Mar 29, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [Not Current Academic Year. Consult with Your Academic Advisor for Your Catalog Year]

Spanish, PhD


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Admission Requirements


For unconditional admission to the Ph.D. in Spanish, applicants must have earned an M.A. degree in Spanish, or its equivalent, with a minimum grade point average of 3.20 (A = 4.00). Students who have an M.A. degree in a field other than Spanish and are seeking a Ph.D. with an emphasis in literature must take, concurrently with the other courses normally required for the doctoral program, one course from each of the following groups:

  • Hispanic literature of the United States
  • Latin American literature through Modernism
  • Latin American literature since Modernism
  • Peninsular literature through the XVII century
  • Peninsular literature, centuries XVII through XX

Students with an M.A. degree in a field other than Spanish whose emphasis is linguistics will be required to take SPAN 6308 Introduction to Spanish Linguistics, plus one course from each of the following groups:

Applicants must have acceptable scores on the General Aptitude section of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). International applicants must meet English language proficiency requirements as seen on the International Graduate Students website. Three confidential letters of recommendation from professors detailing the potential of the candidate as a graduate student, a statement of purpose in Spanish (500-1000 words) explaining why you wish to pursue a graduate degree, a writing sample (research paper 7-10 pages typed, double-spaced), and official transcripts are also required.

For further information, please call or write:
Department of Hispanic Studies
The University of Houston
3553 Cullen Boulevard Rm 416
Houston, Texas 77204-3062
713 743 3007

 

Degree Requirements


Credit hours required for this degree: 42.0

The Ph.D. in Spanish requires that, beyond the achievement of the master’s degree, students complete a minimum of 36 term hours of approved graduate courses and 6 term hours of dissertation as follows:

Required core courses Cr.   9.
Elective courses Cr. 27.
Dissertation Cr.   6.

Once admitted to the program, no course in which a grade below B- (2.67) is received may be applied toward the Ph.D. degree.

At the end of each student’s first year of course work at the Ph.D. level, a screening procedure will be conducted by all faculty members with whom the student has studied in order to determine whether the individual is progressing satisfactorily toward the degree objective.

  • Core Courses

    Students are required to take:

  • Credit Hours: 3.0
  • Credit Hours: 3.0
  • Credit Hours: 3.0
  •  

    Elective courses

    Ph.D. students must enroll in all 7000-level courses available (exceptions may be authorized by the Graduate Director). The 6000-level Spanish courses listed in the Graduate and Professional Studies catalogue and courses in other departments will be chosen in consultation with the Graduate Director.

     

    Language requirements

    Reading knowledge of one language in addition to Spanish and English is required (in addition to the 42 hours referred to above). Reading knowledge may be demonstrated in one of the following ways:

    Four college terms at the undergraduate level (or equivalent proficiency as demonstrated by testing) in another Romance language.

    Reading knowledge of Latin or any other approved language, as demonstrated either by satisfactory scores on the Educational Testing Service examinations for that language, or the completion of two terms of graduate reading courses in the language chosen with a grade of B- or higher.

     

    Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam

    A written examination over different areas in literature and linguistics as well as an oral examination must be successfully taken before admission to candidacy.

     

    Ph.D. Dissertation

    The student must develop a dissertation on a topic in literature which can be considered to be original and of significance to scholarship.

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