Applicable only to students admitted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Theater and Performance Studies
 

Doctoral Degree

Admission

Program Name

Theater and Performance Studies

Address

103 East Melnitz
Box 951622
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1622 

Phone

(310) 206-8441 

Email

theatergrad@tft.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

Ph.D. 

Admission Limited to

Fall, Winter, Spring 

Deadline to apply

December 10th 

GRE (General and/or Subject)

GRE: General 

Letters of Recommendation 

3 

Other Requirements

Ph.D.: Departmental application; statement of purpose indicating areas of interest appropriate to the doctoral degree; a thesis or other writing samples; evidence of potential as a practicing scholar as indicated by breadth and depth of advanced coursework in history, theory, criticism; as well as the imagination and quality of scholarly writing and academic achievements; and awards, scholarships, and fellowships. In addition, candidates should demonstrate awareness and experience in one of the major fields of theater. Applicants may be admitted with an MFA, MA, or BA degree.

Applicants are advised that all records submitted in support of an application, including creative work (original or otherwise), are not returnable nor is the department responsible for such material. 

Advising

In most instances, the chair of the appropriate graduate committee acts as principal adviser to students in the program, although some students may be assigned by the chair to other members of the faculty. Each program has a specific procedure and calendar for assignment of each student's committee. Students should consult the adviser for this information.

Students meet with their adviser for program planning prior to the beginning of each quarter and again early in each quarter for formal approval of the study list. Students are urged to confer with their adviser as frequently as necessary to discuss program changes, petitions, and other concerns.

Assessment of student academic progress in the program is made by the appropriate committee during the final examination week of each quarter. The adviser then notifies students of problems, when warranted, in writing and assists in planning a solution. Normally, committee recommendations are referred directly to the chair of the department, though in some instances, special problems may be referred to the faculty for recommendation of action to the chair.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

The Ph.D. student in theater is expected to be knowledgeable regarding theater history and theory, critical methods, theatrical production, and dramatic literature.

Foreign Language Requirement

Mastery of one foreign language approved by the Ph.D. Committee is required and must be demonstrated by one of the following methods: (1) completion of a level 5 course or the equivalent with a minimum grade of C, in any foreign language, (2) passing a UCLA language examination given by a faculty member in any foreign language department, or (3) passing a departmental language examination given by a member of the department's Graduate Foreign Language Committee. The foreign language requirement may be completed after admission to the Ph.D. program; however, students are encouraged to complete five quarters or three semesters of a foreign language appropriate to Ph.D. research objectives prior to admission. Language courses taken toward fulfillment of the language requirement are not counted toward the degree.

Course Requirements

During the first six quarters (two academic years), students must complete a minimum of 12 graduate courses (200- or 500- level) and Theater 220. Theater 216A, 216B, 216C are required. The remaining nine courses are elective graduate courses, seminars, or tutorials. Of these electives, no more than four may be taken outside the department and no more than two may be tutorials. In addition, the distribution of electives must include at least one each in the areas of Western or non-Western theater study. These electives must augment the required courses so as to constitute a definable area of study associated with the dissertation topic. The dissertation is a historical, critical, analytical, or experimental study of a theater topic. A screening examination is administered during the first week of the Fall Quarter based on a reading list supplied at the time of application. Results of this examination may require the completion of background courses.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experience is encouraged but not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

After completion of language and course requirements, students are required to pass a written qualifying examination scheduled for three days followed by one oral examination. Students first constitute an examination committee, which may also serve as the doctoral committee, including the potential dissertation adviser. Students submit a short description of the dissertation project to the Critical Studies Committee for review. Subsequent to this submission, students, in consultation with the Committee and the potential adviser, constitute the proposed Ph.D. examination committee, consisting of a minimum of four professors, of whom at least three must be from the department and at least one must be from another department whose research is relevant to the dissertation topic.

The written examinations concentrate on three subject areas that will inform the dissertation and constitute the main foci of the student's specialization. These areas may be chosen from: a field of critical theory; a historical period; the performance of a genre, or of social or cultural traditions of a given geographical region. The student, together with the examination committee, prepares a bibliography in each of the three fields, covering the leading concepts, methodologies and examples seminal to the field. Along with the bibliographies, the student also composes a dissertation prospectus of approximately 25-30 pages. The prospectus argues for the topic of the dissertation and for the pertinence of the three fields to the area of the dissertation, and concludes in a brief description of the proposed chapters. Both the prospectus and the bibliographies must be approved by the examination committee at least one quarter prior to scheduling the examinations. The examination questions are derived from these materials.

Each segment of the written examination is dedicated to one of the fields. The written examination is a take-home examination. The writing period for the examination will not exceed one week. The page limit of the examination will not exceed thirty pages. The completed examinations will be distributed to the committee.

Students who pass the written examinations submit a departmentally-approved nomination of doctoral committee to the Graduate Division for approval. Upon approval, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is scheduled. This examination focuses on the materials in the prospectus, including further discussion of the three scholarly fields identified as pertinent to the student.

If the student fails the doctoral examinations, there is one opportunity to retake them.

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.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

The maximum time for completion of degree requirements is 18 quarters, with the following timelines:

From graduate admission to the written and oral qualifying examination: six quarters.

From graduate admission to the approval of the dissertation prospectus: three to six quarters.

From approval of the dissertation prospectus to the oral qualifying examination: one quarter.

From advancement to candidacy to the final oral examination: three quarters.

From graduate admission to the award of the degree: 18 quarters.

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for probation/termination whose various creative projects or work in courses in research methodology and history seminars are indicative of insufficient talent, development, imagination or motivation. If a student's work in this area is found to be insufficient, the student is informed of the recommendation by the appropriate committee and placed on probation by the department. During the following term the student must provide sufficient evidence of improvement to remove the probationary status. If not, the committee recommends termination to the faculty and chair of the department.

A student may appeal a recommendation for termination through the following steps:

(1) The student submits to the departmental chair and the chair of the appropriate committee a written appeal stating the specific causes for reconsideration.

(2) The chair of the committee submits a response to the departmental chair and the student.

(3) The departmental chair appoints an ad hoc committee consisting of three tenured members of the faculty to review the student's appeal and committee's response. The ad hoc committee also meets separately with the student and the committee. The ad hoc committee forwards its written recommendation to the departmental chair.

(4) The departmental chair makes the departmental recommendation and informs the student and the Graduate Division of the decision in writing.

(5) A departmental faculty representative may be present at each review hearing within the department.

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