About PhD Program,
The Graduate Program in Art History offers a full-time Ph.D. that is designed to prepare our graduates for academic research and teaching, work in museums and beyond, and other careers in the visual arts. Areas in which we currently offer coursework and advising are: Global Modern and Contemporary, African American and African Diaspora, Caribbean, Early Modern, Asian, and Ancient and Medieval.
We are a mid-size department, with ten full-time faculty members,1 full-time Weinberg College Fellow, several visiting lecturers who expand the department’s disciplinary offerings, and several affiliated faculty. Our Department’s comparative and cross-disciplinary orientation offers ample opportunity for interdisciplinary work, which is amplified by programs and clusters across Weinberg College and within The Graduate School.
Our highly ranked program is intellectually rigorous and committed to supporting students throughout their training. Roughly 35 graduate students enjoy close interaction with faculty members of worldwide renown who maintain active research and publishing profiles. Our curriculum is designed to make the most of our local resources, from courses at the University of Chicago to holdings at the Newberry Library. Our graduate students also have the opportunity to garner experience working within departments at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and our own Block Museum of Art.
Generously supported by The Graduate School and the Weinberg College, the department provides its Ph.D. students with full financial aid for five years as well as travel grants for conference presentations and archival research. In addition, the summer before the beginning of their second year, graduates in our program travel abroad—Beijing, Beirut, and Madrid have been recent destinations—for an intensive two-week faculty-led seminar. Such experiences are one part of the extensive scholarly training, mentorship, pedagogical guidance, and assistance on the job market that we provide for our graduate students. We are proud of our placement record and of our record of national and international fellowships for predoctoral study.
The graduate pages of this website provide a wealth of resources—administrative and academic—for current students and alumni. The Graduate Student Program Handbook covers a wealth of information about the department. They are also intended to introduce prospectives to our doctoral program, provide faculty profiles, departmental philosophy, and application requirements. Potential applicants are advised to fully acquaint themselves with these materials and to contact our department at art-history@northwestern.edu, with any questions not answered in these pages.
PhD Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
When reviewing applications to the Art History Program, the Department considers the applicant’s:
- Strength of the statement of purpose, which should demonstrate the applicant’s ability to compellingly frame his or her intended intervention within the discipline.
- Fit with the geographical, temporal, and methodological orientation of our tenured and tenure-track faculty.
- Abilities in art historical research and independence of thought, as demonstrated in the writing sample.
- Breadth and sophistication of undergraduate (and master’s level) art historical training.
- Extent of foreign language preparation in languages appropriate to area of concentration.
PhD Funding Coverage,
TGS and its graduate programs offer a wide array of financial support for doctoral students, who are typically fully-funded for four quarters per year for minimum of five years. Master’s students may receive scholarships or a student loan. MFA students can also apply for fellowships and assistantships.
TGS offers funding from annually-allocated award funds, endowed fellowships, foundations and other private support, as well as federal research and training grants.
Students are nominated for the prestigious Presidential Fellowship by their graduate program. Presidential Fellows are students who promise to combine outstanding intellectual or creative ability with the capacity to play an important leadership role in their disciplines and beyond.
Application Requirement,
- Completed application. This must be received by December 1 for admission the following September, and includes a mandatoryapplication fee that must be paid online.
- Be sure to fill out the Academic Statement portion of the online application. The Academic Statement should clearly articulate your research interests and why you are interested in working with particular faculty. The Personal Statement is optional.
- For foreign applicants: TOEFL or IELTS scores. TOEFL or IELTS must have been taken no more than two years before the intended quarter of entry. Send scores to The Graduate School with Institution Code 1565. For more information about test scores, see The Graduate School’s website, here. For Teaching Assistantships, applicants must fulfill The Graduate School’s spoken English proficiency requirement. For more information on this requirement, click here.
- Writing sample such as a research paper demonstrating the applicant’s abilities and interests. Sample must be under 30 pages long and be unedited, original work (e.g. not a published article).Writing samples must be submitted online via the application portal; samples sent directly to the department will not be accepted.
- Two letters of recommendation. Recommendations for applicants from non-English speaking countries must be submitted in their original language, with an English translation appended. Letters of recommendation must be submitted online.
- Electronic copies of transcripts from all colleges and graduate programs attended by the applicant will be submitted during the online application process. These may be official or unofficial transcripts. Please note that, while unofficial transcripts will suffice for the application, all admitted and enrolled students will turn in official, hardcopies of their transcripts before beginning courses at Northwestern University.
- All applications must be completed and submitted by December 1* to be considered. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Please see our Frequently Asked Questions about this process.
Application Deadline,
Dec 01, 2024
Application Fee
To apply for admission, the application fee is $95 and is non-refundable
