Students with a special interest in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, in Cinema Studies, or in World Language Teaching may pursue, in the course of their regular program of studies toward the Ph.D. degree, a special concentration in those fields. Many students find graduate certificates useful for expansion of career options and their dissertation thesis research. The certificate prepares students to develop and teach courses and to conduct research in the chosen area of specialization. The requirements for these certificates are as follows:

Cinema Studies Certificate

If you are interesting in pursuing advanced work in film, please contact the Director of the Cinema Studies Program first and discuss the requirements. Requirements include (a) the successful completion of 9 graduate courses (3 credits with a grade of B or above in each course), fulfilled through one core course and two elective graduate courses in Cinema Studies; and (b)successful completion of a significant research project in Cinema Studies: at the M.A. level the final thesis or an article-length seminar paper; at the Ph.D. level the successful completion of the area exam on film, and/or a substantial part of the dissertation thesis or scholarly article. With prior approval from the director of the program, the core course, “Film Theory and World Cinema” (16:195:522) may be substituted by another graduate course in cinema studies which includes close textual analysis and a significant consideration of film theory. In some cases, one of the electives may be a directed research/independent study course, supervised by a Cinema Studies member who is also a member of the Graduate Faculty, in consultation with a second member of the program and Graduate Faculty.

Women’s & Gender Studies Certificate

If you are interesting in pursuing advanced work in gender studies, please contact the Graduate Director in the Women’s and Gender Studies program first and discuss the requirements. Requirements include (a) the successful completion of two Women’s & Gender Studies graduate courses (988) (no exceptions); (b) one approved graduate cognate course. One of these three course must be a feminist theory course either offered by Women’s & Gender Studies, or offered by another department if it has been approved by the Women’s & Gender Studies graduate director.   Upon completion of these courses, submit the WGS Graduate Certificate Application to the Women’s & Gender Studies program.  

Certificate in World Language Teaching

The Certificate in World Language Teaching (CWLT) is administered through the Language Center (TLC) and allows students in Comparative Literature, French, Italian, English, and Spanish to enhance their education and career prospects. Requirements of the CWLT include (a) one of the two core methods courses (3 credits with a grade of B+ or above), either “Teaching of World Languages” (16:617:501), offered every Fall semester, designed to hone teaching skills at the postsecondary level in languages other than English), or “Teaching of English as an Additional Language” (16:617:521), offered every Spring semester, designed to hone teaching skills at the postsecondary level in English as an additional language; and (b) successful completion of two teaching apprenticeship graduate courses (1.5 credits with a grade of B+ or above in each course), or one additional graduate course in either language pedagogy or an interdisciplinary course of relevance to language teaching; (c) successful completion of the Teaching Portfolio Project (16:617:599) which builds on courses taken and taught, includes class observations, teaching evaluations, letters, articles/publications on teaching, remote/online teaching experience, statement of teaching philosophy, syllabus/syllabi, unit and lesson plan with goals and objectives, assessment and evaluation rubrics, remote/online; teaching methods employed, choice of CMS, etc.. The Teaching Portfolio Project is overseen by the Language Coordinator in German with guidance from The Language Center.