Program Requirements

I. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PH.D.

1. Course work. Students must complete satisfactorily a total of 20 course units. Normally a student will take four courses per semester during the first year and three courses per semester during the next two years. There are three required courses in Hispanic Studies (see number 2 below). No more than five courses may be taken outside the Hispanic Studies section, and those with the approval of the Graduate Chair. Courses outside the Hispanic Studies section may not be taken simultaneously or during the student's first year in the graduate program, except in unusual circumstances. During the first two years, students should take at least one course in each of the five specific fields of concentration described below. The third year will be devoted to two courses and to two two-credit independent studies related to the student's specific field and general area of concentration (see a definition of these terms below).

A typical program during the first three years in the program would resemble the following:

Students will write two term papers per semester during the first two years (one per semester in the third year), and they will choose the courses for which they will write them. For the remaining course(s) the students will take an examination (usually a take-home exercise to be completed within 24 - 48 hours) as a final exercise for the course.

All papers and exams produced should be handed in by the student to the Graduate Coordinator on or before the announced deadline. In the case of any course taken outside the section, all written work performed for that course must be presented to the Graduate Coordinator upon completion of all requirements for the course. One of these papers will fulfill the Graduate School's research requirement.

Toward the end of each semester, the Graduate Coordinator will ask students taking courses to specify the two classes for which they will write papers. The Graduate Coordinator will also announce at this time the date by which papers have to be handed in, usually around one month after the end of classes. Any student who does not comply with this deadline will have the grade for the written exercise in question lowered. Exceptions will only be made in the case of a medical excuse. Professors cannot make unilateral arrangements with students regarding the timetable for submission. No more than three papers may be written in English during the student's career in the program.

The faculty is committed to working with students to improve their academic writing in both Spanish and English. To this effect, students may be required to submit a revised version of the papers they receive back from their professors that incorporates the grammatical and stylistic corrections noted in the original. This revised version should be handed back to the professor within two weeks of receipt of the corrected paper.

Faculty members will also identify seminar papers that in their view could be candidates for revision for publication or for presentation at a conference, and will invite students to engage in the redaction exercise.

2. Required courses. Three courses are required of all graduate students: Spanish 512 ("History of Literary Theory"), Spanish 600 ("History of the Spanish Language"), and Roml 690 ("Foreign Language Teaching Methodologies"). Exemptions from these requirements will rarely be made and will be based on a student having taken an essentially similar course at the graduate level elsewhere. Spanish 600 is offered every other year. Spanish 512 and Roml 690 are offered yearly.

3. Language requirements.
In addition to Spanish, students are required to take a translation exam in two foreign languages appropriate to the student's prospective field of specialization. This determination will be made upon consultation with the Graduate Chair. At least one language exam should be completed by the end of the first year, and both by the end of the third year. Students will not be allowed to sit for their field examination until both language requirements have been met.

This requirement can be satisfied in one of three ways:

a. A translation exam in two foreign languages appropriate to the student's prospective field of specialization. This determination will be made upon consultation with the Graduate Chair. This exam consists of a translation of about thirty lines of prose from either a literary text or thirty lines of prose of modern criticism (two hours with a dictionary) or selected readings from both genres. Reading exams are offered twice a year, once in October and once in March. The dates will be announced by the Graduate Coordinator. Students will be allowed to translate from one Romance language to another (i.e., from Spanish to French or Italian or from French to Spanish or Italian, etc.). Those who translate into any other language that is not English must prove proficiency in English by taking graduate courses conducted in English or by taking one of the courses the University offers to train students to teach and write in English. Students planning to translate into any other language that is not English must notify the Graduate Chair as soon as possible.

b. The University offers summer courses that will help students achieve the necessary degree of proficiency in some foreign languages to prepare for the translation exams. A summer course for reading knowledge, offered tuition free by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, can be taken during the first summer session of each year. After the completion of the course, the student still has to take the translation examination offered in October or March in order to fulfill the foreign language requirement. Note - If the summer course was taken in Latin, successful completion of the course will fulfill the language requirement. The student will need to produce a letter from his or her instructor that attests to satisfactory performance.

c. In certain cases, the language requirement may be fulfilled by passing a one-semester 300 level or higher undergraduate course or a 500 level or higher graduate course with the class work, readings, and discussions taught in the target language. A minimum grade of B+ at the University of Pennsylvania is required. Successful completion of a one-semester course means the student has fulfilled all course requirements such as tests, quizzes, and homework assignments. This course may be taken as an audit; however, the student will need to produce a letter from his or her instructor that attests to satisfactory performance. The instructor must include a letter grade in this correspondence.

d. The language requirement may also be fulfilled by passing a one-semester 100 or 200 level undergraduate course in certain languages, such as Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew with a minimum grade of B+ at the University of Pennsylvania. Successful completion of a one-semester course means the student has fulfilled all course requirements such as tests, quizzes, and homework assignments. This course may be taken as an audit; however, the student will need to produce a letter from his or her instructor that attests to satisfactory performance. The instructor must include a letter grade in this correspondence.

It is essential that all graduates of the Hispanic Studies section have a strong command of both Spanish and English. Native speakers of one language who need to improve their skills in the other are expected to do so speedily and professionally. All incoming students should be certain that their Spanish and English skills are satisfactory by the end of their first year in the program. The Faculty may recommend that students seek directed assistance in academic writing in English within the University, and may encourage students to improve their Spanish language skills in various contexts abroad.

4. Credit for graduate work done elsewhere. After his or her first year in the program, a student may apply to the Graduate Chair to receive credit for graduate courses taken at another institution. The number of credits to be received by an incoming student for work done in another institution will be determined on an ad hoc basis, but may not exceed eight courses. The fulfillment of requirements listed in items 1-4 above must be taken into consideration when awarding credit to a student for courses taken elsewhere. That is, a student may receive credit for graduate course work done at another institution in the terms specified by the Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania; but the above departmental requirements must be satisfied either by courses taken previously, by course work pursued at the University of Pennsylvania, or by a combination thereof.

5. Qualifying evaluation. In order to be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, students must pass successfully a qualifying evaluation. At the beginning of a student's third semester the faculty will evaluate all aspects of the student's performance during his or her first year in the program, namely:

a) all written assignments completed for courses (exams and papers)
b) grades
c) contribution to class discussion

After all the evidence is considered by the graduate faculty, the student will be informed that he or she has:

-Passed the evaluation and is invited to continue studies toward the doctorate. If all Graduate School requirements have been met, the student will be awarded a Master's degree in December of his or her second year.

-Passed the evaluation and is eligible to vie for a terminal Master's degree. A student who is judged eligible to vie for a terminal Master's degree will have the option of leaving the program in December or May of the second year. If the student completes course work successfully, he or she will be recommended to receive a terminal Master's degree either in December or May, as the case may be.

-Failed the evaluation and is asked to withdraw from the program at the end of the fall semester.

6. Field examination.
a. The field examination should be taken at the beginning of the semester immediately following the completion of all course work and language requirements, normally the first semester of the fourth year. The field examination will include questions related to the field of specialization and the general area of concentration (see section below titled "Fields and reading lists" for details).

In consultation with the student, the Graduate Chair will organize the committees for each Ph.D. Exam a year before the planned date for the exam (i.e. at the beginning of each student’s third year in the program, or its equivalent). The graduate chair will seek student input, but will finally decide who will be the members of each committee. Each graduate student must prepare for the exam in close consultation with all the members of his/her Ph.D. exam committee to fulfill the independent study units allocated during the third year in the program.

Each committee will include at least three members in the student’s major area of specialization (namely, pre 1800 or post 1800) and one outside member from the Spanish section or another section of the department if relevant.

The Graduate Chair will meet with all the students preparing for the exam to constitute the committees, and to discuss with them how they are expected to prepare for the exam. This meeting should take place during the first weeks of the fall semester of the third year in the program. Students should begin meeting with the members of their Ph.D. exam committee as soon as their committee is constituted.

The field exam will consist of the following:

1) A written exam, to be written in Spanish. Normally a student will pick up the exam on Friday morning at 9:00 AM, and hand in the completed exam by 4:00 PM the following Tuesday. The exam must be composed on a word processor, and students will be allowed to consult whatever sources they may deem necessary. The Graduate Coordinator will distribute copies of the completed exam to all the members of the exam committee, who will send the Graduate Chair written comments evaluating the student's performance. Before being allowed to proceed to the oral examination, a student may be asked to retake any section of the written exam if the first effort is judged unsatisfactory. A student will only be able to sit twice for the written exam. If a student should fail the exam for a second time, he or she will be asked to withdraw from the program.

2) A two-hour oral exam which will serve to: cover material not addressed or not dealt with adequately in the written exam; facilitate a discussion by the student of his or her "field statement" (see below); use questions that will test the student's general knowledge of his or her chosen area and field. This oral exam will be scheduled to take place within two weeks after the completion of the written examination. A student will only be able to sit twice for the oral examination. If a student should fail the oral exam for a second time, he or she will be asked to withdraw from the program.

3) A "topic statement" will consist of 10-12 pages. Students will identify a significant topic or issue in the field of specialization, and will assemble a list of 15-20 works (literary and critical; drawn from the field lists and/or from their own research) and elaborate a paper discussing how the list allows for the exploration of the topic. While a student may choose to develop further the topic or issue identified in the topic statement as he or she constructs the dissertation prospectus, these are independent exercises. The goal of this exercise is to give students practice in assembling a corpus through which to study a specific question or problem. The topic statement should be prepared and submitted to the Graduate Coordinator at least one month in advance of the field examination. The Graduate Chair and all members of the exam committee will receive copies of the topic statement. Topic statements should be prepared in close consultation with the members of the Ph.D. exam for each student.

The field examination will be evaluated using the following scale: High Honors, Honors, Pass, and Fail. At the end of the oral examination, the student will step outside, and the four members of the exam committee will determine the overall grade for the examination, which should reflect the performance in both the oral and the written exams. The student will be informed at the end of the examination about his or her overall grade for the exercise.

b. Fields and reading lists.

1) Specific Field Lists: These lists include both literary and critical readings for the various fields, and are arranged by fields of specialization (see attachment). Five fields are defined: 1. Medieval; 2. Early Modern Peninsular; 3. Peninsular 18th through 20th centuries; 4. Colonial Spanish-American; 5. Spanish-American 19th through 20th centuries; 6. Spanish and Latin American Cinema. The student will choose a field among these five, and will be responsible for all the works listed in that field.

2) General Area Lists: These lists will include literary and critical works judged essential to the knowledge of the pre-Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment general areas. Students will be responsible for the list germane to his or her chosen field of specialization (pre- or post-Enlightenment). Students preparing for the field examination are also encouraged to consult with appropriate professors in the relevant fields.

d. Upon successful completion of the field examination, the student will choose a thesis advisor and two departmental committee members. Students are encouraged to consult with the Graduate Chair regarding this matter, but the ultimate decision is the student's prerogative. The student should approach a member of the graduate faculty with a tentative topic for the dissertation before proposing him or her as a dissertation committee member. The faculty member approached has the option of deciding whether or not to undertake the project.

7. Dissertation prospectus. Students will submit a dissertation prospectus no later than the end of the semester of successful completion of the field exam (normally the fall semester of the fourth year). The prospectus is a 10-15-page document with an appended bibliography that explains in detail the proposed thesis topic, the critical instrument(s) chosen to approach it, existing scholarship on the subject, and an overarching plan for its development in the form of a chapter outline. The prospectus is prepared in consultation with the dissertation committee, and the student submits the completed prospectus to the Graduate Coordinator and the Graduate Chair. The Graduate Chair circulates the prospectus to all members of the graduate faculty, and determines whether it is acceptable on the basis of written comments submitted by the members of the dissertation committee to him or her in a timely fashion. The student and the advisor will receive a copy of the comments forwarded to the Graduate Chair by the faculty.

8. Dissertation. Students will define a dissertation committee in consultation with the members of the faculty and the Graduate Chair after the successful completion of their Ph.D. exams. This committee will consist of three readers (in addition to the advisor). At least one of the readers must be a member of another section within the department, or of another department at the University of Pennsylvania. Students should have identified the director and two internal members of their Ph.D. committee before they submit their prospectus for departmental approval. The outside reader may be chosen when the student is nearing completion of the dissertation, but no later than one month before the defense date. The identity of the reading committee should be reported to the Graduate Chair as soon as possible. Students are encouraged to work closely and share their work regularly with all the departmental members of their committee while writing their dissertations, and should consult each faculty member about his/her preference and working style as a member of a dissertation committee.

At least one month before the defense date, the student should submit a completed dissertation to all the members of the dissertation committee and to the Graduate Coordinator so any member of the faculty who is not on the committee can read the dissertation before the defense.

9. Dissertation defense. Once the final draft of the dissertation is completed, the advisor will ask the Graduate Chair to set a suitable date for the dissertation defense. The dissertation defense is the final requirement for the Ph.D. degree. It is an academic exercise open to the general University public. Present at the defense will be: the student, the Graduate Chair, the thesis advisor, and the three members of the dissertation reading committee. The Graduate Chair will appoint beforehand from this group someone other than him or herself (and not the advisor) to serve as moderator for the proceedings. The defense will begin with a short (20-30 minutes) presentation by the student. Afterwards, the members of the committee in turn, and later anyone present, may direct questions or comments to the candidate. At the end of the exercise the student will step outside, and the four members of the defense committee will vote formally on whether to recommend the dissertation to the Graduate School for approval. If the vote is positive, the student will proceed to prepare the final version for presentation to the Graduate School, making sure to incorporate any emendations suggested by the members of the defense committee during the proceedings. If the vote is negative, the student will not be recommended to the Graduate School for receipt of the doctoral degree.

II. EVALUATION OF STUDENTS

1. At the beginning of each academic year the faculty will review the progress of each student. The faculty closely monitors the students' scholarly and professional development, particularly during the crucial first two years. Among the items covered during this review are the following: grades, performance in class, quality of written material, teaching performance, and due progress toward the Ph.D. degree. Because the faculty does not wish to encourage any student who may not be able to complete the degree with distinction, any student who has not shown adequate command of oral and/or written Spanish; has failed a course; has a grade point average lower than 3.5; has not made steady progress toward completion of the Ph.D. degree; or has generally performed below expectations may be placed on departmental probation or asked to leave the program.

III. GENERAL COMMENTS

1. All students must be familiar with the guidelines, rules, and deadlines of the Graduate School, especially in matters such as registration, submission of material for specific degree-granting dates, etc. It is not the responsibility of the Graduate Chair, the Chair, the student's dissertation advisor, or the Graduate Coordinator to ensure a student's compliance with official Graduate School regulations. Exceptions and/or exemptions from any of the Hispanic Studies section's or the Graduate School's requirements or schedules are granted, if at all, with reluctance and after consultation with and/or written request to the appropriate officer.

2. Students should consult with the Graduate Chair as early as possible, and as frequently as any question arises that concerns requirements, overall progress toward the degree, deadlines, etc. All students must consult with the Graduate Chair during preregistration.

3. All graduate students are eligible to apply to be considered for the position of Assistant in the various programs sponsored by University of Pennsylvania. The following g uidelines and procedures will be used in choosing the Assistants for any given year:

a. Only students who are generally in good standing, whose teaching performance has been excellent, and who do not have any outstanding work will be eligible.

b. A timely deadline for receipt of applications from graduate students will be announced by the Graduate Chair.

c. The faculty will choose the Assistants from among the applications received.

4. The faculty has prepared a list of general works on theory and criticism considered to be important reading for any future scholar and colleague in the field. While there will be no formal testing on these works, it is expected that the serious candidate for the Ph.D. will make an attempt to be reasonably familiar with them.