Degree Requirements
The requirements listed below are special to this department and
must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the
Graduate School. For inquiries into the Department and the Graduate degrees offered please contact 212-854-2308 or italian@columbia.edu.
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
For the Free-Standing M.A. Degree
Courses: A total of ten one-term courses (two Residence Units): (1) eight
graduate literature/culture courses within the department taken for a letter
grade, of which at least three must be in the period before 1600 and at least
three in the period after 1600; substitutions of courses from other departments
must be approved by the DGS; (2) one one-term course from another department
for R credit, chosen in consultation with the DGS; (3) at least one of the
following three courses: Italian W4000 (Stylistics); Italian W4012 (Laboratorio
di Scrittura); Italian W4018 (Laboratorio di Traduzione); this course may be
taken for R credit.
Languages: A reading knowledge of Latin or German or a Romance language
other than Italian, satisfied by passing a written proficiency examination or by completing
an approved course (Intermediate II level or higher) with a minimum grade of B-.
Part-Time Study
The M.A. degree may be earned through a program
of part-time study. The course and language requirements are the same as for
the full-time M.A. degree. All part-time students must complete the M.A. degree
requirements within four years. Programs should be planned in consultation with
the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).
For the M.A./M. Phil./Ph.D. Degrees
For
the M.A. Degree:
Course requirements: A total of ten one-term courses (two Residence Units):
(1) eight graduate literature/culture courses within the department taken for a
letter grade, of which at least three must be in the period before 1600 and at
least three in the period after 1600; substitutions of courses from other
departments or from the Inter-University
Doctoral Consortium must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies
(DGS); (2) one one-term course from another department for R credit, chosen in
consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS); (3) at least one of
the following three courses: Italian W4000 (Stylistics); Italian W4012
(Laboratorio di Scrittura); Italian W4018 (Laboratorio di Traduzione); this
course may be taken for R credit.
Languages: A reading knowledge of Latin or German or a Romance language
other than Italian, satisfied by passing a written proficiency examination or by completing
an approved course (Intermediate II level or higher) with a minimum grade of B-.
The M.A./M.Phil./Ph.D. program
is designed to allow a well-prepared student to earn the M.A. degree within one
academic year of full-time study. A student who postpones completing the
requirements for the M.A. degree while accumulating Residence Units toward the
M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees does so at his or her own risk.
For the M.Phil. Degree
Required courses: Students who earned the M.A. degree elsewhere must fulfill
the same requirements during their first year of residence as Columbia M.A.
candidates. Students holding the M.A. degree in Italian from Columbia take eight one-term courses of which
six must be taken within the department and taken for a letter grade.
Substitutions of courses from other departments or from the Inter-University
Doctoral Consortium must be approved
by the DGS. PEDG G4000. International Language Pedagogy, the autumn seminar
(taken Pass/Fail), is required for students who, in the second year of the
program, are beginning the teaching fellowship in the Italian Language Program
and are responsible for teaching Elementary Italian to undergraduates. The
seminar does not fulfill any other M.Phil. course requirement.
Languages: A reading knowledge of Latin and either German or a Romance
language other than Italian, satisfied by passing written examinations or by
the completion of approved courses with a minimum grade of B-.
Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of the
department for two years. As a rule, in the second, and third years
of study, students gain exposure to teaching through participation in the
language program. Students who are interested in broadening their teaching
apprenticeships are eligible to teach in the Core Program once they have
received the M.Phil. Students may only apply to be a preceptor if they have or
expect to have the M.Phil. by the May prior to being appointed as a preceptor,
and if they are not past their sixth year of registration during the first year
of the preceptorship. Students may not hold instructional appointments after
year seven.
Examinations: On completion of all course work and at least
two Residence Units beyond the M.A. degree, and satisfaction of the language
requirement, the candidate takes the pre-oral and oral qualifying examinations on Italian literature.
The M. Phil. Exam in the Italian Department is intended to help students make
the transition from a general acquaintance with Italian literature and culture,
as acquired through course work and independent reading, to the definition of
some specific research interests, which may include the preliminary idea of
what will ultimately become the dissertation.
The revised general Reading List of the Italian Department
may serve students as an auxiliary and optional tool for the identification of
the above-mentioned interests. Each
student will prepare three individual reading lists pertaining to three
different fields.One field will have a
broadly conceptual and methodological dimension; the other two will be
chronologically complementary, meaning that if two of the three fields
fall before 1600 the third will fall after 1600 and vice versa. The M.
Phil. Proposal, then, contains the titles of the three fields and a
bibliography for each one.The bibliography is a specialized
reading list of primary and secondary texts; the secondary texts reflect
the critical methodologies that the candidate has found particularly
important. The bibliographies are intended to be the platform for a
discussion of the ideas that have proved most significant in shaping the
critical voice of the candidate.
Three faculty members chosen by the student will oversee the whole exam.For
the pre-oral part, each professor will
provide the student with two questions, of which the student will choose
one.
The student will then write three take-home papers, with a minimum
length of
five pages each, all three to be written over the course of ten days.
The oral
part of the exam, covering all three fields, will be taken at a date
between two and six weeks from the successful completion of the
pre-oral.
Upon
passing the oral examination successfully and having completed six
Residence Units
in the Graduate School (including any advanced standing)
the candidate is certified for the award of the M.Phil. degree. In
accordance with GSAS regulations all work for the M.Phil. degree must be
completed within four years (unless the student received two Residence
Units of advanced standing, in which case all degree requirements must
be completed within three years).
For the Ph.D. Degree
Candidacy for the Ph.D. degree is contingent on the fulfillment of all
M.Phil. requirements and approval of the proposed dissertation.
Required courses: Students, if they have not done so prior to completion of
the M.Phil. degree, should register for one of the following courses: ITAL
G9102. Research in Late Medieval and Renaissance Literature or ITAL G9103.
Research in Modern and Contemporary Literature. Students register for this
course, which may be taken for R credit, during the semester when they prepare
the dissertation proposal (prospectus) under the supervision of a potential
sponsor.
Dissertation: No later than three months after
successful completion of the M.Phil. degree, the student submits the
dissertation prospectus (no more than ten pages, plus annotated bibliography),
to be approved at a colloquium by a committee of three faculty members
including the sponsor and second reader from the department. The dissertation
is to be prepared, defended, and deposited according to the regulations of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Financial Aid
A comprehensive program of financial aid, including
fellowships and appointments in teaching, is available to Ph.D. students. After
the first year, all Ph.D. students admitted to the program receive annually the
prevailing stipend and appropriate tuition and health fees through the fifth
year, provided that they remain in good academic standing. If students receive
a year of advanced standing they are entitled to four years of fellowship
funding. Students holding fellowships are expected to follow the Graduate School regulations on financial aid, to
maintain a high standard of academic excellence in all courses and to complete
all departmental requirements on schedule.
