Ethnic Studies Ph.D. students are required to enroll on a full-time basis (i.e., to carry a minimum enrollment of twelve units of graduate-level courses each quarter) and to maintain a grade point average of 3.2 or better. As part of our Ph.D. program, students obtain an M.A. degree after successfully completing fifty-four units of required coursework, a master's thesis, and defense.

Core Curriculum Requirements

1. Ethnic Studies 200 A-B-C, Core Seminar: All graduate students will be required to take the introductory three-quarter core seminar during the first year in the program. This course covers ethnic studies theories, the history of ethnic studies, and controversies in ethnic studies.
2. Ethnic Studies 210, Research Seminar: This course introduces students to the practice of original discovery research in the field of racial and ethnic studies, including articulating a research problem, placing it within theoretical discussions, selecting appropriate methods, and analyzing data. All graduate students will be required to take ETHN 210 the spring quarter of the first year.
3. Ethnic Studies 230, Departmental Colloquium: This colloquium is a one-unit course and must be taken for a total of six quarters. In Ethnic Studies 230, department faculty and visiting lecturers make presentations about research in progress in our field. All graduate students will be required to take ETHN 230 during the first two years in the program.
4. Ethnic Studies 240, Multidisciplinary Research Methods in Ethnic Studies: A critical introduction to the broad range of methods used in Ethnic Studies research and how they have shaped social constructions of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality. All graduate students will be required to take ETHN 240 during the second quarter in the program.
5. Ethnic Studies 290 A-B, Master's Thesis Preparation: All graduate students are required to write a Master's thesis as part of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies. Students should enroll in thesis preparation courses in the Fall and Spring quarters of the second year of graduate studies.

All doctoral candidates must satisfy the department's graduate committee that they have adequate linguistic competence in one foreign language if it is relevant to their area of research. When students complete all the core requirements and have taken five four-unit elective courses in appropriate areas of disciplines, they are eligible to take the qualifying examination for the Ph.D. degree. The exam is both written and oral; it consists of two parts. Part One tests the student's basic competence and knowledge of ethnic studies scholarship as spelled out in the Department of Ethnic Studies required graduate reading lists. Part Two of the examination requires the submission of a dissertation prospectus. Once students pass the qualifying exam, they may begin dissertation research. Once the committee members are substantially satisfied with the written work, the student, in consultation with the committee, schedules the oral defense of the dissertation; only after a successful defense is the student eligible to receive the Ph.D. degree.