About PhD Program,
In New Orleans and Louisiana, French is a living language. In no other city or state in the Union is French culture so integrally built into the urban fabric and its heritage still so vitally in play. The strong appeal of our program both nationally and internationally demonstrates that place matters: students who choose Tulane understand the compelling logic of pursuing their passion in a city so thoroughly steeped in its Francophone past. Our location at the northern tip of the Caribbean, our overlap with Francophone communities, our regional history, and our city’s archives offer significant untapped resources for research on New Orleans, Louisiana, the Caribbean, the French Atlantic, and the rest of the Francophone world.
With an international faculty covering a broad range of research and teaching interests, our PhD program in French Studies lets you choose from a rich variety of courses and encourages you to approach the study of language, literature, and civilization through transhistorical and cross-cultural perspectives. Our small classes and seminars allow for an enhanced student experience and students have the opportunity to explore rich archival resources on campus and in the city, including the Hogan Jazz Archives, the Amistad Research Center (primary source materials pertaining to the history of America’s ethnic minorities, race relations, and civil rights), the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Cabildo (formerly the seat of the Spanish government), the New Orleans Public Library and the New Orleans Notarial Archives (documents in French dating to the early eighteenth century). They also benefit from the linguistic laboratory that is “Acadiana,” where they can do fieldwork on the region’s vernacular varieties of French and form a distinctive perspective marked by a focus on the local as it is shaped by, and in turn helps to shape, the global.
While Tulane’s location gives students a privileged vantage point from which to study French, Creole, or Cajun cultures and literature, it can also take you places. In recent years, our graduate students have accepted tenure-track and instructional positions at Ohio State University, The College of William and Mary, Jacksonville University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Central Arkansas, Princeton University, and Columbia University.
The PhD program is fully funded for 5 years. Students coming with an MA have the option of transferring additional credits and completing their PhD in 4 years. Students admitted to the program receive full tuition remission and stipend. They also have the opportunity to apply for competitive summer research funding through the Beth Poe Travel Grant (currently worth $5000) and the Summer Merit Fellowship Award (up to $5000), and for conference travel grants during the school year of up to $2250 annually (through the GSSA Fund, the Land Fund, and the Alfred Mercier and Lafcadio Hearn Travel Grants).
PhD Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
The Ph.D. builds on a solid core of course work in French Studies and includes as well a concentration in an interdisciplinary subfield that may be fulfilled entirely or in part through courses taken in other departments or programs. The degree is interdisciplinary and integrative, drawing on diverse fields for a broad methodological base.
Students must complete a minimum of 54 credit hours, including transfer work and work already presented for the M.A. degree. For students entering with a B.A., it is expected that course work will be completed by the beginning of the third year of study. Students will graduate with a Ph.D. in French Studies and a concentration in one of five integrated areas:
- Visual cultures and technologies. Courses in film, urbanism, new media, performance
- European studies. Courses in human rights; political, cultural and institutional histories; Islam in Europe; medical anthropology and ethno-psychiatry
- Francophone colonial and post-colonial studies. Courses in Atlantic, Caribbean and African area studies; Creole(s) and creolization; Arabic and Islamic studies
- Language and identity. Courses in theory, philosophy, ethics and law, minority languages and identities, world languages and literatures
- Courses to include Survey of French Linguistics (FREN 6070), History of the French Language (FREN 6210), Field Research on French in Louisiana (FREN 6110), Special Problems in French Linguistics (FREN 6910), Translation Theory and Practice (FREN 6160), and courses in the Linguistics program (any course with a LING prefix).
The Ph.D. will be conferred on the basis of completed course work, qualifying exams, and reading competence in two languages pertinent to field of study, such as Arabic, Creole (both taught within the Department), Spanish, Italian, Latin, or German.
PhD Funding Coverage,
During their penultimate year of financial support, students may submit an application to receive their final year of support in the form of a fellowship instead of a teaching or research assistantship. The application should include the following elements:
- A list of degree requirements that have already been satisfied, along with the dates when each was completed, to include (1) completion of required course work, (2) passing of qualifying examinations, (3) passing of language examinations or granting of equivalencies, (4) defense of dissertation prospectus. If any of these requirements remain to be satisfied, the applicant should list an anticipated date of completion
- A list of grants or fellowships received or applied for at the graduate level
- A summary of research for the dissertation completed to date
- A description of the work to be carried out during the fellowship period
- A timeline for completing the work
- An anticipated dissertation defense date
- A current copy of the applicant’s curriculum vitae
All materials should be submitted electronically to the director of graduate studies, with a copy to the chair of the Department of French and Italian, by January 31 of the penultimate year of support.
Among the criteria that will be considered in evaluating applications are
- Progress to degree: preference will generally be given to students who have achieved ABD status or who will have achieved it by the end of the academic year preceding the fellowship year
- Evidence of efforts to secure funding from sources outside Tulane or the Department of French and Italian
- Academic performance as demonstrated through course work and qualifying examinations
- Responsible and professional execution of teaching duties or other duties assigned by the department
- Participation in departmental events such as guest lectures, symposia, and journées d’étude.
Application Requirement,
A complete application to the Ph.D. program in French includes: – Application form and fees – GRE scores (unless waived by the department; please consult the department website) – A Statement of purpose (Application essay) – At least three letters of recommendation – Writing sample (in French or English) – Official transcripts – Minimum 3.0 GPA score; 3.5 in major – International students who earned their Bachelor’s or Master’s from an institution outside the U.S. and whose native language is not English must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
Application Deadline,
Jan 13, 2025
Application Fee,
Application Fee : $40 for undergraduate, $50 for graduate
