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

Our Ph.D. program prepares scholars to rigorously engage research in ethnic studies in a comparative and relational context that employs sound and diverse methodologies. First- and second-year students take our core seminar and methodology courses plus at least four additional elective seminar courses appropriate to their interests and research needs.

• Core Seminar: Ethnic Studies 200 A-B-C; first year students enroll in this three quarter sequence which covers the genealogy of critical racial and ethnic studies (its antecedents and development as a distinct and interdisciplinary method of inquiry); interdisciplinarity and knowledge production in ethnic studies; and research in ethnic studies (Pro Seminar).
  
  
• Department Colloquium: Ethnic Studies 230, Department faculty and visiting lecturers make presentations about research in progress in our field. All graduate students take this one unit course each quarter during the first two years in the program.
  
  
• Research Methods: All graduate students take the three-quarter core research methods course during their first year in the program:
  
  
  • ETHN 240, Historical Methods and Archives
  • ETHN 241, Cultural Studies and Cultural Production
  • ETHN 242, Qualitative Methods / Ethnography.
    
    
• Master’s Thesis: All graduate students write a Master’s thesis as part of the requirements for the Master of Arts in ethnic studies. Students enroll in Master’s Thesis Preparation, Ethnic Studies 290 A-B, in the Fall and Spring quarters of the second year of graduate study. Students obtain the M.A. degree after successfully completing fifty-four units of required coursework, a master’s thesis, and defense.
  
  
• Language Requirement: Doctoral candidates must have adequate linguistic competence in one foreign language if it is relevant to their area of research.
  
  
• Doctoral Candidacy: When students complete all the core requirements, they are eligible to take the qualifying examination for the Ph.D. degree, which includes oral and written components and the preparation of the dissertation prospectus. Once students pass the qualifying exam, they begin dissertation research.

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. More detailed information about the program of study, committee formation, and the Graduate Reading List is available in the Graduate Student Handbook.