THE MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN CLASSICS

Prospective master's students in classics have a variety of reasons for earning an MA. All want the intellectual and aesthetic gratification of close engagement with the classical humanities, simultaneously source for and alien to much of our modern Western way of thought. Some want preparation for PhD-level graduate study, either in classics or in a field where a foundation in classics is valuable: medieval to early modern literature and history; religious studies, theology, and church history; classical and biblical archaeology; museum studies, art history, and the like. Some want a capstone to their undergraduate studies, for its own sake or before turning to professional programs in other fields; for instance, law, medicine, library and information science, business, the ministry or priesthood. Some will go on to professional preparation for precollege teaching in Latin or humanities.

The Master of Arts program in classics at the University of Kentucky can satisfy any of these goals. Its purposes are four:

Unusual strengths of our MA progam in Classics at UK include training in Latinitas viva offered by the UK Institute for Latin Studies and training in humanities computing as it relates to teaching and research in the field of Classics.

Program Requirements

Here is a general outline of the requirements and procedures for successful completion of the Master of Arts in Classics. Everything that appears below is subject to the rules of the Graduate School.

I. Admission.

General requirements for admission to the Graduate School can be found in the Graduate School Bulletin. (See especially the section for prospective graduate students.) The requirements for admission to the program in Classics are (A) a combined score of 1000 on any two of the three parts of the Graduate Record Examination and (B) an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale. The Director of Graduate Studies may admit students with lower GRE scores or an undergraduate grade point average below 3.0 if, on the basis of a student's last two years of work, classics grades, or general academic competence, he or she believes the student capable of successful graduate work.

The department also requires from each applicant a two- or three-paragraph statement describing his or her reasons for seeking a master's degree and three letters of reference from former professors or teachers. There is no special form to be filled out for letters of reference. All of these may be sent via email by Feb. 1 to the Director of Graduate Studies, classics at lsv.uky.edu, or by regular mail to:

Director of Graduate Studies
Division of Classics, MCLLC - POT 1055
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0027

If an applicant wants to be considered for financial aid (i.e., a fellowship or an assistantship), he or she should indicate that in the opening sentence of the personal statement and should try to have all required materials in the Director of Graduate Studies' hands by 1 February.

An undergraduate major in classics, Latin, or Greek is not required for admission, but the department advises that entering students normally have completed at least six semesters of either Latin or Greek and four semesters of the other language. Students lacking sufficient preparation in the languages may be required to remedy deficiencies by course work that does not carry full graduate credit. (Normally the department will consider two language courses at the undergraduate level the equivalent of one course at the graduate level.)

II. Requirements for the MA Degree.

The Division offers the M.A. degree under two plans. Students may choose either one. Plan A requires completion of 24 semester credit hours of graduate course work, an approved thesis, and final examination consisting of an oral examination on the thesis and an abbreviated written comprehensive examination. Plan B requires completion of 30 semester credit hours of graduate course work and the passing of a final written comprehensive exam. A student must earn at least ha;f of the semester credit hours in graduate courses numbered 600 or above.

Requirements Common to Both Plans:

Graduate School regulations concerning course work are as follows:

1. The student must have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all graduate work.

2. The student must earn at least half of the semester credit hours in graduate courses numbered 600 or above (i.e., open only to graduate students).

3. The student may transfer up to nine hours from a graduate program at another university or from post-baccalaureate graduate level work.

4. The student must have taken all course work within eight years of the semester in which the degree is awarded.

5. The student must take at least two-thirds of his or her semester credit hours in regularly scheduled courses and seminars.

6. The student must take at least two-thirds of his or her semester credit hours in the Classics Division.

Requirements of the Division:

1. A student's initial schedule of courses for each registration period, as well as any alterations in this schedule, must be formally approved by the Director of Graduate Studies to become acceptable toward the fulfillment of degree requirements.

2. A student must earn a minimum of 9 credit hours in graduate courses in each of the classical languages and an additional 6 credit hours in graduate courses in either Greek or Latin or a combination of the two.

3. When special circumstances arise, the Director of Graduate Studies has the authority to revise the requirements set out in item 2. Authorized revisions will be issued in written form and placed in the student's divisional file.

4. All students must pass a departmental exit examination before receiving the MA degree.

Special Requirements for Plan A:

1. The student must complete at least twenty-four credit hours in graduate courses. At least half of these must be in division courses numbered 600 or above.

2. The student must complete a M.A. thesis. When a student has determined an area of interest, the Director of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the student, appoints a thesis director. The student first prepares a thesis proposal--normally not later than the end of the second semester of graduate study--in consultation with the thesis director. When the proposal has been accepted, the Director of Graduate Studies appoints a thesis committee of three members in consultation with the thesis director. The composition of this committee must meet the requirements of the Graduate School. This committee reviews the thesis proposal for approval, rejection, or alteration. When the proposal has been approved, the thesis director becomes the student's advisor.

The thesis must be accepted by the committee and signed by the thesis director and by the Director of Graduate Studies before it is submitted to the Graduate School. Normally, the thesis committee also serves as the committee for reading and evaluating the results of the student's final comprehensive exit examination.

3. The student must pass a departmental exit examination. Normally, students who have completed a thesis are exempted from one of the two areas of the examination.

Special Requirements for Plan B:

1. The student must complete thirty semester credit hours of graduate courses. At least half of these must be in division courses numbered 600 or above.

2. The student must pass an exit examination. The Examination Committee normally consists of three members appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School upon the recommendation of the division Director of Graduate Studies.

M.A. Exit Exam

An exit exam is required for either M.A. plan. The exam is intended to function as a useful extension of an individual student's particular course of study, and as more targeted work in preparation for the next stage of his or her career. The exam is to be taken in two parts: the first demonstrates primarily linguistic proficiency in Greek or Latin, while the second could also be linguistic OR could be focused on demonstrating proficiency in a particular area (for example meter, numismatics, ancient art, computational humanities, classical mythology) or with regard to a particular theme (for example, interpretations of the House of Atreus myth in Greek drama, the historiography of the Other in Herodotos, Caesar, and Tacitus). The first part of the exam supposes such work on Latin or Greek texts as determined by the exit exam adviser, while the second part supposes written work as, or as a part of, a demonstration of proficiency in the chosen topic.

The student bears responsibility for seeking out and meeting with a faculty member to be her/his exit exam adviser in order to establish the specific nature of the exams and the scope of the study leading up to them. The student should also be in contact with the DGS, who is her/his graduate advisor. By December 1, the student submits to the DGS a note signed by the faculty member who has agreed to be the exit exam adviser. By the first day of the spring semester, the student submits to the DGS a proposal for the content of the exit exam. The proposal is a simple statement of the aims and the methods for Part B of the exam, and the original language material for Part A. The DGS then, in consultation with the other faculty members, establishes an Examination Committee which will be recommended to the Dean of the Graduate School for appointment. The Chair of the Examination Committee is the student's exit exam advisor. The students should then prepare for the exam during their final semester. The scheduling of the exam is arranged by the Chair of the Examination Committee and the DGS.

For those students who have chosen the thesis option, the oral defense of their thesis counts as the second part of the exam (Part B).

Example for Exam A

Examples for Exam B (non-thesis option)

III. Advising, Satisfactory Progress, Termination.

A. Advising. The Director of Graduate Studies serves as advisor to all students, except those who have elected to write a thesis and have had a thesis proposal approved and a thesis director appointed. While the Director of Graduate Studies assists students in developing a course of study and ensuring that all requirements for the master's degree are fulfilled, the student is ultimately responsible for knowing and meeting all requirements.

B. Satisfactory progress. A student is expected to make satisfactory progress towards an MA degree. Satisfactory progress involves a 3.0 or higher grade point average in all course work taken. The Graduate School requires that grades of Incomplete be made up within one year and before awarding of a graduate degree; after a year Incompletes, except in special circumstances, revert to failing grades. The department's Director of Graduate Studies confers with each student regularly, noting and recording the progress that the student is making toward completion of the degree.

C. Termination. The graduate faculty of the department regularly evaluates the academic performance of its graduate students. It may instruct the Director of Graduate Studies to send a warning of unsatisfactory progress if a student's grade point average for work taken the previous semester was below a 3.0 or if a student has six or more credit hours of incomplete work. The graduate faculty may terminate a student for (A) a grade point average below 3.0 in each of two semesters of work; (B) six or more credit hours of incomplete work more than one semester old. (The Graduate School automatically terminates students who twice fail the written comprehensive examination.) A student who is terminated will receive a written notice of the grounds for termination. He or she will be offered an opportunity to meet with the graduate faculty. After meeting with the student, the graduate faculty may choose to reconsider the question of termination.

V. Current Course Program: Directions.

The department offers one graduate course/seminar combination in Greek and one in Latin each fall and spring semester. During the summer the department regularly offers one Greek and one Latin seminar. Seminar topics vary from one semester and year to the next, according to the department's and the individual professor's judgment. Students are encouraged to speak to faculty if they would like to see a particular topic addressed in a seminar. Recent topics have included Tacitus, Homer, Vergil, Thucydides, Plutarch and Athens, Augustine, Horace, Lucretius, Ovid, Roman education, Aristophanes, Demosthenes, Livy, Cicero. There are ample opportunities for independent study and research carrying course credit. Graduate courses are also regularly offered in alternate years in Greek and Latin prose composition; every graduate student is expected to take one or both, depending on his or her program direction.

One of the categories below is "other graduate courses." This covers The students may also take for credit courses identified by the department as germane to the study of classics in the other literature departments, and in Philosophy, History, and Art History, as well as in classics itself.

For their schedule of courses the students should regularly consult the Director of the Graduate Studies.

VI. Program enrichments

All graduate students are encouraged and expected to become active participants in the intellectual and social life of the department.

Graduate students are eligible for the department's scholarship for summer study in Greece or Italy.

VII. Fellowships and Teaching Assistantships

The University offers a number of competitive fellowships for graduate study, some annual and some multi-year. For most of these the department chooses and nominates applicants to its graduate programs when their applications are complete.

The department normally offers teaching assistantships to its applicants to teach elementary Latin or to manage the computerized course in medical terminology. All teaching assistants are regarded as teachers-in-training; they participate in University-required orientation sessions, they are carefully supervised and evaluated by a member of the department faculty, and they have access to the University Teaching and Learning Center for preparation for a college teaching career and for their own teaching development.

Teaching assistantships are awarded annually and are renewable depending on satisfactory teaching and academic performance and on availability of funding. Assistants usually teach one course (normally four contact hours per week) and enroll in three courses (9 credit hours) during each semester. Teaching assistants may also apply for summer appointments, which are sometimes available.

Teaching assistantships pay at least $10,250 over nine months, and also carry a full tuition scholarship and cover health care.

Items to Remember

There are two parts to receiving an MA degree. You must be enrolled as a regular student in the program and you must apply for the degree. Each semester there is a deadline given in the schedule book for filing the application for the degree. Filing for the degree is the responsibility of the student.

The department must file a form for the exit examination with the Graduate School at least two weeks prior to the examination. The examination will be offered by the middle of May at the latest. Under special circumstances, the department will administer the examination at the convenience of the student. No examination can be scheduled if the student has an Incomplete grade, insufficient hours or has not fulfilled the department's foreign language requirement. Be sure that all credits transferred from another university or taken under post-baccalaureate status have been approved for transfer by the Director of Graduate Studies and by the Graduate School.

Before leaving for the summer or during any extended period of absence during residency, always make sure that you can be reached by the department in the event of an emergency. After fulfilling all requirements for the degree, make certain that you file a change of address with the department office.

Location of this document: http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/malong.html

 

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