It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that every member of her/his committee receives a copy of this document when a faculty member is asked to serve on a committee. Additional copies are available in the American Studies Office.
The Guidance Committee
1. Each doctoral candidate must form a guidance committee
that consists of four MSU faculty members: one from each area examined
on the comprehensive examinations, and a fourth of the student's choosing.
It is also possible to add an additional member located at another graduate
institution.
2. The students should form her/his guidance committee
as soon as possible but hopefully no later than during the third semester.
The student may petition the director of the program in writing for an
additional semester to constitute the committee.
3. At the guidance committee's first meeting, to be held
ASAP once the committee has been formed, the student and faculty should
agree on courses, language requirements, and tentative dissertation title
that the university's guidance committee form requires. The student,
in conjunction with the major professor, should provide a rough draft of
the form to the Program's office manager. Once it is typed, it is the student's
responsibility to collect the required signatures of the guidance committee
and then return the form to the office manager. In order to facilitate
the work of the guidance committee, the student will prepare a brief (750-1500
word) statement of purpose defining how areas will work together and distribute
it to all committee members prior to the first meeting.
Comprehensive Exams
1. It is the responsibility of this committee to work with
the student in developing the exact course requirements of his/her program.
For more information, see "Rules and Responsibilities for American Studies
Ph.D. Students and Faculty on Ph.D. Guidance Committees."
2. At the first meeting, the guidance committee should
also determine a schedule for taking comprehensive exams and
the format of the exams. Currently there are two options: a four
hour or weekend version; the number and type of question/s to be determined
by each professor giving an exam.
3. Aside from work done for courses, comprehensive exams will
also include examination of readings done for each field. Each faculty
member giving an exam, in consultation with the student, is responsible
for compiling such a list. Approval of reading lists by the student's
committee constitutes final approval. Once the list is agreed
upon it should be filed with the office manager. There will be no changes
in the lists once they are approved unless the committee is reconstituted
upon the initiation of the student. If all three fields are
considered of equal importance, the size of the list should be between
40-60 books. If a field is designated as a major field, the size
of the list should be between 75-150 books.
4. Written comprehensive exams should aim at assessing
broad coverage of a field (trends, methods, breadth, major issues and themes,
chronological coverage where relevant) and should not be directed towards
specific dissertation research. They must be completed within one
year from the date the first exam is taken.
5. Exam copies are provided to all committee members so
they may be informed of the subject matter and scope of the exam, but ONLY
the member administering the exam will grade it. Results of the student's
performance (pass or fail) along with the exam itself should be sent to
the office manager by the faculty member giving the exam.
6. The student has one opportunity to retake a failed exam.
This retake, limited to the same material, must be completed by the end
of the next semester.
7. Within two weeks of passing all of the written comprehensive
exams, the student is to meet with committee for an oral exam to allow
questions from all members on all exams. The purpose of the oral
exam is to allow the student to demonstrate proficiency in areas of the
reading list not specifically addressed by the written exams. Once
this oral exam is passed, the student will have finished her/his comprehensive
exams. If failed, the oral exam may be retaken under the same procedure
regarding written comprehensive exams. (The oral exam will be mandatory
for all students entering the program Fall, l997 and after.
For students admitted prior to that semester, the exam is optional.)
Committee Approval of Dissertation Prospectus
The student will be required to present a dissertation prospectus or
abstract no longer than 10 pages to her/his committee no later than the
semester following the passage of her/his final comprehensive exam.
There will then be another committee meeting in which the committee may
ask questions and make comments about the planned project. Following
questions and comments, the committee may approve or reject the prospectus.
If approved, the student may continue work. If rejected, the student
will have to prepare a second prospectus or abstract.
Foreign Language Requirement
Doctoral candidates will be required to pass a reading proficiency examination in one foreign language. Students who do not wish to take the examination may meet the requirement by satisfactory completion of several foreign language course options. The Program asks that American Studies students taking language courses register for them C-NC (Credit/No-Credit.) If the focus of the student's study is cross-cultural research (involving countries or groups of people in which a language other than English is essential for research), this requirement cannot be waived. If not, the language requirement can be substituted with an additional area of study that is relevant to the student's focus. For more information on the Foreign Language Requirement, see Guidelines for Certification of Foreign Language Proficiency for Graduate Students in the College of Arts and Letters.
August 1998