have already completed an M.A. in a field related to French studies. Students with a B.A. in French or a related field should begin with the M.A.

All foreign applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the TOEFL examination (Test of English as a Foreign Language).

Course Requirements

Ph.D. students are required to take for credit a minimum of eight courses beyond the M.A. at the 600-level or above.

All students must take one course in each of the three following core categories: 1. History of Ideas 2. Issues in Literature 3. History of the French Language

Apart from those core courses, with the help of the director of graduate studies and their advisor, students will create an individually-tailored program of study that best matches their interests to complete the course requirements towards their degree.

Additionally, graduate teaching assistants are expected to take a 1-credit practicum in their first semester (FREN709) and FREN611 (The Structure of the French Language) in their second (spring) semester.

For additional information, please see the Graduate Student Handbook.

Language Requirement

All Ph.D. students are required to demonstrate a sound reading knowledge of one other language in addition to French and English. Students should choose a language that provides an appropriate background for the projected dissertation. The fulfillment of this requirement is one of the prerequisites for advancement to candidacy.

For additional information on how to fulfill this requirement, please see the Graduate Student Handbook.

Entering students are advised in their first semester by the director of graduate studies or by some other designated professor. By the end of their second semester, students should choose a permanent advisor and register this choice with the director of graduate studies. Final responsibility for meeting Graduate School requirements and deadlines rests solely with the student.

Qualifying Examinations

In order to advance to candidacy, Ph.D. students are required to pass two Qualifying Examinations consisting of:

 a) one two-part Comprehensive Examination; and  b) one Prospectus Defense.

In both cases, the committee will be composed of three members of the French faculty. An additional fourth member from outside the department is possible for the prospectus defense if the topic warrants it.

A ) The first Qualifying Examination is a two-part comprehensive exam, first written, then oral, taken over two consecutive days. It assesses whether students have acquired sufficiently broad knowledge of French and Francophone literature as well as of a range of theoretical approaches to be able to successfully take on the dissertation project. This exam should be taken by the end of the student’s third semester in the Ph.D. program. If students choose to submit their written response in English, the oral portion will be in French, and vice versa.

For the written part of the examination, students will have four hours to respond to one of two questions based on the standard Ph.D. reading list. The exam is taken without notes, in an examination room with a computer provided by the department.

For the oral part of the examination, which lasts approximately an hour, students will be asked to discuss their written response and the reading list with their committee.

To obtain the current reading list for the Ph.D. examination, contact the director of graduate studies.

B) The second Qualifying Examination is the oral defense of a written dissertation prospectus (approx. 5,000 words) and accompanying bibliography. The prospectus is a formal project proposal for the dissertation. The prospectus should lay out the proposed area and object of study, explain the relevant context, a research question, how your project is inscribed within the larger field (what has and has not been done in this area), a theoretical approach and a description of the methodology to be adopted, as well as a bibliography.

*Please note that, following a successful prospectus defense, doctoral students are required to submit the most recent version of their dissertation draft as an email attachment to the three departmental members of their Dissertation Committee one year date-to-date after their prospectus defense, and every six months thereafter until the submission of the final version of their dissertation two weeks prior to the defense date. As a rule, students will receive written feedback on these drafts within four to six weeks.

Dissertation

Doctoral dissertations must receive the preliminary approval of the three departmental members of the Dissertation Committee before being submitted to other readers. All readers must be given at least two weeks in which to read the dissertation. At the beginning of the semester in which the dissertation will be defended, the dissertation director will ask the dean of the Graduate School to approve the Examining Committee. At least one member of this five-person committee (normally the dean's representative) will be external to the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and one may be drawn from another university. A date will then be set for the oral defense, which can be expected to last about two hours.

Application Instructions

Application deadline is January 15 for admission in the fall and may be submitted here . Before completing the application, applicants are asked to check the Admissions Requirements site for specific instructions about the Ph.D. program .  

As required by the Graduate School, all application materials must be submitted electronically through the Graduate Application Portal :

• Non-refundable application fee for each program
• Statement of Purpose. The statement should address relevant aspects of your educational experience, the focus of your academic interests and reasons for applying to our program.
• Unofficial transcripts of your entire college/university record (undergraduate and graduate), including records of any advanced work done at another institution. Electronic copies of these unofficial transcripts must be uploaded along with your online application.
• Three letters of recommendation. In your online application, please fully complete the information requested for your recommenders and ask them to submit their letters electronically.
• Two samples of critical writing in French. While we encourage you to submit your best writing sample, we prefer a writing sample in your declared field of interest. If you are submitting an excerpted selection, please include a brief description or introduction to the selection. The MLA citation format is preferred.
• Description of Research/Work Experience (optional)
• Publications/Presentations (optional)
• Academic CV/Resume

  Completed applications are reviewed by an admissions committee in each graduate degree program. The recommendations of the committees are submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School, who will make the final admission decision. To ensure the integrity of the application process, the University of Maryland authenticates submitted materials through TurnItIn for Admissions .   For questions related to the admissions process, prospective students may contact the Graduate School.

Information for International Graduate Students

The University of Maryland is dedicated to maintaining a vibrant international graduate student community. International applicants are encouraged to contact the office of International Students and Scholars Services (ISSS), a valuable source of information and assistance for prospective and current international students. Admitted international students will receive instructions about obtaining the appropriate visa to study at the University of Maryland which will require submission of additional documents. International students admitted by the Graduate School are responsible for obtaining the appropriate visa in order to enroll.

English Proficiency Requirement

Non-native speakers of English must submit TOEFL exam results to the Graduate School with their application. Based on these results, students may be advised to take a written expression course from the Maryland English Institute or a basic writing course given by the English Department. This course will not count towards the degree.

Please see the Graduate Admissions Process for International applicants for more information.

Program Contact

Director of graduate studies, sarah benharrech.

Associate Professor, French Affiliate, Classics Associate Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

3104 Jiménez Hall College Park MD, 20742

Department of French

Graduate Program

Introduction

Yale’s graduate program in French literature offers both a rigorous grounding in French Literature and an interdisciplinary approach to French theory, thought, and culture.  The graduate curriculum covers the Middle Ages to the present, and the literatures of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Maghreb.  

Our faculty are involved in programs outside the department, including African and African-American Studies , Comparative Literature , Film and Media Studies , Middle East Studies , Judaic Studies , Medieval Studies , and Renaissance Studies . These institutional affiliations provide bridges to related disciplines around the campus. 

Students have at their fingertips the holdings of one of the best research libraries in the world, the Sterling Memorial Library .  The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is an incomparable resource for scholars in French, holding treasures ranging from medieval illuminated manuscripts of the Roman de la Rose , to the holograph manuscript of Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus and selections from Proust’s correspondence. 

The Program

The French Ph.D. degree normally takes five or six years.   The first two years are devoted to course work, including one required course in Old French.  Students are required to take at least two and up to four courses outside the department in departments such as Comparative Literature, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History of Science and Medicine, History of Art, and Film.  Students must also fulfill the language requirement by the end of the second year.  

Read what current students have to say about our courses

In the third year, students take their oral qualifying exam and prepare their dissertation prospectus. Students typically teach one course per semester during two of their years of graduate study, beginning in the third year.  They receive training in language teaching methodology and teach two semesters of French language. Opportunities also exist to be teaching assistants in advanced undergraduate literature courses.

Hear students talk about their teaching experiences

In the fourth or fifth year, most students choose to pursue dissertation research in France or a francophone country.  Many students partake in the exchange program with the Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d’Ulm, in Paris.

Students complete their dissertation in the fifth or sixth year. 

To recognize expertise in a particular area of study outside French literature, Yale offers several certificates of concentration    Students may also apply to the combined Ph.D. programs with the Department of African American Studies , the Program in Film and Media Studies , and Renaissance Studies .

[click here for the calendar of progress through the program]

All Yale students receive full financial support (tuition plus full stipend, including health insurance coverage) for five years of graduate study. This includes two years of coursework without teaching, two years of teaching, and a dissertation fellowship year.  Students in the French Department who choose  to pursue dissertation research in France or a francophone country receive an additional year of support without having to teach.

Basic Program Requirements  

• Fourteen term courses during the first two years of study. These must include Old French and at least two graduate-level term courses taken outside the department. French 670, Methods and Techniques in the French Language Classroom, is also required in the second year of study.
• Proficiency (defined as one year of college study) in any two languages (beyond English and French) that are relevant to the student’s research interests, to be approved by the DGS. For details, see the Rules document.
• At least one year of teaching experience.
• The qualifying oral examination, to be taken no later than the end of the sixth term.
• The dissertation prospectus, prepared in consultation with the student’s adviser and approved by the faculty.
• The doctoral dissertation, prepared in close consultation with the adviser, approved by the faculty and Graduate School, and completed by the end of the sixth year of study.

For details see the Program Guidelines for Graduate Studies in French (in the left sidebar.)

Policies of the Graduate School can be found at the  Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Programs and Policies Bulletin.

Job Placement

Students in their last year of study take a seminar with the Director of Graduate Studies to prepare for the job market.  Although the market remains challenging, our students have fared remarkably well [ click here for a list of recent placements ].

French translation of 'PhD'

Examples of 'PhD' in a sentence PhD

Browse alphabetically PhD

• PhD student
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'P'

Related terms of PhD

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Score: 0 / 5

Wordle Helper

Scrabble Tools

• ENLIGHTEN THE FUTURE

Doctoral Studies

With its 21 doctoral schools, Université Paris Cité offers many doctoral students the opportunity to train through research in all major disciplinary fields. At the national level, once fully operational, Université Paris Cité will offfer 5% of all PhD degrees in France.

Université Paris Cité is committed to a doctoral policy aimed at research training and training by research. It trains future researchers and teacher-researchers as well as future high-level executives.

Astronomy and Astrophysics Ile-de-France – ED 127 Director : Mr. Thierry FOUCHET Contact : Mrs. Jacqueline PLANCY

Environmental Sciences Ile-de-France – ED 129 Director : Mrs Pascale BOURUET-AUBERTOT Contact : Mrs Laurence AMSILI-TOUCHON

Doctoral School of Computer Science, Telecommunications, Electronics of Paris (EDITE) – ED 130 Director : Mr. Carlos AGON Contact : Mrs Rose NAHAN

Language, Litterature and Imagery : civilisations and humanities – ED 131 Director : Mr. Mathieu DUPLAY Co-director : Mrs Emmanuelle ANDRE Contact : Mrs Robin CHEVALIER

Cognition, Brain, Behaviour (ED3C) – ED 158 Director : Mr Alain TREMBLEAU Deputy director UPCité   :Mrs Thérèse COLLINS Contact : Mrs Hélène JOUANNE

Cognition, Behaviour, Human behaviour (3CH) – ED 261 Director : Mrs Karine DORE-MAZARS Contact : Mrs Lucie ALEX

Legal, political sciences, economics and management – ED 262 Director  : Mrs Anémone CARTIER-BRESSON Contact : Mrs Josie YEYE

Mathematical science Paris Centre – ED 386 Director : M. Elisha FALBEL Co-director  : M. Pierre-Henri CHAUDOUARD Contact : Mrs Amina HARITI

Physical Chemistry and Analytical chemistry – ED 388 Director : Mrs Alexa COURTY Contact : Mrs Konnavadee SOOBRAYEN

Pierre Louis Doctoral School of Public Health in Paris : Epidemiology and Biomedical Information Sciences – ED 393 Director  : Mr. Pierre-Yves BOËLLE Contact : Mrs Koltoum BEN SAID

Research in Psychoanalysis – ED 450 Director : Mrs Mi-Kyung YI Co-director : Mr Thamy AYOUCH Contact : Mr Ali BRADOR

Frontiers of Innovation in Research and Education (FIRE) – ED 474 Director : Mrs Muriel MAMBRINI-DOUDET  Co-directeur David TARESTE Contact : Mrs Elodie KASLIKOWSKI

Earth and Environmental Sciences and Physics of the Universe – ED 560 Director : Mr. Fabien CASSE Contacts : Mrs Alissa MARTEAU

Hematology, Oncogenesis, and Biotherapies – ED 561 Director  : Mr. Raphaël ITZYKSON Contacts : Mr Maxime DA CUNHA / Mrs Aurélie BULTELLE

Bio Sorbonne Paris Cité – ED 562 Director : Mrs Caroline LE VAN KIM – Co-Director : Mrs Chantal DESDOUETS Contacts : Mr Louis DUVAL-KISTER

Drug Toxicology, Chemistry and Imaging (MTCI) – ED 563 Director  : Mrs Marie-Christine LALLEMAND Contact : Mrs Elisabeth HOMBRADOS

Physics in Ile de France – ED 564 Director  : Mr Frédéric CHEVY Co-director : Mr Philippe LAFARGE Contact : Mrs Monia MESTAR

Sports, Motricity and Humain mobility sciences (SSMMH) – ED 566 Director  : Mrs Isabelle SIEGLER Co-director : Mr. Bernard ANDRIEU Contact : Mrs Marie-Pierre RICHOUX

Language Sciences – ED 622 Director : Mrs Caterina DONATI Contact : Mrs Chafia AIT-HELAL

Knowledge, Science, Education – ED 623 Co-Director : Mr. Fabrice VANDEBROUCK Co-Director : Mrs Anne BARRERE Contact : Mrs Agathe TRAN

Social Sciences – ED 624

Department 1 Director : Mrs Véronique PETIT Contact : Mr. Jérôme BROCHERIOU

Department 2

Director : Mr Antoine REBERIOUX Contact : Mrs Sarah RAHMANI

More information :

Doctoral School website for more information The following content is in French French higher education system chart

• UFR Droit Economie Management
• UFR Médecine
• UFR Pharmacie
• UFR Sciences
• UFR Sciences du Sport
• AgroParisTech
• CentraleSupélec
• ENS Paris-Saclay
• Institut d'Optique
• Polytech Université Paris-Saclay
• Accessibility

Prepare a PhD

The PhD degree attests skills acquired through research in the framework of the doctoral trainin g, which has a 3 years reference duration when the research work is carried out full-time, and a 3 to 6 years duration when the thesis is prepared part-time. The PhD degree can also be obtained by the validation of the acquired experience (VAE). 

The PhD degree - the highest internationnaly recognized by higher education - is awarded after the defense of a thesis or the presentation of a set of original scientific works. 

The different frameworks to prepare a PhD

• Initial traininf (IF in French)
• Lifelong training, excluding initial training  (FTLVin French)
• Validation of the experience acquired (VAE  in French)

Admission to PhD training

• A procedure
• Examination of an application 

Three regimes for three PhD preparation frameworks

Registration in initial training is possible as a continuation of a master or other equivalent degree. 

• In initial training, the PhD is full time prepared  The preparation is initially set to last  3 years. Beyond this 3 years, extensions of the duration of preparation are possible, with derogation.
• Funding dedicated to the preparation of the thesis is requested for a registration in initial training.  The reference amount of this funding corresponds to the remuneration of the PhD contract established by public law.  Derogations from this funding threshold can be requested from the head of the establishment. 

PhD students have a main research activity in one of the research team or unit of the doctoral school. 

They also have complementary PhD activities and training, intended to develop their scientific culture, their international openness and to prepare their professional future. The PhD program is personalized and defined with each doctoral school, in a framework commin to all PhD students at Université Paris-Sacaly. 

They can have complementary activities outside research, which contribute to the preparation of their professional future (teaching mission, scientific mediation, expertise of promotion of research), limited to one sixth of their time each year.

• A thesis monitoring committee report must be submitted by the PhD student for each of their re-registrations.

Registration in lifelong training concerns two categories of people : 

• Those who obtained their last diploma more than a year before the desired date of first enrollment in a PhD (whether the thesis is prepared full-time or part-time, and regardless of the financing conditions envisaged)
• Those who plan to prepare their thesis at the same time as a main activitiy other than the preparation of thesis, regardless of the date of the obtention of the last degree. The main activity means that its provides more than half of the income. 
• Lifelong training does not two types require a funding dedicated to the thesis preparation, but its comission ensures, before the first registration, that material and financial conditions are correct.  Ultimately, candidates who have no funding to prepare their thesis and have no income from their main activity could prepare a thesis, as long as the doctoral school and the commission can ensure that the material and financial resources conditions. 

In lifelong learning, the PhD can be prepared on a part-time basis . 

• The duration initially fixed for the preparation of the thesis depends on the time that can be devoted to its preparation . It is between 3 and 6 years. 
• A derogation must be  requested to extend the duration of the PhD beyond the one initially fixed . Its could be discussed during the monitoring committee taht takes place each abnd every year before re-registration.

PhD students prepare their thesis in one of the research teams or units of their doctoral school . The distributio of their time between the research unit and their non-research activities is fixed from the first registration. 

As PhD student in initial training, PhD student in lifelong training also have PhD complementary activities and training, intended to develop their scientific culture, their international opennes, and to prepare their professional future. Still, their training courses are arranged to feet with the specificities of their situation. 

A thesis monitoring committee must stand each and evrey year, before re-registration. Among other things, it help to check whether the conditions of the lifelong training PhD are suitable, or deserve to be rearranged. 

Planning lifelong training arrangement procedure

Unlike initial training and lifelong training, registration for a validation of the experience acquired can only be done when the original scientific work constitutes a coherent whole, that what makes possible to consider a defense. Those works may have been carried out partly in a research unit of the doctoral school (for example, within the framework of a volunteer researcher agreement), or entirely outside the academic framework. 

• PhD degree is awarded after a thesis defense or a presentation of the original scientific works .

To obtain a PhD degre by a validation of the experience acquired, the candidate must:

• Write a thesis or a dissertation to assess the personal part of collective work . This dissertation or thesis will be evaluated by two rapporteurs and by a defense jury. Composition and expectations of the jury are the same as the ones for the initial training or the lifelong training PhD
• As for the PhD students, the thesis or the dissertation will have to be legaly deposed and, if necessary published on the national portal www.theses.fr
• An accompanying, chosen among the supervisors of the doctoral school, can be offered for the preparation of the thesis or the dissertation 
• The work having been prepared before registration in the Validation of the experience acquired, the accompanying is not a thesis director. He does not ensure the scientific direction of the research work, but guides the candidate in the preparation of the dissertation or thesis.
• He plays the role of thesis director for the defense (in particular to propose the defense)

Documents relating to the preparation of a validation of the experience acquired

• Procedure  2016_05_25_procedure_de_doctorat_en_vae_0.pdf - ( 545.03 KB)
• Admissibility file 2020_12_15_dossier_doctorat_en_vae.docx - ( 69.01 KB)
• The vademecum "Validation of the experience acquired and PhD" vademecum_0.pdf - ( 1.76 MB)
• The charges  tarifs-vae-complet.pdf - ( 46.2 KB)

Admission to a PhD Programme

A PhD application is a complete package that includes

• A candidate with a research project
• An original thesis topic
• A thesis director
• A team to host the research
• A proposed funding or a proof that the material and financial conditions necessary for the successful completion of the doctoral thesis 

Candidates apply to the doctoral school that their research or team unit is attached to  via the Université Paris-Saclay application portal . Their PhD director must also be attached to that doctoral school. 

An application is considered to have been submitted only once it has been completed and finalised . To do this, candidates must : 

• Have submitted all the documents requested by the doctoral school - A thesis subject - Information on the contions of the doctoral programme (thesis supervision, research unit) - CV - Transcripts - Other documents required by the doctoral school
• Obtain a favourable opinion from the thesis director
• Obtain a favourable opinion from the research or team unit director to wich the thesis directors responds

The application process is carried out via internet tool ADUM - an administrative tool for management of the PhD, from application to graduation.  Data recorded in ADUM are subjected to the RGPD regutions. 

Once the complete file has been submitted and the application has been finalised, it is examined by the doctoral school to which the applicant belongs. 

• In case of a favorable opinion on the application file, the candidate then presents his/her doctoral project and previous research experience during an audition, in front of a admission committee organised by the doctoral scool. This hearing is required in both initial formation and lifelong training, and regardless the conditions of funding and the progress of the thesis preparation envisaged.
• If the admissions committee gives a favourable opinion, the future PhD student may registered for the first time. 

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

• Undergraduate courses
• Events and open days
• Fees and finance
• Postgraduate courses
• How to apply
• Postgraduate events
• Fees and funding
• International students
• Continuing education
• Executive and professional education
• Courses in education
• How the University and Colleges work
• Term dates and calendars
• Visiting the University
• Annual reports
• Equality and diversity
• A global university
• Public engagement
• Give to Cambridge
• For Cambridge students
• For our researchers
• Business and enterprise
• Colleges & departments
• Email & phone search
• Museums & collections
• Course Directory

PhD in French

Postgraduate Study

• Why Cambridge overview
• Chat with our students
• Cambridge explained overview
• The supervision system
• Student life overview
• In and around Cambridge
• Leisure activities
• Student unions
• Music awards
• Student support overview
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Disabled students
• Accommodation
• Language tuition
• Skills training
• Support for refugees
• Courses overview
• Department directory
• Qualification types
• Funded studentships
• Part-time study
• Research degrees
• Visiting students
• Finance overview
• Fees overview
• What is my fee status?
• Part-time fees
• Application fee
• Living costs
• Funding overview
• Funding search
• How to apply for funding
• University funding overview
• Research Councils (UKRI)
• External funding and loans overview
• Funding searches
• External scholarships
• Charities and the voluntary sector
• Funding for disabled students
• Widening participation in funding
• Colleges overview
• What is a College?
• Choosing a College
• Terms of Residence
• Applying overview
• Before you apply
• Entry requirements
• Application deadlines
• How do I apply? overview
• Application fee overview
• Application fee waiver
• Life Science courses
• Terms and conditions
• Continuing students
• Disabled applicants
• Supporting documents overview
• Academic documents
• Finance documents
• Evidence of competence in English
• AI and postgraduate applications
• Terms and Conditions
• Applicant portal and self-service
• After you apply overview
• Confirmation of admission
• Student registry
• Previous criminal convictions
• Deferring an application
• Updating your personal details
• Appeals and Complaints
• Widening participation
• Postgraduate admissions fraud
• International overview
• Immigration overview
• ATAS overview
• Applying for an ATAS certificate
• Current Cambridge students
• International qualifications
• Competence in English overview
• What tests are accepted?
• International events
• International student views overview
• Akhila’s story
• Alex’s story
• Huijie’s story
• Kelsey’s story
• Nilesh’s story
• Get in touch!
• Events overview
• Upcoming events
• Postgraduate Open Days overview
• Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD Study webinars
• Virtual tour
• Research Internships
• How we use participant data
• Postgraduate Newsletter

Primary tabs

• Overview (active tab)
• Requirements
• How To Apply
• Testimonials

The French Section offers PhD supervision in an exceptional range of areas of French and francophone studies. It contains world-leading researchers in the literature, thought, and culture of the Middle Ages, the early modern period, the 19th century, and the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as in cinema and linguistics. There is usually more than one specialist in any given field, which helps to broaden the PhD student’s approach to and understanding of his or her topic. There is a dynamic culture of research seminars, and the postgraduate students themselves run their own seminar and arrange an annual postgraduate conference.

The PhD in French is awarded on the basis of a thesis, a substantial piece of writing that reports original research into a closely defined area of enquiry within the field of French Studies, broadly defined. The completion of the PhD thesis is generally expected to take three to four years, and most funding is based on this assumption. It is also possible to take a part-time route through research degrees, and the expected timeframe would be five to seven years.

The important notion of "original" can be defined in a number of ways, but basically the thesis should represent a significant contribution to learning, through the discovery of new knowledge, or through the connection of previously unrelated facts, or the development of new theory, or the revision of older views, or some combination of these different criteria. In writing the thesis, you are expected to take due account of previously published work on the subject, and you should ensure that the thesis is clearly and accurately written, paying due account to English style and grammar. The thesis must be written in English, apart from quotations. There is a normal word limit of 80,000 words, including footnotes, references, and appendices, but excluding the bibliography.

During your research, you will work closely with a supervisor who is a specialist in your research area. You will also be assigned an advisor, who will normally have an interest in your research area and who is able to offer advice whenever needed. In addition to providing specialist supervision, the Faculty runs a programme of professional training for the benefit of all research students.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of a PhD course, students will have produced a piece of extended original research, of publishable or near publishable quality.

They will have obtained:

• expert knowledge of a particular field of French studies;
• knowledge of the methodology or methodologies appropriate to their field;
• a set of research skills appropriate to their field;
• the ability to produce scholarly writing in English of a sufficiently high standard; and
• an appropriate set of transferable skills, such as work planning and time management.

For Cambridge students applying to continue from the MPhil by Advanced Study to PhD, the minimum academic standard is an overall distinction in the MPhil.

For Cambridge students applying to continue from the MPhil by Thesis to PhD, the usual academic requirement is a pass in the MPhil.

All applications are judged on their own merits and students must demonstrate their suitability to undertake doctoral level research.

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the  Postgraduate Open Day  page for more details.

See further the  Postgraduate Admissions Events  pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, department of french, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, lent 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Michaelmas 2024

Funding deadlines.

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

• European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures by Advanced Study MPhil
• European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures by thesis MPhil
• English Studies MPhil
• English PhD
• Education (Education, Globalisation and International Development) MPhil

Postgraduate Admissions Office

• Admissions Statistics
• Start an Application
• Applicant Self-Service

At a glance

• Bringing a family
• Current Postgraduates
• Cambridge Students' Union (SU)

University Policy and Guidelines

Privacy Policy

Information compliance

Equality and Diversity

Terms of Study

About this site

About our website

Privacy policy

© 2024 University of Cambridge

• Contact the University
• Accessibility
• Freedom of information
• Privacy policy and cookies
• Statement on Modern Slavery
• University A-Z
• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate
• Research news
• About research at Cambridge
• Spotlight on...

DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN

Phd in french/francophone studies, the program.

The PhD Program in French and Francophone Studies focuses on literary and cultural production throughout the French-speaking world and provides students with a strong theoretical background. Historically dedicated to training students in various periods, genres, and media of cultural production in French, the Program is also distinguished by its pioneering commitment to a broadly inclusive conception of the field of French and Francophone literatures and cultures, as well as its sustained engagements with developments in literary theory, philosophy, and critical thought that have indelibly impacted humanities scholarship of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Program aims to develop students’ metacritical perspectives through exposure to the range of theoretical and methodological approaches represented by our faculty. These include poststructuralist, psychoanalytic, cultural historical, postcolonial, feminist, visual arts, gender studies, and historical materialist perspectives, as well as film and media theories.

The research and teaching of our combined faculty exhibits particular strength in the areas of twentieth-century literature and contemporary theory (Ty Blakeney, Christopher Bush, Matthieu Dupas, Scott Durham, Michal Ginsburg [Emerita], Nasrin Qader, Alessia Ricciardi, Domietta Torlasco, Sam Weber [Affiliated], Jane Winston [Emerita]); film and visual culture across periods (Ty Blakeney, Christopher Bush, Matthieu Dupas, Scott Durham, Bernadette Fort [Emerita], Michal Ginsburg [Emerita], Alessia Ricciardi, Domietta Torlasco, Jane Winston [Emerita]); Francophone Studies (Christopher Bush, Doris Garraway, Nasrin Qader, Jane Winston [Emerita]); seventeenth and eighteenth-century studies (Matthieu Dupas, Bernadette Fort [Emerita], Doris Garraway, Sylvie Romanowski [Emerita]; nineteenth century-century studies (Ty Blakeney); Medieval and Early Modern (Christopher Davis, Matthieu Dupas, Cynthia Nazarian, Bill Paden [Emeritus], Sylvie Romanowski [Emerita], and gender studies (Ty Blakeney, Matthieu Dupas, Bernadette Fort [Emerita], Cynthia Nazarian, Bill Paden [Emeritus], Sylvie Romanowski [Emerita], Jane Winston [Emerita]).

In addition, the Program is strongly committed to interdisciplinary research and scholarship and allows students the flexibility to tailor their course of study so as to reach across disciplinary and departmental boundaries. In so doing, students may choose to participate in the  Interdisciplinary Cluster Initiative , a program designed to help Northwestern graduate students foster connections with students and faculty in other departments and programs around interdisciplinary subject areas such as African Studies, Critical Theory, Gender Studies, and Rhetoric and Public Culture. All students benefit from a wide array of interdisciplinary resources, including Northwestern Library’s outstanding Africana collection, and close interaction with experts in related fields of gender studies, film, art history, philosophy, and comparative literature. In addition, the Department regularly hosts conferences and invites internationally acclaimed writers and scholars to Northwestern to lecture and teach. Recent guests include Jacques Rancière, Adelkébir Khatibi, Georges Didi-Hubermann, Hélène Cixous, Frederic Jameson, Ross Chambers, Tariq Ali, Peter Hallward, Boubacar Boris Diop, and Abdourahman Waberi.

The Program is dedicated to meeting the intellectual needs of each student and to supporting students throughout their training through formal and informal mentoring.

Additional Resources

For additional resources, please see our Resources page .

For Program Information contact Lisa Byrnes, Graduate Program Assistant, at [email protected] or email [email protected].

Department of French & Italian Northwestern University 1860 Campus Drive, Crowe Hall #2-107 Evanston, IL 60208-2204

(847) 491-4148

For information about the application/application process, please see our Admission Requirements .

Make a Gift

• Chair's Welcome
• Maison Française
• Pi Delta Phi
• Faculty Publications
• Links of Interest
• Affiliated Faculty
• Visiting Instructors
• Emeritus Faculty
• Graduate Students
• Faculty Service
• DEI Resources
• Why Study French?
• What Can You Do With a French Major?
• Elementary and Intermediate Courses (FREN 1010- FREN 2320)
• UVA French Placement Diagnostic
• Course Placement
• Writing, Honor, and Community: A Guide for Compositions in French
• Undergraduate Advisory Council
• Career information for French majors
• French Summer Language Institute
• Prospective Applicants
• BA/MA Program
• Bridge to the Doctorate Program in French Studies

PhD Program

• Graduate Reading Exam
• Graduate Handbook
• Graduate Job Placement
• Summer Program in Lyon
• J-Term in Paris
• Graduate TA Exchange Programs in France
• Graduate Study at the EHESS in Paris

Emphasizing interdisciplinary, global, and transhistorical approaches, our doctoral program fosters complex and challenging ways of thinking about French and Francophone literatures and cultures, strongly grounded in poetical, textual, visual, and historical analysis. Doctoral students in French at UVA gain both deep knowledge of a specialized field of study and broad familiarity with literatures and cultures in French from their origins to the present.  They also develop strong pedagogical skills through training and experience.

Requirements for the doctoral program include coursework, a series of increasingly focused research statements, qualifying exams, and a substantial independent research project.  Further details are available in the Graduate Handbook .

IMPORTANT FORMS

Dissertation Proposal Form

Doctoral committee declaration form, phd qualifying exam, part i (comprehensive exam) reading list, phd preliminary exam completion form.

Boston University Academics

Boston University

• Campus Life
• Schools & Colleges
• Degree Programs
• Search Academics
• PhD in French Language & Literature

The doctoral program in French Language & Literature provides each student with a thorough knowledge of French and Francophone literature, its history, and its major works. The program offers professional preparation through the acquisition of extensive knowledge of the field of study; advanced skills in the use, evaluation, and production of critical scholarly and research materials; experience communicating knowledge in a range of contexts; and substantial training in pedagogy and other relevant practical and professional training. Candidates for admission should be able to demonstrate foundational knowledge of the appropriate literature and written and oral competence in the language of study. The PhD program is open to those with a BA or MA in an appropriate field. A broad training in the humanities is advantageous.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a mastery and appreciation of language and literature in French in a global context and from all historical periods.
• Demonstrate a near-native mastery of the French language.
• Demonstrate the skilled application of research methodologies and techniques, and produce and defend an original and significant contribution to knowledge in the field.
• Be prepared to communicate and teach specific works and literary concepts at the college and university level.
• Adhere to ethical standards in the discipline.

Course Requirements

Sixteen courses (64 credits) on French literature and cultural studies at the 500 level or above are required for this degree, including at least one seminar per semester, as well as coursework and training in pedagogy (e.g., GRS LL 690/LL 691 Proficiency-Based Language Teaching 1 and 2 and CPT), as per departmental and GRS policies. At least three courses in the intended area of specialization are strongly recommended; this guideline may be satisfied in part through directed study.

Language Requirement

Degree candidates are expected to possess a near-native command of written and spoken French by the time they receive their PhD. Students must demonstrate reading knowledge of at least one language in addition to French that will be useful in their research work. In some areas of specialization, two or more additional languages may be required in order to ensure research competence.

Qualifying Examinations

Qualification for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is achieved through: (1) successful completion of the written Comprehensive Examination based on a reading list of major works and (2) successful completion and oral defense of two qualifying papers, substantial and thoroughly researched works of 25–40 pages. Detailed information concerning the content, format, and schedule of these examinations are described fully in the graduate program handbook. As a general rule, entrants should have completed all coursework and examinations by the end of their third year.

Dissertation and Final Oral Examination

Candidates shall demonstrate their abilities for independent study in a dissertation representing original research or creative scholarship. A prospectus for the dissertation must be completed and approved by the readers, 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 a valuable contribution to knowledge in their field and demonstrate a mastery of their field of specialization in relation to their dissertation. All portions of the dissertation and final oral examination must be completed as outlined in the GRS General Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree .

Any PhD student who has fulfilled the requirements of the master’s degree program, as stated here , can be awarded a master’s degree.

Related Bulletin Pages

• Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Departments
• Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Courses
• Abbreviations and Symbols

Beyond the Bulletin

• Department of Romance Studies
• Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
• Graduate Admissions
• Graduate Financial Aid
• BA/MA Program
• Master’s Degree Requirements
• PhD Degree Requirements
• African American Studies
• American & New England Studies
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Bioinformatics
• Biostatistics
• Classical Studies
• Cognitive & Neural Systems
• Computer Science
• Creative Writing
• Earth & Environment
• Editorial Studies
• History of Art & Architecture
• Latin American Studies
• Linguistics
• Literary Translation
• Mathematics & Statistics
• Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry
• Neuroscience
• Pardee School of Global Studies
• Playwriting
• Political Science
• Preservation Studies
• Religious Studies
• MA in Hispanic Language & Literatures
• MA in French Language & Literature
• PhD in Hispanic Language & Literatures
• Sociology & Social Work
• Statistical Practice
• African Studies Certificate
• Asian Studies Certificate
• Advanced Biogeoscience Certificate
• Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights Studies Certificate
• Latin American Studies Certificate
• Linguistics Certificate
• Museum Studies Certificate
• Muslim Studies Certificate
• Teaching Language, Literature & Film Certificate
• Teaching Writing Certificate
• Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Certificate
• Departments
• Research Centers & Institutes

Terms of Use

Note that this information may change at any time. Read the full terms of use .

related websites

Accreditation.

Boston University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).

• © Copyright
• Mobile Version

• An unforgettable adventure
• Educational excellence in France
• Study at the heart of Europe
• Enjoy numerous benefits
• Industrial dynamism and French innovation
• The art of living à la française

• French system
• Higher education institutions
• French degrees, LMD system and equivalences
• Cost of studies
• Quality of degrees and institutions
• Online or distance programme
• Scholarships programmes
• Scholarships for French students or students living in France
• Welcoming of students and researchers in exile

• Student and Campus Life Contribution (CVEC)
• Reception services in your city
• Prepare your budget
• Bank account
• Working while studying in France
• Learning French
• Finding a student sponsor
• Organising your stay as a scholarship holder
• Being a student with a disability in France

• French regions
• French language
• Getting around
• Join the France Alumni network
• Finding work in France
• How to start a company in France

• Le séjour de recherche
• The role of Campus France
• The tools of Campus France for international researchers
• Research Labs
• Mapping French research
• Outstanding French researchers
• Overview of French research by field
• Excellence of French research in videos
• Accueil des étudiants et des chercheurs en exil

• What is involved in a Doctorate in France?
• Doctoral Schools directory
• PhD subjects
• Pre-Doctorate programmes
• How to enrol in a Doctorate
• How to finance your Doctorat (PhD)
• Use the "Research" portal
• FAQ – Doing my Doctorate in France

• Study in a Post-Doctorate in France
• Join a summer school
• Come to France with the status of invited professor

• Reception programmes and doctoral student associations
• Apply for your visa / Validate your residence permit
• Prepare for your arrival in France
• Finding accommodation in France
• Social Security for doctoral students and researchers
• Living in France

• Programs with Sub-Saharan Africa countries
• Programs with Asian countries
• Programs with European countries
• Programs with Oceania countries
• Programs with American countries

• Campus France missions
• Campus France organisation
• Campus France activities by geographic area
• Events organised by Campus France
• Public procurement
• Mobile applications

• Operation and governance
• Joining the Forum
• Member benefits
• Committees and workshops
• Updating your information online

• France Alumni network
• European projects
• Choose France, La stratégie d'attractivité des étudiants internationaux
• The French+Sciences program

• Campus France expertise
• Make Our Planet Great again
• Le programme « Partenariats avec l’enseignement supérieur africain »
• Le programme de bourses IsDB-France
• Scholarships program for Syrian students in exile in France
• Pakistan: Higher Education Commission scholarships programmes
• Les bourses pour les étudiants français ou résidant en France

• L'accueil des étudiants internationaux
• Label Bienvenue en France
• Nos événements
• Le réseau des responsables de l'accueil
• L'accueil des étudiants réfugiés et en exil
• L'accueil des étudiants en situation de handicap
• Les mémos de Campus France
• Afrique du Sud
• Burkina Faso
• Congo - Brazzaville
• Côte d'Ivoire
• République Démocratique du Congo
• Corée du Sud
• Ouzbékistan
• Philippines
• Territoire de Taïwan
• Biélorussie
• République tchèque
• Royaume-Uni
• Arabie Saoudite
• Émirats arabes unis
• République dominicaine
• Resources center

How to enrol in a Doctorate in France

Before you can enrol in a Doctorate in France, you must find a thesis supervisor and subject. What are the steps?

The key steps when enrolling in a Doctorate

In France, there are no "doctoral programmes" that enable you to enrol for a Doctorate in a particular field, leaving you the first year to choose and refine your thesis subject.

You must therefore be able to find a thesis topic and a thesis supervisor before you can enrol. The Doctoral school must also accept you.

First of all, to enter the first year of a Doctorate, you must have a Master's degree or equivalent, so therefore during the second year of your Master's you should start to look for a Doctorate (starting in January).

In the natural and technological sciences (physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, engineering), you need funding to enrol.

In some cases in the social sciences and humanities, you can enrol without funding. Check with the doctoral school (you will find this information on the page describing each doctoral school )

Funding for tuition is not the question (€380/year) but rather for living expenses (grants, salary, generally greater than €1,000/month).

The first question to ask yourself is the following: does my government or university have a specific programme for financing my Doctorate in France? If it is the case, it's often the best solution when it comes to doing your Doctorate. Such programmes exist in particular in Mexico, China and Pakistan.

If no funding from your government is possible, you will find other possibilities here .

A large number of Doctorates are funded by French host universities, in the form of a doctoral fellowship, which is a work contract that lasts 3 years or takes the form of other work contracts.

How to do it?

1: If you wish to do a Doctorate in natural and technological sciences.

Note: in this case there is no point in preparing a research project and then trying to find a researcher in a French laboratory who may become your thesis supervisor, as in natural and technological sciences this operates in the other direction in France.

You must apply for thesis subjects that have been published by French researchers.

You will find these subjects on the Campus France platform .

There are two types of subjects: subjects already funded by the host establishment (choose Type: Contract), and subjects for which you must have your own funding (choose Type: Grant).

As soon as you have found a subject that interests you, the only thing left to do is contact the researcher or doctoral school that published the subject.

2: If you wish to do a Doctorate in the social sciences and humanities.

First of all, check the Campus France subject platform : there are a few subjects in the arts and humanities.

If you can't find anything suitable, you will have to prepare a research project that you can then send to a researcher.

How to find a researcher to be a thesis supervisor

First of all, remember that you must not propose a research project to every researcher in the field that interests you. For example, if your research project is in economics, don't send your proposal to every economist! They already receive an enormous number of requests like that and can't go through them all.

You must target specific people (this is also the rule in marketing…). That means the theme of your research project must correspond to the specialty of the researcher. Don't send a proposal on a study of the history of Franco-Spanish relations to a historian specialising in the Far East!

After you've sent the proposal to the right person, you'll have to engage with the researcher in order to refine your thesis topic. To maximise your chances, you need to be flexible and ready to move away from your initial proposal.

And if you are able to obtain funding, say so at the start of your message.

Congratulations, you've found a thesis supervisor who accepts you!

Now the doctoral school has to approve it so you can enrol in a Doctorate. If funding is required by the doctoral school, it must be approved before you can enrol.

The annual registration fee for a Doctorate is €380 (2022/23 academic year). Even if you have a doctoral fellowship, you will have to pay the registration fee.

Enjoy your Doctorate!

Related contents

Recommended items

Follow the main steps to come study in France

• DOCTORAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY DOCTORAL SCHOOLS
• SUBJECTS (PHD, MASTER'S & POSTDOC TRAINING) SUBJECTS
• CALLS FOR PROJECTS CALLS

Importer des offres (.xml)

Assurez vous que votre XML soit conforme au modèle

• Delete all filters
• Type (Contract / Grant) -- Type -- Contract Grant
• Funding -- Type -- ANR Bourse CEA CIFRE CIRAD CNES CNRS Contrat de recherche Contrat Doctoral Contrat Doctoral Contrat Européen Entreprise Financement mixte Fondation Gratification de stage Idex INRA INRIA INSERM Institut Pasteur IRD Multiple funding No funding ONERA Other Région -- Amount -- Less than 600 € net/month 600-800 € net/month 800-1000 € net/month 1000-1200 € net/month 1200-1400 € net/month 1400-1600 € net/month 1600-1800 € net/month 1800-2000 € net/month More than 2000 € net/month
• Doctoral program -- Country -- Chile (Conicyt) China (CSC) Kazakhstan (Bolashak) Mexico (Conacyt) Pakistan (Higher Education Commission) Sub-Saharan Africa (Islamic Development Bank)
• Category (PhD / Master's / Postdoc) -- Category -- Master Internship Doctorate Post-Doc CDI Other -- Doctorate type -- Full Doctorate Joint Supervision Doctorate Sandwich Doctorate Doctoral Programme
• Domains & disciplines -- Domain -- Agronomy Ecology Biology & Health Chemistry Computer Sciences Earth & Universe Engineering Law, Management, Economy, Politics Maths Physics Social Sciences Acoustics Aeronautical Enginnering African, Arab, Chinese, Japanese and Hebrew languages and literatures AgroFood Algorithms Analytical Chemistry Ancient and Medieval History Ancient languages and literatures Animal Health Animal Husbandry Anthropology Applied mathematics Applied physics Archeology Architecture Artificial Intelligence Arts Astrophysics Atmospheric Sciences Automatics Autre (Physics) Big Data Biochemistry Bioinformatics Bioingeneering Biophysics Biotechnology Botanics Business Intelligence Cell Biology Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Climatology Clinical Science Comparative Literatures Condensed Matter Cosmology Cryptography Cultural Studies Demography Develoment Economics Ecology Economy Ecosystems Electrical Engineering Electromagnetism Electronics Embedded Systems Energy English and Anglo-Saxon languages and literatures Environmental Chemistry Epidemiology Epistemology Ethics and Deontology Ethnology Evolution Exobiology Fluid Mechanics Fondamental mathematics Formal Methods French Language and Literature Genetics Geochemistry Geography Geology Geometry Geophysics German and Scandinavian languages and literatures History of Law and Institutions Human Ressources Humanities Hydrology Immunology Infectious Diseases Information and Communication Sciences Inorganic Chemistry Intellectual Property International & European Law International Relations Labour Law Language Sciences Learning Sciences Macroeconomics Management Marine biology Material Chemistry Material science Mechanical Engineering Metrology Microbiology Mineralogy Modelisation Modern and Contemporary History Molecular biology Nanotechnology Networks Neurology Neurosciences Nuclear physics Number Theory Numerical analysis Nutrition Oceanography Oncology Optics Organic Chemistry Other (Agronomy Ecology) Other (Biology & Health) Other (Chemistry) Other (Computer Sciences) Other (Earth & Universe) Other (Engineering) Other (Law, Management, Economy, Politics) Other (Maths) Other (Social Sciences) Parasitology Particle Physics Pharmaceutical Chemistry Pharmacology Philosophy Photonics Physical Chemistry Physiology Planetology Plasmas Political Science Population Biology Prehistory Private Law and Criminal Sciences Probability Process Engineering Psychiatry Psychology Public Finance Public Health Public law Public Policy Robotics Roman languages and literatures: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and other languages Sensors Signal Processing Sismology Slavs language and literatures Sociology Software Engineering Solids Mechanics Sound and Images Sports Sciences Statistics Tectonics Theology Theoretical Physics Toxicology Transportation Urbanism and Spatial planning Virology Volcanology Water Zoology
• Regions Grand Est Nouvelle-Aquitaine Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Normandie Bourgogne Franche-Comté Bretagne Centre-Val de Loire Corse Ile-de-France Occitanie Hauts-de-France Pays de la Loire Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur La Réunion Guadeloupe Guyane Martinique Polynésie Française Nouvelle-Calédonie
• Institution, university... -- Cluster/networks -- Université Clermont Auvergne COMUE Aquitaine HESAM Institut polytechnique du Grand Paris Languedoc Roussillon Universités Normandie Université Sorbonne Universités Université confédérale Léonard de Vinci Université Côte d'Azur Université d'Aix-Marseille Université d'Alsace Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté Université de Champagne Université de Lorraine Université de Lyon Université de Picardie Université fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Université Grenoble Alpes Université Lille Nord de France Université Paris Est Université Paris Lumières Université Paris Saclay Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) Université Paris Seine Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC) CoMUE Centre Val-de-Loire Redoc-SPI RedoX Res-CAM Agreenium
• Doctoral school
• Annual tuition -- Amount -- None Less than 1 000 €/an Less than 10 000 €/year Less than 15 000 €/year Less than 20 000 €/year Less than 30 000 €/year More than 30 000 €/year
• Duration -- Duration -- Less than 3 months Less than 6 months Less than 1 year Less than 2 years Less than 3 years Less than 4 years Less than 5 years More than 5 years
• Languages Thesis in English possible
• Click here to see the offers

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

• Undergraduate Programs
• Graduate Programs
• Our Community
• Request Info

PhD Program in French

Our doctoral program focuses on the literatures, films and cultures of the Francophone world. Students with traditional backgrounds in French Studies - but also students with atypical backgrounds - are encouraged to apply, provided they satisfy the requirements of the School of Graduate Studies.

The humanities teach a breadth of soft skills that graduates need to succeed in the job market.

Katarina Todić '15

Bachelor of Arts Honours French and History

About the Program

Our objective is to help students gain a comprehensive understanding of the Francophone world across time, space and socio-cultural discourses and practices, and to facilitate their professional integration in an increasingly globalized world. Admitted candidates will design their own academic journey jointly with their PhD committee. They will take six half courses, including one required course that will expose them to various literary theories, and a series of professionalization workshops (Eg. How to write articles and for various journals, How to prepare for a job interview, etc.) If approved by the Department of French and the instructor, and if relevant to their field of research, students will also be able to take courses in other departments. Courses, comprehensive examinations ( or publishable articles) and a thesis will structure the four years. Part-time students will be admitted on an exceptional basis.

One of the most salient and innovative features of the program is the option of spending up to one year in a Francophone country or region (in Europe, Canada, US, Africa, Asia or the Caribbean). The research study abroad must be approved by the Graduate Committee upon its evaluation of the proposal. During their study abroad, students will be able to expand their research, enrich their professional and personal experience, immerse themselves in a Francophone environment and experience its diversity. While we wish to prepare students for academic professions, we also strive to facilitate their access to other professions which demand highly skilled individuals in fields such as in international relations, the media, human resources, NGOs, business, diplomacy, environment or the arts.

Students may opt to specialize in one or more of the following areas:

• Francophone literatures (African, Asian and Caribbean)
• Quebec literature
• Franco-Ontarian, Acadian and Francophone literatures from elsewhere in Canada
• Indigenous literature in French
• French literature
• Visual culture and intermediality
• Women’s studies and feminist research
• Philosophy of the Enlightenment
• Queer theory
• Utopia and science fiction
• Critical and literary theory

Admission Requirements

Admission requirements conform to the general University regulations. Applicants whose specialization is in French or Francophone literatures and cultures or in a program deemed equivalent are encouraged to apply. The English language proficiency test (TOEFL) is not required to enter the PhD Program in French.

Students will be admitted to the PhD program with a completed MA in French or in a program deemed equivalent. Equivalence will be granted on a case by case basis in consultation with the School of Graduate Studies. Students must obtain a minimum B+ average or equivalent at the Master’s level to be considered for admission. As a rule, part-time studies will not be an option at the PhD level. However, in exceptional circumstances, permission to pursue the Doctorate part-time might be granted, provided the student adheres to a rigorously scheduled plan of action for completion of all degree requirements within a reasonably limited timeframe.

Application Process

The application process is completed  online . You may apply only if you are planning to begin your graduate studies in September 2023 and note that close date for applications is February 1 st , 2023.

The application includes the following documents which must be uploaded:

• A letter of intent in French, stating why you want to do a Ph.D. degree in French with us, your intellectual and academic background that prepared you and what you intend your research focus to be (one page).
• Your Ph.D. project description (one page to one page and a half in length).
• A sample of your writing (10-12 pages of your M.A. project in French)
• All your official transcripts since the first year of university.
• Two reference letters written by your professors. We recommend that students ask for these letters very early, communicate the deadlines to their referees (professors providing a letter of reference) and provide them with relevant documents (CV, copy of transcripts, study plan, etc.).
• Your resume (Curriculum Vitae).
• A non-refundable amount of $110 Canadian dollars must accompany your application form for administrative fees. This fee must be paid in Canadian dollars by means of a credit card payment or electronic transfer.

The main criterion is the excellence of your grades and the quality of your letters of recommendation. Offers of admission will be normally sent in the spring by the School of Graduate Studies upon the recommendation of the department’s Graduate Studies Committee.

If you are an international student intending to undertake full-time studies in Canada, you must first notify the officials of the Canadian Immigration Service in your country of origin. Applicants must not leave their country until they have in their possession an offer of admission, issued only by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of McMaster University, and a valid study permit to study at McMaster issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Please note that students from certain countries must obtain a Temporary Resident Visa before being allowed to study in Canada. For further information, please visit the website Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada  (French and English version).

Canadian equivalency for grades obtained at foreign universities will be calculated following the guidelines of the Ontario Universities Registrars’ Association (OURA).

For more information, we invite you to consult  International Student Services.

Language Requirement

Candidates will successfully pass a proficiency examination in a language other than French or English.  The examination consists of the translation of a passage from a third language to French or English. The choice of language should be made by the candidate in consultation with her/his supervisory committee. The department should be informed of this choice as soon as possible.

With the approval of the Department of French Graduate Studies Committee and the candidate’s supervisory committee, this language requirement may be substituted by:

• Successful completion of the course EDU 750/751 Principles and Practices of University Teaching offered by MIIETL (McMaster Institute for Innovation & Excellence in Teaching and Learning). The description of the course may be found in the following section of the SGS Calendar: Faculty of Humanities – French – French Courses .
• Successful completion of a three-unit, doctoral-level course in another discipline relevant to the candidate’s research topic.

This requirement may be fulfilled at any time before completion of the degree.

Program Timelines

A supervisor must be declared within the first 5 months of study and the supervisory committee must be declared within the first 12 months of study. The supervisor will recommend, for the student’s approval, at least two other colleagues – to a maximum of four – as members of the supervisory committee. We recommend that the supervisory committee be wholly established by the end of January of the year following the beginning of the program. Students and supervisors should meet regularly and a report on the student’s progress must be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies at least once a year.

The PhD degree program will normally be four years in length. Students are expected to participate in professionalization workshops offered during the academic year. All PhD students must complete six half-courses (three units each) within the first year of the program. One of them, FRENCH 705 Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory, is required. The listing of all courses can be found in the following section of the SGS Calendar: Faculty of Humanities – French – French Courses . The minimum passing grade is a B-.

Before December 1st of the first year of the program, all graduate students, including part time students, must also complete courses SGS 101 (Academic Research Integrity and Ethics) and SGS 201 (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act – AODA). A graduate student may not obtain a graduate degree at McMaster without having passed these courses.

Candidates are expected to complete comprehensive field examinations. PhD. candidates in consultation with their supervisory committee will choose two areas of concentration: the first will be literary and theoretical in nature and the second interdisciplinary. Candidates will submit an extensive bibliography for each area of concentration and will be assessed by way of a written examination. Candidates will be given one week to complete a 10- to 15-page paper for each area. Full-time students will write these examinations within the first twenty months of their program, that is, before the end of April of their second year of residency, assuming the student began residency in September of the first year. These exams are intended as opening stages of the doctoral dissertation. For each examination, candidates must prove their proficiency in the French language and their competence in their selected areas of specialization. They must display in-depth knowledge, not only of the primary texts, but also of the existing scholarship in their areas of concentration. Candidates must obtain a passing grade. In the event of a failing grade, candidates will have one opportunity to rewrite their exams; this second and final attempt should occur within three months of the date of their first examination. In place of a comprehensive examination paper, students will have the choice to write an original article that will be submitted to a recognized, peer-reviewed journal in their field. The article will be a minimum length of 7000 words.

Students will prepare a 25-page thesis project in consultation with their thesis supervisor. This project will then be presented and examined by the candidate’s supervisory committee. An oral defence of the project, conducted by the supervisory committee, must be successfully completed before the candidate can proceed with research and preparation of the thesis manuscript. This requirement should be completed within the first 24 months of the candidate’s program.

During the third or fourth year of the program, candidates will write a scholarly thesis of approximately 250 pages (including notes and bibliography) and will defend it at an Oral Examination. The oral examination of the thesis will normally be conducted in French.

• Completion of 6 half courses within 12 months of start date
• Completion of a research methodology workshop
• Selection of thesis supervisor (as soon as possible, and within the first five months into the program)
• Two areas of concentration, which are the subjects of the student’s comprehensive examinations, to be determined in conjunction with committee members
• Submission of the First Year Progress Report (before the 12th month)

Second Year

• Comprehensive examinations (one of them may be replaced by a publishable article) to be completed within the first 20 months of the program. If the article option is chosen, the article will be submitted to a recognized, peer-review journal in the relevant field.
• A 25-page thesis project to be completed and defended orally within the first 24 months
• Submission of Annual Progress Report (before the 24th month)
• Submission of draft chapters of the thesis
• During their third year of the program, students may elect to study or do research abroad, audit classes in other disciplines, at McMaster or at other universities, or participate in a field work/internship program in a Francophone region or country. To spend a period of time in a Francophone region or country, students must obtain the written approval of their committee and of the School of Graduate Studies.
• Submission of Annual Progress Report (before the 36th month)

Fourth Year

• Submission of the final draft of the thesis; the thesis defence; uploading of the final, electronic version of the thesis to MacSphere.

French PhD Tuition & Program Fees

Visit Graduate Studies to learn more about tuition, supplementary fees and everything you need to know about being paid as a Teaching or Research Assistant. Tuition fees are assessed on a term by term basis, depending on the number of courses a student takes or if they are paying by term.

Faculty Scholarship Adjustments Guidelines

The McMaster Graduate Scholarship (MGS) is the most common form of scholarship support available to graduate students in our program. The MGS ensures that students receive a guaranteed minimum level of scholarship support. Adjustments to the MGS will depend on other available scholarships.

The Faculty of Humanities Adjustments guidelines policy is available for review.

REVIEW THE POLICY

Apply to the PhD Program in French

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR GRADUATE SUPERVISORS

Research your passion in French with supervision from our world-class faculty.

SEE OUR CURRENT AND FORMER GRAD STUDENTS

Supplemental information.

Graduate Course Offerings & Outlines 2023-2024

• FRENCH 6DD3 / La littérature à l’épreuve de l’animal
• FRENCH 6Y03 / Topics in 20th Century French Literature
• FRENCH 705 / Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory
• FRENCH 730 / Lectures Dirigées
• FRENCH 722 / De l’anticipation à l’utopie : la science-fiction canadienne-française et québécoise
• FRENCH 724 / La littérature et les arts : cultures contemporaines en France et en Europe
• FRENCH 732 / Eighteenth-Century Theatre

Students who are accepted also have the option of taking, with the professor’s agreement, one directed (tailored) reading course (FRENCH 730) a year on a chosen subject.

McMaster Scholarships

External Scholarships

The Department offers a teaching assistantship to all students admitted to the Graduate Program by the official deadline.

Discover the resources available for Teaching Assistants and offered by the Paul R. MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Excellence in Teaching :

• McMaster Teaching Assistant Guide
• McMaster Teaching Assistant Guide for Remote Teaching
• Forward with FLEXibility: A Teaching and Learning Resource on Accessibility
• MacPherson Supported Teaching Tools

The MacPherson Institute is located in the McMaster Mills Library (L504) and is a resourceful and welcoming place to meet teaching and learning specialists at McMaster.

TAs’ Community of Practice

Teaching Assistants’ Community of Practice in the Department of French:

French TAs meet a couple of times each term to share best practices and discuss their teaching experiences. 

Collective Agreement 

CUPE 3906 – T.A.s (Unit 1)

A collective agreement providing terms and conditions of employment as a TA at McMaster.

Research assistantships are occasionally available conditional on faculty research funding.

With a French graduate degree, you could work as a teacher, journalist, translator, interpreter, proofreader, international aid and development worker, diplomatic service officer, education consultant, government administrator, public policy analyst, lawyer. 

You will gain marketable skills such as:

• Analytical and critical thinking
• Conceptual, systemic, interconnected thinking 
• Listening and communication
• Discussion and negotiation
• Writing and literature review skills
• Problem-solving
• Teamwork ability
• Planning and organizing activities
• Intercultural dialogue
• Understanding of diverse worldviews and practices
• Open-mindedness
• Life-long learning skills 

Academic job postings are available on University Affairs and Fabula , among other sources.

• Thesis Defence
• Graduate Calendar
• School of Graduate Studies Graduate Resources
• Graduate Association

PAST PHD THESES

See some of the research projects completed by our PhD students in recent years.

Department Life

The French department at McMaster boasts a vibrant collegial environment for students and faculty members alike to study, explore and celebrate the Francophone World.

upcoming events

Francophonie & Diversité

Discover how McMaster acknowledges the entire “Francophone world” and embraces “Diversité”.

Internationalisation

Explore the internationalisation initiatives in our Department.

Gems at Mac

See the wide variety of unique resources offered by McMaster University.

Find a Humanities Expert

Research-focused and student-centered. Humanities researchers promote interdisciplinary approaches to local and global leadership. Learn more about our researchers by searching by name or keyword.

• Skip to main navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to search
• Arts and Humanities
• Health sciences
• Science and Engineering
• Future international student
• International student
• Doctoral Candidate

Sorbonne University, an attractive environment for PhDs

Doctoral College and Schools

Application and admission

• Look up in Linguee
• Suggest as a translation of "phd"

Linguee Apps

▾ dictionary english-french, phd noun [abbr.] ( plural: phds ) —, doctorat m ( plural: doctorats m ), phd student n —, phd candidate n —, phd thesis n —, phd degree n —, phd dissertation n —, phd program ae n —, phd supervisor n —, phd level n —, phd work n —, phd in education n —, phd school n —, phd students pl —, phd programme be n —, phd research n —, ph meter n —, ph range n —, ph value n —, ph level n —, low ph n —, ph buffer n —, ph probe n —, ph scale n —, ph sensor n —, ph control n —, ph regulator n —, acid ph n —, ph measurement n —, urine ph n —, ph indicator n —, neutral ph n —, acidic ph n —, physiological ph n —, alkaline ph n —, average ph n —, basic ph n —, urinary ph n —, ph measurements pl —, ph n [abbr.] —, ▾ external sources (not reviewed).

• This is not a good example for the translation above.
• The wrong words are highlighted.
• It does not match my search.
• It should not be summed up with the orange entries
• The translation is wrong or of bad quality.

Scholarship

Current students.

• Graduate Studies
• General Information
• Graduate Degrees
• Graduate Seminars
• Recent Tenure-Track Placements
• Other Recent Placements
• Recent Dissertations
• Dissertations in Progress
• Recent Presentations at National and International Conferences
• Recent Awards and Prizes
• Graduate Handbook
• How to Apply
• Undergraduate Studies

Our undergraduate program — one of the most vibrant in the U.S. — offers a unique variety of major options to suit any area of interest.

• Prospective Students
• Majors and Minors
• Learning Outcomes: French Major
• Career Enrichment Network
• Recent Courses
• Schreyer Honors College/Paterno Fellows
• Honors Thesis Guidelines  
• Education Abroad
• Basic Language Program
• Le Cercle Francais

News and Events

Latest news:, besançon summer program featured in college of the liberal arts article.

November 3, 2023

Willa Silverman, The Malvin E. and Lea P. Bank Professor of French and Jewish Studies, 1959-2023.

October 24, 2023

Assistant Professor Burleigh Hendrickson among Penn State Fulbright 2023-2024 Award Winners

October 3, 2023

Upcoming Events:

Ph.d. program in french and francophone studies, program description.

The Department of French and Francophone Studies offers a Ph.D. degree with specializations in culture & society and literature as well as dual degrees in French and Francophone Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, in French and Francophone Studies and African Studies and in French and Francophone Studies and Visual Studies. Graduate students accepted into the Department’s Ph.D. program are expected to acquire a broad factual and theoretical background in French Studies, advanced proficiency in oral and writing skills, and a thorough grasp of research and teaching methodologies. Students select one specialization and may add other subspecialties.  Many of our graduate students also pursue Minors, such as the  Social Thought  minor.

Admission Requirements

Students interested in the Ph.D. program in French may apply for admission directly into one of the two specializations (Culture & Society or Literature) or under general status with the specialization to be determined after arrival at Penn State. No admissions preference is given to either category of students; all prospective students are judged according to the admissions criteria outlined in the handbook the student receives when he or she begins graduate studies in French at Penn State.

Requirements for All Specializations

Requirements listed here are in addition to requirements stated in the  DEGREE REQUIREMENTS  section of the  Graduate Bulletin .

Students must earn a minimum of 33 to 36 credits (or equivalent) beyond the Master’s degree in French.

The Ph.D. degree prepares candidates for careers in teaching and research at the college or university level. Between 33 and 36 credits beyond the M.A. in French (or equivalent) is required in course work at the 400, 500, 600, or 800 level.  Candidates who have not taken these courses while completing their M.A. at Penn State must take FR 571 French Literacy Theory and Criticism (3), FR 580 Approaches to French Civilization (3), FR 581 Theory and Techniques of Teaching French (1-6), FR 501A Pro-Seminar in French Studies I (1.5), and FR 501B Pro-Seminar in French Studies II (1.5). Credits must be distributed in one of two areas of specialization: culture & society or literature.

A maximum of 12 credits may be earned in teaching methodology (French 581) and in supervised teaching (French 602). Such credits are supplementary to the 33 to 36 credits required for a doctoral specialization, except in applied linguistics where FR 581 is required for the specialization.

Occasionally, the acceleration of course work is possible where a student has a significant academic background in a designated area. Acceleration should be requested by the student’s advisor in consultation with the student’s graduate committee. Acceleration requires the approval of the director of graduate studies and the department head.   Candidates whose prior training does not include courses prerequisite to one of the doctoral specializations are required to complete such courses.

The Chair of the Committee responsible for the specialization, in consultation with other members of the Graduate Faculty and the Department Head, evaluates the graduate training and teaching experience completed at other institutions. A record of any credit to be transferred or of course equivalencies is placed in the candidate’s file, with a copy to the candidate. Waiver of any coursework can only be granted with the approval of the advisor, the instructor of the course being waived, and the Department Head.

All students are required to take the Pro-Seminars in French Studies, FR 501A and FR 501B, within the first two years of entering the program whether at the M.A. or the Ph.D. level.  (The Pro-Seminar is offered every other year.)  Doctoral students who are preparing for the job market are required to take the Pro-Seminar a second time.

Ph.D. Committee and Examinations

All doctoral students must pass a  Candidacy  examination and a  Comprehensive  examination.

Examinations will be written and defended in French.  Exceptions are occasionally made for dual-title Ph.D.s, if serious efforts to find outside members who can read and comprehend French fail, and the DGS, Head and advisor are convinced the student does not need to prove their ability to write or speak French.  If outside members know only some French, the exam will be written in French but the oral exam will be bilingual.  Every effort should be made to locate outside and special members with some knowledge of French.

The Ph.D. Thesis

The thesis (also called “Ph.D. or Doctoral Dissertation”) is a formal demonstration of a student’s ability to conduct high-quality research that poses significant questions and proposes new approaches, implications, and insights. It should represent the culmination of work as a student and, at the same time, demonstrate a student’s expertise to colleagues and peers.

Chapters of the thesis should be submitted to the advisor as they are written. Committee members may prefer to read the thesis chapter by chapter or they may wish to review only the full draft version. This should be decided in consultation between the student and the committee members, preferably at a meeting with the full committee. Both the thesis advisor and the student are responsible for ensuring the completion of a draft of the thesis and for adequate consultation with all committee members well in advance of the oral examination.

Each member of the committee will make any suggestions he or she may have within two weeks of receiving the completed draft. If, at the end of these two weeks, no committee members request major revisions to the thesis (editing suggestions do not qualify), the final oral examination date may be set. The request for examination must be submitted to the dean of the Graduate School for approval  at least three weeks prior to the date of the exam.

The Thesis Guide

Students should consult the Graduate School  Thesis Guide  for the thesis format. This guide, available online, through the Thesis Office or in Pattee Library, contains complete and updated information regarding the thesis format, preparation, appendices, etc. The Graduate School also provides special thesis formatting templates for use on word-processing systems:  https://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/majors/french-francophone-studies/ .

Normally, the thesis defense may not be scheduled until at least three months have elapsed after the completion of the Comprehensive Examination, although the dean of the Graduate School may grant a waiver in some cases.

The final oral exam must take place ten weeks before the end of the Semester. Please check the calendar of deadlines posted every semester by the Graduate School.

Please note that this is a basic outline of the major steps leading to the award of a Ph.D. in French and Francophone Studies.  For more details and information, please see the  Graduate Handbook .

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Human Interest

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Celebrate Daughter Jennifer’s Medical School Graduation

The proud parents each wrote a touching tribute in honor of Jennifer's big achievement

Abigail Adams is a Human Interest Writer and Reporter for PEOPLE. She has been working in journalism for seven years.

Erin Clack is a Staff Editor for PEOPLE. She has been writing about fashion, parenting and pop culture for more than 15 years.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates are now the proud parents of a medical school graduate!

The former spouses celebrated their eldest daughter Jennifer Gates ' graduation on Saturday, May 11. Following the ceremony, Bill and Melinda wrote touching tributes to Jennifer, reflecting on her achievement.

In the comment section of a post that Jennifer shared on Instagram, featuring a photo of the new graduate in her cap and gown, the tech titan, 68, wrote: "What you have achieved today — and every day leading up to it — is a tremendous accomplishment, @jenngatesnassar . I’m so proud of you for finishing medical school, and I can’t wait to watch you take this next step into residency."

"Your patients will be lucky to call you doctor," he added.

In her message, Melinda, 59, wrote, "Jenn, I am so proud of you — and you should be so proud of yourself! What an incredible tribute to your passion, intelligence and hard work. Can’t wait to see where your next chapter takes you."

Jennifer also took a moment to reflect on her journey to earning her medical degree in the caption of her post.

"Dr. Gates, MD, MPH 👩‍⚕️. Can’t believe we’ve reached this moment, a little girl’s childhood aspiration come true," she wrote. "It’s been a whirlwind of learning, exams, late nights, tears, discipline and many moments of self-doubt, but the highs certainly outweighed the lows these past 5 years."

"I am deeply grateful for this experience and so indebted and thankful to my professors, mentors, friends, and family for their endless support along the way," Jennifer continued.

Bill and Melinda finalized their divorce in August 2021, just months after they announced their separation after 27 years of marriage. The couple shares three kids , daughters Jennifer, 28, and Phoebe , 21, as well as son Rory , 24.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In May 2023, Bill and Melinda attended Jennifer’s graduation from Columbia University , where she received a master’s degree in public health.

A few months later, both parents attended their daughter Phoebe’s 21st birthday celebration in New York City.

Paula Lobo/Getty

In March 2024, Jennifer announced on Instagram that she had received her placement in the National Resident Matching Program, which determines the first position for young doctors in the United States.

She also revealed in the post that she plans on becoming a pediatrician after completing her residency at Mt. Sinai on the Pediatrics Research pathway.

“What a dream come true,” she wrote at the time. “I can’t wait to learn from incredible healthcare providers and patients about all that it means to become a doctor.”

Bill congratulated his daughter in an Instagram Story post alongside his daughter's picture. “I’m so impressed by you—and the doctor you’re becoming," he wrote.

Melinda also chimed in, writing, “I am so proud of you! Congratulations on this next chapter."

Elections Today

Recent projections, delegate tracker, maryland, west virginia and nebraska primaries 2024: live results and analysis, teen walks at graduation after completing doctoral degree at 17.

Dorothy Jean Tillman II was 10 when she entered college as a freshman.

A teenager from Chicago walked in her graduation ceremony this month after earning her doctoral degree at 17.

Dorothy Jean Tillman II told " Good Morning America " that she was homeschooled in her early years before entering college at age 10.

In 2020, she said she earned a Master of Science degree, and then, one year later, at age 15, was accepted into the Doctorate of Behavioral Health Management program at Arizona State University.

In December 2023, at 17, Tillman successfully defended her dissertation to earn her doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health from ASU's College of Health Solutions.

On May 6, she walked at ASU's spring commencement ceremony.

Tillman told "GMA" she has always held education in such high regard in part due to her family's background.

"People in my life like my grandmother, who was part of the Civil Rights movement, she of course harped on the importance of education and consistently learning something always," Tillman said. "But the way I always held education so high on my own, aside from being raised that way, was finding different things to be educated about."

She continued, "I feel like that urge to learn something new just never didn't exist for me."

Teen who battled leukemia and homelessness as a child graduates college at 18

Dr. Lesley Manson, a clinical associate professor at ASU, told "GMA" that Tillman is the youngest person in school history to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health.

Manson said she oversaw Tillman's dissertation for the doctoral program offered through ASU Online.

Related Stories

Steve Buscemi OK after recent assault in NYC

• May 13, 11:00 AM

Moms of Miss USA, Miss Teen USA speak out

• May 14, 9:43 AM

Former Miss Teen USA speaks out after resigning

• May 13, 4:20 PM

During her studies, Tillman wrote a journal article of her dissertation and completed an internship at a university student health center, according to Manson.

"She really led change and worked on different forms of management to really reduce healthcare stigma and improve that student population there to be able to enter and accept student health services," she said of Tillman. "It was wonderful to see her and help her navigate some of those personal and professional interactions and grow through those experiences."

Manson described Tillman as an "inquisitive" and "innovative" student, and emphasized just how rare it is to accomplish what she has so far.

"It's a wonderful celebration ... but this is still something so rare and unique," she said. "She has innovative ideas and motivation, which is wonderful, and truly, I think what is inspiring is that she embodies that meaning of being a true leader."

Manson said she hopes Tillman continues to inspire people with her love of learning, saying, "That curiosity is always there, and I think all learners come with that, but it's great to be able to see it in someone so young as well."

Her inspiration and how she gives back to community

Tillman said her own journey wouldn't be possible without the support of her mom, who she said is one of her biggest motivators.

"Seeing my mother consistently work so hard to continuously uphold our family's legacy, and be that person that everyone was able to go to, if they needed anything ... always seeing [her] like [a] 'wonder woman' definitely made me want to grow up [into] an accomplished person," she said.

An advocate for education, Tillman is also the founder and CEO of a leadership institute that emphasizes the arts and STEM.

"I feel like adding art and putting a focus on it throughout science, technology, engineering and math makes the kids excited to learn all those things," she said. "And it opens them up to all of the possibilities and all the knowledge provided in that area of just STEM."

'Super dad' graduates with master's while working 3 jobs

As for her plans after graduation, Tillman said she is "just like any other teenager, still figuring out what my specific dreams and goals are."

"I'm really just grateful that the world is my oyster, and that I've done so much so young," she said. "And I have time to kind of think that through."

Tillman added that she hopes young people will take away from her story that it's OK to continually figure out what you want to do in life.

"Always remember that everyone has points in their life where they feel like they're figuring it out," she said. "And so figuring things out, not knowing what you want isn't a bad thing. But making the choice not to sit down and try to figure it out is."

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional quotes from Tillman since its original publish date of May 13, 2024.

Caitlin Clark, much like Larry Bird, the focus of talks about race and double standards in sports

• May 12, 9:58 AM

Rylee Arnold opens up on living with diabetes

• May 13, 7:37 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Jump to navigation

Search form

The Graduate School

• Faculty/Staff Resources
• Programs of Study Browse the list of MSU Colleges, Departments, and Programs
• Graduate Degree List Graduate degrees offered by Michigan State University
• Research Integrity Guidelines that recognize the rights and responsibilities of researchers
• Online Programs Find all relevant pre-application information for all of MSU’s online and hybrid degree and certificate programs
• Graduate Specializations A subdivision of a major for specialized study which is indicated after the major on official transcripts
• Graduate Certificates Non-degree-granting programs to expand student knowledge and understanding about a key topic
• Interdisciplinary Graduate Study Curricular and co-curricular opportunities for advanced study that crosses disciplinary boundaries
• Theses and Dissertations Doctoral and Plan A document submission process
• Policies and Procedures important documents relating to graduate students, mentoring, research, and teaching
• Academic Programs Catalog Listing of academic programs, policies and related information
• Traveling Scholar Doctoral students pursue studies at other BTAA institutions
• Apply Now Graduate Departments review applicants based on their criteria and recommends admission to the Office of Admissions
• International Applicants Application information specific to international students
• PhD Public Data Ph.D. Program Admissions, Enrollments, Completions, Time to Degree, and Placement Data
• Costs of Graduate School Tools to estimate costs involved with graduate education
• Recruitment Awards Opportunities for departments to utilize recruitment funding
• Readmission When enrollment is interrupted for three or more consecutive terms
• Assistantships More than 3,000 assistantships are available to qualified graduate students
• Fellowships Financial support to pursue graduate studies
• Research Support Find funding for your research
• Travel Funding Find funding to travel and present your research
• External Funding Find funding outside of MSU sources
• Workshops/Events Find opportunities provided by The Graduate School and others
• Research Opportunities and programs for Research at MSU
• Career Development Programs to help you get the career you want
• Graduate Educator Advancement and Teaching Resources, workshops, and development opportunities to advance your preparation in teaching
• Cohort Fellowship Programs Spartans are stronger together!
• The Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (BGHS) A national network society for students who have traditionally been underrepresented
• Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) A gateway to graduate education at Big Ten Academic Alliance universities
• Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) A community that supports retention, and graduation of underrepresented doctoral students
• Recruitment and Outreach Ongoing outreach activities by The Graduate School
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Funding Funding resources to recruit diverse students
• Graduate Student Organizations MSU has over 900 registered student organizations
• Grad School Office of Well-Being Collaborates with graduate students in their pursuit of their advanced degree and a well-balanced life
• Housing and Living in MI MSU has an on and off-campus housing site to help find the perfect place to stay
• Mental Health Support MSU has several offices and systems to provide students with the mental health support that they need
• Spouse and Family Resources MSU recognizes that students with families have responsibilities that present challenges unique to this population
• Health Insurance Health insurance info for graduate student assistants and students in general at MSU
• Safety and Security MSU is committed to cultivating a safe and inclusive campus community characterized by a culture of safety and respect
• Why Mentoring Matters To Promote Inclusive Excellence in Graduate Education at MSU
• Guidelines Guidelines and tools intended to foster faculty-graduate student relationships
• Toolkit A set of resources for support units, faculty and graduate students
• Workshops Workshops covering important topics related to mentor professional development
• About the Graduate School We support graduate students in every program at MSU
• Strategic Plan Our Vision, Values, Mission, and Goals
• Social Media Connect with the Graduate School!
• History Advancing Graduate Education at MSU for over 25 years
• Staff Directory
• Driving Directions

2024 ACES (Academic Culture and English Skills) Summer Program for ITAs

Graduate Directors and Advisors

ACES is a three-week (July 15 - August 2, 2024) intensive English and academic culture program aimed at helping incoming international teaching assistants (ITAs) adjust to the American university teaching and learning context prior to their first semester at MSU.

The online program is highly interactive, consisting of both synchronous and asynchronous sessions that focus on strengthening oral communication skills in English and developing an understanding of the American educational system and the roles and expectations of TAs and undergraduate students at MSU. FAQs and additional information can be found at  2024 ACES Program . 

ACES is open to incoming international graduate teaching assistants at the request of their departments.  Registration must be completed by the department (not the student).  Registration will remain open until May 21 or until all spaces are filled. 

For information on registration, departments can contact Alissa Cohen, ITA Program Coordinator, at [email protected] . 

• Call us: (517) 353-3220
• Contact Information
• Privacy Statement
• Site Accessibility
• Call MSU: (517) 355-1855
• Visit: msu.edu
• MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer.
• Notice of Nondiscrimination
• Spartans Will.
• © Michigan State University

• canva icon Canvas
• Panther Mail (students)
• Arts & Film
• Business & Economy
• Campus & Students
• College Knowledge
• Health & Behavior
• Humanities & Society
• Science & Engineering
• University News
• Chapman Magazine
• Chapman Forward
• Maps & Directions
• Visit Chapman
• Discover Chapman
• Facts & Rankings
• Campus Services
• Degrees & Programs
• Schools & Colleges
• Academic Calendar
• Faculty Directory
• Course Catalogs
• International Study
• Undergraduate Admission
• Undergraduate Application
• Graduate Admission
• Graduate Application
• Affordability
• Financial Aid Calculator
• Campus Tours
• Get Involved
• Career Support
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Fish Interfaith Center
• Health & Safety
• Residence Life
• Student Life
• Pre-Award Administration
• Post-Award Administration
• Research Integrity
• Institutes & Centers
• Center for Undergraduate Excellence
• Graduate Research Support
• Contact Development
• Areas to Support
• Alumni Involvement
• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Faculty & Staff
• Parents & Families
• All Directories

2024 Doti Awards Honor Graduate Students in Education and English The annual award acknowledges outstanding academic accomplishment, scholarly and creative work and service by graduating master's and doctoral students.

Chapman University has announced the recipients of the 2024 James L. Doti Outstanding Graduate Awards, the university’s highest honor for graduate students.

This year’s honorees are Katelyn Kitchens, a doctoral candidate in education , and Audrey Fong, a candidate for a dual Master of Arts in English and Master of Fine Arts in creative writing .

The Doti Awards are bestowed annually to an outstanding graduating master’s and doctoral student with a distinguished record of academic accomplishment, scholarly/creative activity and/or service. The award recipients’ names are permanently inscribed on the Doti Award trophy, which incorporates artist Nick Hernandez’s sculpture Emergence, on display in Argyros Forum. The recipients receive a desk-size copy of the trophy with a cash award of $1,000 and are recognized at their college’s commencement ceremony.

Katelyn Kitchens, Ph.D. Education, Attallah College of Educational Studies

Attallah’s faculty say Kitchens is a brilliant and exceptionally outstanding doctoral student. The faculty describes them as a highly ethical, committed and intellectually rigorous scholar-activist and teacher.

Kitchens successfully defended their Ph.D. dissertation in March 2024 on “New Ways of Being White: White Families Striving to Cultivate Antiracist Familial Cultures,” an expansive work based on a critical ethnographic study of white families committed to raising anti-racist children. The work is important, theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous. Their chosen dissertation topic reflects their long-standing commitment to anti-racism. As a white person, Kitchens has personal experience with whiteness studies and engaging with others in anti-racist work.

Within the doctoral program, they developed a strong foundation in the theories that frame their work, including Marxist humanism, critical pedagogies and theories of whiteness. Kitchens also has strong instincts toward decolonizing and humanizing praxis. They are well recognized among faculty and peers as highly ethical and collaborative and evidence a commitment to the growth and learning of all those around them. Kitchens is especially committed to equity for racialized students and to the preservation and restoration of the cultural strengths, epistemologies and resources of historically oppressed communities.

These strengths, along with their excellent writing skills, have led to a significant record of emerging scholarship, research and teaching pursuits. Currently, Kitchens is co-authoring several research manuscripts. Kitchens has already published an impressive six publications (one is in press) and is planning a book based on their dissertation. Their scholarship is highly collaborative with Indigenous colleagues and other people of color, evidencing allyship with these communities. Kitchens’ numerous presentations at conferences and community settings exemplify a keen awareness and commitment to engage with the community beyond the academy.

Kitchens is also a gifted educator of children and adults. They have taught numerous courses in higher education, and faculty are certain that this has included challenging coursework, high expectations and humanizing pedagogy. A faculty mentor shared that conversations with Kitchens revealed their tremendous love and empathy for all peoples.

It’s notable that in a world where Indigenous communities are often wary of the dominant group, Kitchens has been invited to teach and work at an Indigenous tribal school. They recognize and value the opportunity that has been given to them and are continuously reflecting on their responsibility as a white person to that community and its peoples. Kitchens’ previous work in Montessori schools has also provided important insights into humanizing, democratic and life-giving pedagogies that inform their development. Furthermore, Kitchens has a strong social justice background. They served on the Montessori for Social Justice Board of Directors for five years.

At Chapman, Kitchens has been an active member of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project, supported guest talks and co-led teach-ins during the Black Lives Matter protests. Attallah faculty believe Kitchens is an outstanding student with a brilliant future ahead.

Audrey Fong, MA/MFA English and Creative Writing, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Wilkinson’s faculty say Fong’s academic excellence and professional leadership are exceptional. She has used the dual program to set her own ambitious professional path. Importantly, Fong has used her own ongoing learning growth to contribute to the university and to the larger literary culture. She is the only graduate student who has taught Asian American Studies at Chapman University, and she’s also a graduate student instructor in English. She continues to open students to new ideas and texts and also works with Stephanie Takaragawa, associate professor of sociology, across disciplines on a variety of projects and programming.

Fong’s creative and scholarly achievements are unusually strong for a graduate student. She has presented at the Asian American Studies Conference and the College English Association Conference, in addition to others. She will present again this spring at the Asian American Studies Conference and is making a name for herself in that field. She also has a chapter forthcoming in an anthology about food and memory, an essay published in the literary journal South Dakota Review, and she’s placed several interviews with Asian American writers in Adroit Journal.

This important cultural work and her entrepreneurial spirit led Fong to found her own journal, Soapberry Review. Anna Leahy, director of the MFA in creative writing program, shared that she is awestruck by Fong’s ability to launch this project while excelling at all the other work we expect of graduate students and instructors. This project focuses on reviews of books and interviews with Asian American writers, filling a void in literary culture rather than replicating existing projects. Fong has encouraged other MFA students and alumni to read Asian American books and submit reviews for publication at Soapberry Review.

Faculty point to Fong’s mature understanding of a scholar-writer’s practice. She has a keen ability to turn conference presentations into journal publications, a professional practice that few graduate students in the humanities recognize and embrace. Also, she turns practical experience — the marketing internship with Red Hen Press and the social media work at UCI — into original intellectual and cultural production. She recognizes that her accomplishments as a scholar-writer have the power to change culture.

To continue honing her craft, Fong is entering the Ph.D. program at the University of Southern California, another program that combines creative writing and literature. Wilkinson’s faculty is convinced that will lead to even more achievement.

Media Contacts

Newsroom site, chapman site, services & policies.

© 2023 Chapman University

• Arts & Film
• Business & Economy
• Campus & Students
• Health & Behavior
• Humanities & Society
• Science & Engineering

Your Header Sidebar area is currently empty. Hurry up and add some widgets .

How to Apply: Inclusive Education Master's Degree, Special Education, 5-12

This inclusive education track leads to a master's degree and Massachusetts initial licensure in special education, 5-12.

Upcoming Application Deadlines

• Fall Semester: August 1, 2024
• Spring Semester: January 1, 2025
• Summer Semester: May 1, 2025
• Stonehill Teacher Residency: May 1, 2025
• Stonehill in Boston: May 15, 2024
• Stonehill on Cape Cod: March 1, 2024

Program Prerequisite(s)

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Licensure subject matter knowledge verification
• Completed course in adolescent development with a grade of B or better, or Massachusetts initial licensure in another area

Please note that, in some cases, students may be accepted into the program without having completed the prerequisites stated above. These students will be required to develop an advisor-approved plan for completion of equivalent courses.

Application Components

Use our online application to apply for admission. Once you have completed and submitted your application, you will be provided access to an online Application Status Portal where you will be able to monitor your application checklist, provide required supplemental documentation, and ultimately receive your admission decision.

Written Teaching Statement

The purpose of the teaching statement is to provide the admission committee with a reflective account of your personal beliefs, skills and experiences in relation to teaching. You will be required to submit a written statement that addresses the prompts below in a narrative statement. For more information, please see the Written Teaching Statement tab of your application. 

• your beliefs/values about learning and education
• skills and attributes you possess that would make you a successful educator
• the role of social justice, equity, diversity and inclusivity in educational environments
• your goals and how graduate study at Stonehill will help you to achieve them

Recommendations (2)

We require two (2) recommendations from academic and/or professional references, such as former or current college/university faculty members with deep familiarity with your academic work or your current or former employers/supervisors. These references will be provided access to an online recommendation form. A letter of recommendation will be optional. For more information, please see the Recommendations tab of your application.

Resume/Curriculum Vitae

We require that you include an updated resume and/or Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) as part of your application for admission. For more information and to upload your document, please see the Resume/Curriculum Vitae tab of your application.

Academic History and Official Transcripts

In order to complete our review of your application for admission, we must have access to official transcripts for any and all degrees you have earned, both undergraduate and graduate. For more information, please see the Academic History tab of your application.

Foreign Credential Evaluations 

If you earned a degree from an institution located outside of the United States, we will require a foreign credential evaluation. Please request an official, course-by-course transcript evaluation report from a NACES-accredited education evaluation service , and have that evaluation sent to Stonehill College. Unofficial transcripts cannot be accepted .

Other Application Components

Standardized tests.

We do not require standardized test scores for admission into our graduate programs but strongly encourage applicants to licensure programs to upload completed MTEL score reports.  Applicants may also submit official scores for GRE, GMAT or other standardized tests via the testing agency in support of your application for admission if you feel the scores would provide positive context for your candidacy.

Proof of English Proficiency

If English is not your native language, we may require proof of English proficiency via the  Test of English as a Foreign Language  (TOEFL) or  International English Language Testing System  (IELTS). In order to ensure sufficient preparation for the academic challenge of our graduate programs, Stonehill will seek to admit candidates with a TOEFL score of 90 or greater or an IELTS of 6.5. Additionally, the College will consider candidates sub-scores to assure sufficient preparation among all measures of English proficiency.

• Applicants who have received or will receive a degree from an accredited university in the United States will not be required to provide proof of English proficiency.
• Applicants who have received or will receive a degree from an accredited university abroad where English is the sole language of instruction will not be required to provide proof of English proficiency. Applicants in this category must provide an official letter of verification from the university that English is the sole language of instruction, along with the applicant's date of graduation (or anticipated date of graduation for those who are still working on their bachelor's degree). Failure to provide an official letter of verification will mean that proof of English proficiency will be required for admission. 
• Applicants from countries where English is the sole official language of instruction (Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada-except Quebec, Ghana, Ireland, India, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad, Tobago, Uganda, and United Kingdom - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) will not be required to provide proof of English proficiency.

Contact Information

Graduate & professional studies admission.

Graduate & Professional Studies Admission assists students as they explore graduate and professional opportunities offered at Stonehill College. 

Rebekah C. Louis

How will you lead.

• Class of 2028
• Students (Undergraduate)
• Students (Graduate)
• Parents & Families

Top Resources

• Class of 2028 Accepted Students Website 
• Deposit 
• Orientation 
• 2028 Accepted Student Facebook Group 
• 2028 Parent Facebook Group 

Quick Links

• What to Bring/Not to Bring 
• Alumni Engagement 
• Alumni Magazine 

Get involved

• Awards 
• Keep in Touch 
• Give 
• Volunteer 

Programs & Events

• Alumni Council 
• Student Alumni Association 
• Stonehill Connect 
• Undergraduate Student Website 
• Canvas 
• Events Calendar 
• Email 
• Library 
• MyHill 

Academic Resources

• Academic Calendar 
• College Catalog 
• Courses & Registration 

Choosing Coursework

• Academic Advising 
• Registrar 

Emergencies

• Emergency Information 
• Closing Information 
• Hill Alerts 

Getting Around

• Student Transportation 

Paying for School

• Financial Aid 
• Hill Card 
• Student Accounts 
• Student Employment 
• Graduate Academic Calendar 
• Graduate Student Website 
• Commencement 
• MYHILL 
• EMAIL 
• LIBRARY 
• Policies & Procedures 
• Inclusive Education 
• Data Analytics 
• Marketing 
• Faculty Website 
• Events Calendar (R25) 
• myHill 

Important Resources

• Faculty Resource Guide 
• Policies & Guidelines 
• Faculty Handbook 
• Faculty Forms 

For the Classroom

• Classrooms & Labs 
• College Catalog (HillBook) 
• Parents & Families Website 
• Course Catalog 
• Commencement 2024 
• Emergencies 
• Hillcard (add money) 
• Tuition payments 
• P-Card 
• Schooldude Request 

Hiring Students

• PeopleAdmin 

Human Resources

• Performance Management