The second exam (also known as the special field exam or the oral exam) requires Ph.D. students to develop a broad grounding in their chosen field of concentration. These six fields are specified below.

Race, gender, sexuality, and intersectionality

Race, ethnicity, and migration studies

Race, diasporas, and transnationalism

Race, equality, and social justice

Race, indigeneity, and decolonial studies

Race, representations, and cultural studies

We want our graduates to be able to teach courses at the undergraduate or graduate level in their chosen fields. This second exam evaluates this important aspect of professional competence. The second exam is not intended chiefly as preparation for the dissertation. A dissertation requires the mastery of ideas and literature that bear on one or more specific subjects. However, that is a different task than demonstrating competence in the chosen field of concentration. This exam may or may not include areas not directly connected to the dissertation. The student will form a committee of three faculty members with expertise in one of the six fields above to conduct the oral exam. In advance of the exam, the students will submit a reading list to each faculty to get their approval. These reading lists will define the specific scope of the research literature that the student will read within each field.

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Black, Race, & Ethnic Studies

Overview

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Requirements