Graduate Programs

Graduate News

Congratulations to Marcel Widzisz, PhD 2006!

Congratulations to Marcel Widzisz (PhD 2006), who has just accepted a tenure-track position at St. John's College in Annapolis - one of the few schools in the world where everyone studies ancient Greek!

National Geographic TV special Sun, June 8 features grad student's project
Dan Davis with Robert Ballard in the Black Sea

Dan writes from Ierapetra, Crete: "This Sunday night, National Geographic will air a 1-hour special called "Ghost Ships of the Black Sea," which they shot last summer. It's about a project I've been involved with in the Black Sea using hi-tech vehicles to remotely excavate shipwrecks, and for the first time! Ground breaking stuff. I think people will enjoy it. It aired for the first time Tuesday night, then Wednesday, and the feedback was fantastic."

Graduate Study in Classics

Objectives of Graduate Work in Classics
Classics is an interdisciplinary field of study which comprises all areas of classical antiquity: literature, history, linguistics, art and archaeology, philosophy, and religion. Though every student will have particular areas of concentration and interest, our programs strive to acquaint students with the diversity of human experience in Greece and Rome and to make them effective in transmitting this experience to modern society. The programs are designed to help students learn skills of independent research and investigation, to sharpen their interpretive and critical abilities, and to provide them with the technical competence needed for their profession.

Through effective teaching and innovation, the Department's undergraduate enrollment now is among the largest in the U.S. Therefore, besides the obvious benefit of a large and diverse graduate faculty, our graduate students have the additional advantage--through teaching and observation--of learning firsthand about the challenges of maintaining the Classics in the modern American university. Since our graduate students are well prepared to meet these challenges, the placement record of our Ph.D.s has been strong and we continue to put a great deal of effort into placement.

We advise prospective applicants, however, to be realistic in their expectations and to be aware of the current job market for Ph.D.s in Classics, and in the humanities and social sciences in general. Successful graduate study requires a high degree of self-motivation, self-discipline and openness to new and varied ways at looking at old things. The Ph.D. marks only the beginning of a classicist's education. We encourage you to think of our graduate program as a setting designed to enable you to explore productively many aspects of antiquity on your own.

Degrees
The graduate program of the Department of Classics offers the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Classics. The area of concentration is left to the student's own choice, although there are certain general requirements designed to ensure familiarity with the basic areas of pertinent knowledge. The Department offers Ph.D. concentrations in Classical Language and Literature, Ancient Philosophy, Ancient History, and Classical Archaeology.

Note: A Master's degree is not necessary for teaching certification, and if a student wishes to proceed directly from a B.A. to certification, he or she should contact the Latin Certification Advisor in the Department of Classics. Some students who earn an M.A. in Classics choose to acquire an additional eighteen hours in the College of Education to qualify for a Texas Certificate of Education. Nine of the additional hours involve supervised practice teaching on the secondary level.

The Graduate Faculty and Students
The Classics graduate faculty at The University of Texas is one of the largest and most versatile in the country (over 25 colleagues). Their interests encompass the whole spectrum of approaches to classical antiquity and its contributions to western civilization. Visiting professors and lecturers, colloquia and special programs further challenge the faculty and students in Classics with current scholarship and criticism. 

The Department strives to foster a close association between its full-time faculty and the graduate students in residence. The favorable ratio of graduate students to faculty means we can give our students close and caring guidance as they pursue individual areas of study in which a number of faculty are expert. Informal readings and colloquia by departmental faculty and graduate students provide frequent opportunities for social contact and exchange of ideas outside of organized seminars. Recent conferences have addressed such themes as women in ancient Greece, performance theory, Philodemus, Homer and the Homeric tradition, and ancient religion and economy (the last organized by graduate students). 

The diversity and quality of the graduate students is another asset of the program. The program is selective: we now enroll 7-10 new students per year. The Department also encourages and supports students to take advantage of opportunities for study abroad. This includes study in Germany, Great Britain, Greece, and Italy on Fulbright, DAAD, and other fellowships (such as the special arrangement between The University of Texas and the Free University of Berlin). The University contributes to the activities of both the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and the American Academy in Rome, and students are encouraged to spend a year or a summer at one of these institutions. Our students have had a strong record in obtaining competitive fellowships awarded by the ASCSA.

A Final Word
While no graduate program is perfect, and no graduate program can guarantee its Ph.D.s a job, we believe that our program has special strengths: its interdisciplinary nature, the close and friendly guidance faculty can give to students, a strong sense of  collegiality among the students themselves, the considerable resources of the University, and the useful preparation for teaching available in a large and diverse undergraduate teaching program. We regularly promote our graduate  students as emerging scholars by encouraging them to give papers at conferences and submit articles and reviews to Classical journals, by inviting them to participate in editing projects and  in archaeological field research and publication, and by supporting such activities as graduate student conferences. Feel free to write us and to make inquiries.