Academic Programs - Graduate

Director of Graduate Studies: Prof. Thomas Harrison, 350 Royce Hall. UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1535 (email: harrison@humnet.ucla.edu).

Graduate Student Officer: Ms. Kerry Allen, 212 Royce Hall. UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1535 (tel: 310-825-1147 / email: allen@humnet.ucla.edu).

The following constitutes introductory information regarding our graduate programs in Italian. For more detailed information concerning graduate study in Italian, and at UCLA in general, including policies, collaborative work at other University of California campuses and abroad, scholarships, teaching assistantships and fellowships, see the site http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/, where the following links are especially pertinent:

• Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees
• Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA

The above web site also contains details about the TOEFL, GRE, and many other matters referred to in the information that follows.

Graduate Study

The Department of Italian offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.

Qualified students may also be approved to spend a year of their graduate study at one of a number of universities in Italy.

Most students are admitted to the Italian graduate program with either a teaching or a research fellowship, both of which come with financial remuneration. A dozen other, competitive scholarships are also available at UCLA.

Students who are accepted into the graduate program typically have an excellent opportunity to teach on our summer program in Florence, Italy and at UCLA (generally seven instructors per year are hired).

Admission to the M.A. and Ph. D. (in the fall only)

Deadline for all applications: December 15.

Graduate programs are applied to electronically, on-line, by submitting the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission at the web site http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/.

Personal queries may be addressed to the Graduate Student Officer, either by e-mail or telephone. More academic issues may be addressed to the faculty.

Three letters of recommendation will be required to accompany a student's formal application, along with scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which is administered only at fixed times of the year and should be taken months ahead of the application. International students whose first language is not English will also be required to pass the TOEFL test.

Master's Degree

Areas of Study

The M.A. degree in Italian is available in one of the three areas of specialization, which the student should select upon application: Italian Literature, Italian Language, and Italian Cultural Studies. Course requirements differ according to the chosen specialization. Each M.A. degree may be pursued along either the Comprehensive Exam Plan or the Thesis Plan, though the latter is exceptional (see below).

Course Requirements

Italian Literature Specialization. For both the comprehensive examination plan and the thesis plan, ten courses are required, including Italian 205A, 205B, and 225. The other seven courses must be distributed in three main literary periods: Middle Ages, Renaissance, modern. With approval of the faculty, up to two of the seven courses may be individual research courses (596) or Italian upper division courses. Related courses in other departments, such as History 205A, 205B, and Art History 230, may also be approved. In each of these cases, students must petition the Italian faculty to accept the proposed substitution of courses through a letter addressed to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Italian Language Specialization. The prerequisite to pursuing this M.A. is a general grasp of linguistics equivalent to our Linguistics 20 and 110, in addition to general familiarity with Italian literary and cultural history. Ten courses are required for both the comprehensive examination plan and the thesis plan, including Italian 222A, 222B, 225, and Linguistics 202 or its equivalent. The other seven courses must be in the 200 series.

Italian Cultural Studies Specialization. This M.A., especially suited toward those whose primary interests are not literary, offers two separate tracks:

• medieval and early modern
• modern and contemporary

Nine courses are required, at least five of which must be in the 200 series.

(a) Medieval and early modern:

One course in medieval/early modern Italian history (required)
Two courses in medieval/early modern Italian literature and cultural (required)
One seminar in the theory and practice of cultural studies
One course in medieval/early modern Italian art of architecture and urban design
One course in medieval/early modern Italian musicology
One course in medieval/early modern Italian thought
One course in medieval/early modern Italian political and juridical institutions
One course in the history of the Italian language

Pre-approved courses include: Art History 200, 226A, 226B, 229, 230, 231, 240; Architecture and Urban Design 288A, 288B; History 220A, 220B, 222A, 222B, 226A, 226B, 229A, 229B, 229C; Italian 214A, 214B, 214C, 214D, 214E, 214F, 215A, 215B, 216A, 216B, 216C, 216D, 216E, 217, 250A, 250B, 250C, 250D, 251, 252, 253A, 253B, 253C, 254, 255A, 255B; Musicology C227C; Philosophy 206, 207; Political Science 210A, 210B.

(b) Modern and contemporary:

Two courses in modern/contemporary Italian literature and culture (required)
One course in modern/contemporary Italian history (required)
One seminar in the theory and practice of cultural studies (required)
One course in film and media or theater
One course in design and/or architecture and urban design or art history
One course on modern/contemporary Italian thought
One course on political/juridical institutions of modern Italy
One course in geography or economics, anthropology, or folklore

Pre-approved courses include: Anthropology 260, 263P; Art History 200, 244, 245; Architecture and Urban Design C280, C282B; Urban Planning 245; Economics 181B, 190, 241; Film and Television 206A, 218, 219, 220, 270; History M230A, M230B, 231A, 231B, 234A, 234B; Italian 218 through 230B, 256A through 298; Musicology 200A, 260D, 260E, 260F; Philosophy 216, C219, C247, 280; Political Science 220, 231, C246A, 246B; Theater 202D, 202E, 202F, 202G.

The Comprehensive Examination Plan

A comprehensive examination follows completion of M.A. course work. It consists of (a) a written examination of at least three hours based on an individualized reading list, and (b) an oral examination following the written (though not immediately). If a student fails either part of the examination, he or she may be reexamined once more, if that is the recommendation of the examination committee and Chair of the department. In the case of the M.A. student specializing in literature, the Comprehensive Exam in literature may act as gateway to the Ph.D. It amounts to Part I of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam.

The Italian Literature Specialization
The exam here is based on an individualized reading list, prepared by the student in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and a departmental faculty member of their choice. This list will be based on the much larger Comprehensive M.A. Reading List (available from the Graduate Student Officer). The chosen faculty member will chair and help form the M.A. exam committee, composed of three members, all Italian ladder faculty or, with approval of the Graduate Director, of ladder faculty and visiting faculty. The reading list must be submitted for approval to all members of the M.A. exam committee at least one month prior to the exam.

The individualized list will follow these guidelines:

• It must include between 15 and 25 texts, depending on length and complexity, chosen from the comprehensive list. Students can substitute texts not on that list with individual approval.
• The chosen texts must be distributed among at least seven centuries and present a balance of genres.
• The list must be organized into three general categories on the following model:

A literary genre (e.g., the lyric, the novel, epic, comedy, tragedy, autobiography, etc.)

A critical problem or interpretive question (e.g., realism and representation, symbol, myth, allegory, point of view, irony, parody, romanticism, classicism, ideology, commitment, tradition vs. innovation, the status of the signifier, the question of gender, etc.)

A theme (e.g., passion, time and memory, silence, desire, nature, community, male-female relationships, authority, class conflict, war, the representation of the self, etc.)

• Each category must contain at least five texts, spanning at least three centuries. Some texts may occupy more than one category, so long as each category contains five texts that do not.
• Dante's Divina Commedia must be on every student's list.

EXAMPLE A:

Genre: Comedy. Dante, Divina Commedia; Lorenzo de Medici, La Nencia da Barberino; Machiavelli, La mandragola; Goldoni, La locandiera; Dario Fo, Le commedie (selections)

Critical Problem: What is realism? Boccaccio, Il Decamerone; Vico, La scienza nuova; Manzoni, I promessi sposi; Verga, I Malavoglia; Serao, Il paesa di cuccagna; Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal; Aleramo, Una donna; Deledda, Marianna Sirca; Fenoglio, Il partigiano Johnny.

Theme: Passion. Cavalcanti, poesie, Ariosto, Orlando Furioso; Tasso, Aminta; Torquato Accetto, Della dissimulazione onesta; Alfieri, Mirra; Leopardi, Canti; Neera, Teresa; D'Annunzio, Forse che sì forse che no; Marinetti, Teoria e invenzione futurista (selections); Pasolini, Le ceneri di Gramsci; Gruppo 63, I novissimi; Amelia Rosselli, Variazioni belliche

EXAMPLE B:

Genre: The Novel. Foscolo, Ultime Lettere di Jacopo Ortis; Manzoni, I promessi sposi; Verga, I Malavoglia; Neera, Teresa; Deledda, Canne al vento; D'Annunzio, Il piacere; Gadda, Quer pasticciaccio brutto de Via Merulana; Ortese, L'iguana; Calvino, Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore

Critical Problem: Commitment. Guittone d'Arezzo, Rime (selections); Dante, Divina Commedia; Coluccio Salutati, selections; Machiavelli, Il principe; Campanella, La città del sole; Parini, Odi; Gramsci, Lettere dal carcere; Vittorini, Uomini e no; Morante, La storia

Theme: The Representation of the Self. Petrarca, Canzoniere; Leopardi, Canti; Pirandello, Enrico IV; Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno; Ungaretti, Vita di un uomo; Antonia Pozzi, Parole; Zanzotto, La beltà

The exam will present students with a choice of up to three essay questions for each category on the list. The student will answer one question for each category (or three essays of one hour each). One week after the completion of the written exam, a one-hour oral examination with the three members of the exam committee will address the student's performance on the written exam. He or she will also be expected to have a comprehensive grasp of the general development and periodic shifts in Italian literary history. Please consult with your exam director for textbooks, histories, and critical works that may be helpful in preparing for the exam.

Thesis Plan

This plan is recommended only for research-oriented students of exceptional merit. Students who have completed the first year of graduate work with at least a 3.7 grade-point average may be nominated by one of the faculty members of the department for application to the thesis plan. If the nomination is accepted by the faculty, a three-member thesis committee is submitted to the Graduate Division for appointment. At this point the student must have completed Italian 205A, 205B, and at least two other graduate courses in Italian. On acceptance, the thesis committee helps the student choose six more graduate courses in preparation for the thesis.

The thesis must be at least 50 pages long and formatted in accordance with University regulations. It must be submitted by the sixth quarter of graduate work and follow the guidelines of the Policies and Procedures for Thesis and Dissertation Preparation and Filing, available in 330 Powell Library.

Upon submission of the thesis, the student will take an oral examination that tests his or her knowledge in the chosen field and general competence in Italian literature.

Foreign Language Requirement

A reading knowledge of one foreign language other than Italian is required of all M.A. students. The choice of language must be approved by the graduate adviser. Students may demonstrate reading knowledge through departmental examination or successful completion of coursework in that language through at least level 3. This requirement must be met at least one quarter before the Comprehensive Examination.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students must file advancement to candidacy forms for the master's degree no later than the second week of the quarter in which they expect the award of the degree. See the Graduate Student Officer.

Time-to-Degree

The time to the master's degree is two years, or six academic quarters.

Doctoral Degree

Admission

The Ph.D. degree is in Italian Literature. Students may apply by meeting "University minimum requirements for graduate admission" and submitting the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission. Find the application and more detailed information at http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/.

Students who have at least a B.A. degree are entitled to apply directly to the Ph.D. program; they do not have to apply for an M.A. first. (They will, of course, be expected to complete the M.A. requirements en route.)

Applicants who possess an Italian M.A. degree from an American university deemed by this Department to be a peer institution will be credited with their M.A. and will be eligible to enter the Ph.D. program directly. Students with an M.A. degree from an institution in Italy which this department deems to be a peer institution can be admitted directly to the Ph.D. program, but will be required to pass the M.A. Comprehensive Examination no later than the end of their third quarter of graduate study. Students entering the graduate program with a B.A., or with a university degree in a discipline other than Italian literature, will be required to pursue the entire course of the M.A. program, and in some cases additional courses if deemed necessary by the faculty, before passing the Comprehensive Examination. As with all M.A. students, performance on the comprehensive exam will dictate whether they will be allowed to proceed to the Ph.D. program.

Advising

Following completion of the M.A. exam, students will be urged to select, within their first quarter and in consultation with the Graduate Director, a faculty member to serve as their adviser, who may also agree to become the chair of the student's doctoral guidance committee. This doctoral committee must be constituted at least one quarter prior to taking Part II of the Ph.D. written qualifying examinations. This committee prepares and administers Part II of the exam once the ten-course Ph.D. requirement and other preparatory work have been completed.

All students should take Part II of the qualifying exams by the end of their sixth quarter in residence as a Ph.D. student (or no later than six quarters after taking Part I of the qualifying exams, which is equivalent to the M.A. Comprehensive Exam).

Major and Minor Fields

A Ph.D. student will generally select as a major field of study two centuries of Italian literature (medieval, Renaissance/baroque, or modern/contemporary). Two other centuries of Italian literature can comprise the minor field. He or she might also chose a minor field outside of the department if it is closely tied to the major area of specialization and meets with the approval of the entire faculty (eg., cinema, history, art history, etc.). With careful planning, majors and minors may be period based, may deal with a specific genre, movement, theme, or critical question (e.g. lyric poetry, short story, realism, modernism, feminism, allegory, the border, identity, etc.), may address a relationship between Italian literature and another medium (e.g. cinema, painting, music, politics, history, etc.).

Foreign Language Requirement

A reading knowledge of two of the following foreign languages is required: Latin, French, German, or Spanish. Students will demonstrate reading knowledge of their two languages by successful completion of UCLA undergraduate language coursework through at least level 3 or by a departmental placement exam. A language used to satisfy the requirement for the M.A. degree in Italian may be applied toward fulfillment of one of the two language requirements. Language requirements must be satisfied before taking Part II of the qualifying examinations.

Course Requirements

In addition to the courses required for the master's degree, at least ten other quarter courses are required. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program who have not previously taken Italian 205A, 205B, and 225 or their equivalents are required to take them immediately. Students who wish courses taken in another department of university to be deemed equivalent to these must submit a detailed letter of petition addressed to the Director of Graduate Studies. Two relevant courses taught in other graduate programs at UCLA may be counted toward the ten courses required for the Ph.D. in Italian provided that students receive the entire faculty's approval, via a similar letter of petition addressed to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

The M.A. Comprehensive Examination in Italian serves as Part I of the written Ph.D. qualifying examinations.

Part II consists of additional written and oral qualifying examinations. The written and oral exams of Part II must be taken during the same academic year, though not necessarily the same quarter. They should be administered no later than six quarters after completion of the M.A. degree. Students should make preparations for these exams, and receive all necessary approvals, by the end of their fifth quarter in residence. Scheduling these exams is also the responsibility of the student (assisted by the Graduate Student Officer).

Part II of the qualifying exams consists of a written Minor Exam, a written Major Exam, and an Oral Examination. Half of the Oral Examination is devoted to a detailed discussion of the student's Dissertation Prospectus.
Nearing completion of their coursework, students choose an exam-and-dissertation director - a ladder-rank member of the faculty of the Department of Italian - to head a committee of four faculty members. This committee composes and evaluates the exam. One of the four must be an "outside member" - a professor from another department or another UC campus, ideally familiar with the student's work.
Students choose two areas of study (see above), each approved by the exam director and committee at least one month before the exams. The committee approves two suitable reading lists, one of at least 10 to 15 texts for the minor exam, and the other of 20 to 30 texts for the major. Whenever possible, the student's reading list should be structured with a view toward the interests of the upcoming dissertation.

Minor Exam (4 hours): requires answering one comprehensive, multi-textual essay question out of a choice of three, in a single sitting.

Major Exam (6 hours): requires answering two essay questions out of a choice of six, also in a single sitting. The first question will ask for a textual analysis, or close reading of a specific passage, extrapolating information about the author's achievement as a whole as well as broad patterns in Italian literary history. The second question asks for a multi-textual interpretation, comparative or historical in nature.

Oral Exam (2 hours): to be taken no later than one quarter after the two written exams. At least one month before the oral, the student must have chosen and researched a dissertation topic. This work will have resulted in a Dissertation Prospectus of no less than 15 pages, plus a substantial critical bibliography, circulated among the members of the doctoral committee. Close work with the dissertation director, and patient acts of revision, are advised. The first half of the oral examination will discuss the recent written qualifying exams, the second half will focus on the dissertation prospectus. Members of the committee will be especially interested in the cogency and originality of the proposed dissertation topic.
As with all parts of the doctoral exams, a student may pass, fail, or, in the case of a less than satisfactory performance, be scheduled to repeat a variation of the same exam at another date. No exam in the graduate program can be repeated more than once.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are "advanced to candidacy" and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations. A dissertation defense upon completion of the dissertation is not required in the Department of Italian except in extraordinary cases.

Time-to-Degree

Students are given a total of six years to complete their Ph.D. degree beginning from the time they embarked on the M.A.

Incomplete Grades

The grade "I" (Incomplete) is assigned when a student's work is of passing quality but is incomplete for good cause. To remove the "I" the student must complete the work of the course by the end of the following quarter.

Employment and Degree Programs

Graduate students are limited to a maximum of 12 quarters of appointment in academic apprentice teaching titles (teaching assistantships) and a maximum of 18 quarters when a TAship is combined with a research fellowship. Graduate students appointed to any title are limited to a maximum of 50 percent time employment during the academic year. This means that they cannot take on additional employment at UCLA if they have a TAship.