Graduate Program

Director of Graduate Studies
Kathryn Dudley

Graduate Registrar
Victorine Shepard

To apply online, please click here.

Graduate Courses
Graduate Students
Recent Dissertations

Fields of Study
Fields include American literature, history, the arts and material culture, philosophy, cultural theory, and the social sciences.

Special Admissions Requirement
A writing sample is required with the application. It should be academic in content and 20 pages in length.

Beginning with the entering class of 2005, students will be required to show a proficiency in a language other than English by conducting research in that language as a component of one of the courses taken during the first two years.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree
During the first two years of study students are required to take twelve term courses; at least two of these each year must be in American Studies. The student's program will be decided in consultation with the adviser and the director of graduate studies. In each of the two years, the student should take at least one seminar devoted to research or requiring a substantial original paper, and must achieve two grades of Honors, with an average overall of High Pass. After completing the language requirement, a student should schedule the oral qualifying examinations in four fields, in the fifth term of study. Preparation, submission, and approval of the dissertation prospectus are normally completed by the end of the sixth term with a final deadline at the end of the seventh term. Students are admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. at the end of the third year, upon completion of all predissertation requirements, including the prospectus. Students in American Studies teach in the third and fourth years of study.

Combined Ph.D. Program: American Studies and African American Studies
The American Studies Program also offers, in conjunction with the Department of African American Studies, a combined Ph.D. in American Studies and African American Studies. This combined degree is most appropriate for students who intend to concentrate in and write a dissertation on any aspect of African American history, literature, or culture in the United States and other parts of the Americas. Applicants to the joint program must indicate on their application that they are applying both to American Studies and African American Studies. All documentation within the application should include this information. For further details, see African American Studies.

American Studies and Film Studies
The Department of American Studies also offers, in conjunction with the Program in Film Studies, a joint Ph.D. in American Studies and Film Studies. For further details, see Film Studies. Applicants to the joint program must indicate on their application that they are applying both to Film Studies and to American Studies. All documentation within the application should include this information.

Master's Degrees
M.Phil. See Graduate School requirements.

M.A. (en route to the Ph.D.). The M.A. is granted upon the completion of six term courses (two grades must be Honors and the other four grades must average High Pass), and the successful completion of the first part of the language requirement. It can be petitioned for in the term following completion of the requirements.

Public Humanities Concentration. The M.A. in Public Humanities is granted upon the completion of all requirements for the en route M.A. Of the six term courses required, students must take four Public Humanities (“PH”) courses, including AMST 903, 904, 905.

Master's Degree Program. The basic requirements for this terminal degree are six term courses, including a special writing project, and the successful completion of the first stage of the language examination. The project involves the submission of substantial written work either in conjunction with one course or as a tutorial that substitutes for one course. Students must earn a grade of Honors in two of their courses and an average grade of High Pass in the others. There is no financial support for this degree.

Student Liaison
Due to the large number of inquiries, we are unable to answer individual questions regarding assessments of prospective applicants. To talk to a graduate student about the program, please email Ryan Brasseaux <ryan.brasseaux@yale.edu>, a graduate student and our Student Liaison. If you are planning to visit and would like to sit in on a class, email the instructor and request permission. Thank you for your interest in American Studies.

There is no printed brochure for the program, all information on American Studies is available through this and other Yale University and Graduate School web sites.

Next: Undergraduate Studies