Applicable only to students admitted during the 2016-2017 academic year.

World Arts and Cultures/Dance

School of the Arts and Architecture

Graduate Degrees

The Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance offers the Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree in Dance and the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Culture and Performance.

Culture and Performance

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

The Master’s degree is organized around the relationship between the individual student, the student’s faculty adviser, and the M.A. committee. The entering student will be assigned a temporary faculty adviser from among the department’s ladder faculty who takes primary responsibility for academic advising for the first year. Each student is expected to choose a committee chair and form an M.A. committee during the first year of academic residence and apply for advancement to candidacy no later than winter quarter of the second year. The faculty adviser is fundamentally responsible for advising students in regard to program requirements, policies, and University regulations.

Areas of Study

This department offers unique opportunities to develop specialized knowledge and skills in diverse fields ranging from arts and activism, critical theory, curatorial studies, dance studies, ethnography and new media, festivals, folklore, visual cultures, to specific area studies, among others.  Students will designate a Major Field of study in consultation with their faculty adviser. The Major Field for Master’s students will consist of at least three courses. The faculty strongly advise that one of these should be a course that provides introduction to the special methods or discourse of the Major Field (whether in World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WACD)  – i.e., Ethnography—or in another department).  Examples of some possible fields would include dance studies, folklore, museology, or field studies in African, Caribbean, or Native American cultures. The student is expected to consult with their faculty adviser on a regular basis regarding area(s) of interest to determine associated course work and research focus, and to plan the instructional schedule appropriately.  Further specialized training may be accomplished through additional course work in WACD or other departments.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students in the Master’s degree program must demonstrate competence in one foreign language. The purpose of the language requirement is to ensure that students have the necessary skills to conduct independent research. Any foreign language useful for field study and/or library research in their topics or major field of study and geo-cultural regions of choice is acceptable. The appropriateness of a particular language should be discussed with the student’s faculty adviser. The language requirement must be completed before students file the advancement to candidacy petition for the degree.

The language requirement may be met by: (1) passing a departmental examination, administered by the department’s Graduate Foreign Language Examination Committee; (2) demonstrating the equivalent of five quarters or four semesters of training in an approved foreign language, completed within the last five years before admission with a grade of B or higher in the final courses; (3) placing at level six on the Foreign Language Placement Examination; or (4) petitioning to use English as a foreign language (only for international students whose native language is not English).

Course Requirements

All Master’s students must successfully complete a total of 36 units (normally nine courses) taken for a letter grade (unless only offered S/U) and with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. Of the 36 units, at least 24 must be completed at the graduate level. No more than 8 units of 500-series independent study courses (e.g., World Arts and Cultures 596A) may be applied toward the graduate course requirement.

The required courses are distributed as follows:

(1) Four core courses (16 units), taken during the first year of study; World Arts and Cultures 200, 201, 202, and 204. Students must earn a “B” or higher in each core course to count towards the degree requirements.

(2) Three courses (12 units) in the designated major field, chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser. The Major Field for doctoral students will consist of at least four courses. The faculty strongly advise that one of these should be a course that provides introduction to the special methods or discourse of the Major Field (whether in WAC/D – i.e., Ethnography—or in another department).

(3) Two elective courses (8 units).

Of the combined three major field and two elective courses, at least three of the five courses must be graduate level courses taken within the department.

The minimum course load is 12 units per quarter. Students must be registered and enrolled at all times unless they are on an official leave of absence.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experience is encouraged but not required.

Field Experience

Field experience is not required but is expected of students whose theses are based on ethnographic research.

Capstone Plan

Students who select this plan take a comprehensive examination that consists of three essay questions (chosen from six possible questions) posed by the student’s M.A. committee members. The questions are based on reading lists developed in advance by the student in consultation with the student’s M.A. committee members. This examination is designed to test the student’s knowledge of theories and methods in their research field, as well as their ability to apply these ideas and techniques to the study of particular traditions, genres, geo-cultural areas, social groups, or historical periods.

The Master’s comprehensive examination is graded: (1) Fail; (2) Pass with awarding of the Master’s degree; or (3) Pass with awarding of the Master’s degree and recommendation to proceed to the doctoral program. If it is recommended that the student continue to the doctoral program, departmental faculty make the final determination regarding admission to the doctoral program. Students who fail the comprehensive examination are allowed to retake it once, no later than the following quarter.

Thesis Plan

Every master’s degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research.

The purpose of the Master’s thesis is to demonstrate a student’s ability to conduct research in their chosen field, to interpret the results, to demonstrate the relevance of the work to conceptual and practical issues in selected disciplines, and to present the findings in lucid prose. Students who pursue this plan must submit an acceptable thesis, prepared under the direction of their faculty adviser and thesis committee. The thesis committee should be appointed no later than winter quarter of the student’s second year.

Master’s degree students who seek to apply to the doctoral program in Culture and Performance are advised to select the master’s thesis plan as preparation for their doctoral studies.

Continuing from the M.A. to the Ph.D. program: Whether choosing the capstone plan or the thesis plan, students interested in pursuing the doctoral degree will submit a formal request to continue in the Department as a doctoral student.  These requests should be submitted to the department’s Vice Chair of Graduate Affairs the week before the completion of their Master’s exam or thesis. Students should include with their requests a 500 word abstract of their dissertation research and the name of their proposed dissertation committee chair.

After a student requests acceptance into the doctoral program from the Master’s program, the Culture and Performance faculty will make the final determination regarding the student’s continuation to the doctoral program within fourteen days of receiving the student’s request.

Time-to-Degree

The Master’s degree is designed as a two-year program. Students are considered beyond “normative time” after their second year in the MA program.

Normal progress toward the degree is as follows:

Core course requirements: third quarter.

Completion of foreign language requirement: fifth quarter (must be completed prior to the nomination of committee)

Approval of Master’s Committee: fifth quarter.

Advancement to candidacy: sixth quarter.

Completion of Master’s Degree: sixth quarter

Doctoral Degree

Advising

The doctoral degree is organized around the relationship between the individual student, the student’s faculty adviser, and the doctoral dissertation committee. The entering student will be assigned a temporary faculty adviser, from among the department’s ladder faculty, who takes primary responsibility for academic advising for the first year. Each student is expected to choose a primary adviser and begin forming a dissertation committee during the first year of academic residence. The faculty adviser is fundamentally responsible for advising students in regard to program requirements, policies, and University regulations.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

The department offers unique opportunities to develop specialized knowledge and skills in diverse fields ranging from arts and activism, critical theory, curatorial studies, dance studies, ethnography and new media, festivals, folklore, and visual cultures to specific area studies, among others.  Students will designate a Major Field of study in consultation with their faculty adviser. Examples of some possible fields would include dance studies, folklore, museology, or field studies in African, Caribbean, or Native American cultures. The student is expected to consult with their academic faculty adviser on a regular basis regarding area(s) of interest to determine associated course work and research focus, and to plan the instructional schedule appropriately.  Further specialized training may be accomplished through additional course work in WACD or other departments.

Foreign Language Requirement

Doctoral students must demonstrate competence in one foreign written and/or oral language. The purpose of the language requirement is to ensure that students have the necessary skills to conduct independent research. Any foreign language useful for field study and/or library research in their topics and geo-cultural regions of choice is acceptable. The appropriateness of a particular language should be discussed with the student’s faculty adviser. The foreign language requirement must be completed before the student takes their qualifying exams for their dissertation.

The language requirement may be met by: (1) passing a departmental examination, administered by the department’s Graduate Foreign Language Examination Committee; (2) demonstrating the equivalent of five quarters or four semesters of training in an approved foreign language, completed within the last five years before admission with a grade of B or higher in the final courses; (3) placing at level six on the Foreign Language Placement Examination; or (4) petitioning to use English as a foreign language (only for international students whose native language is not English). If the student has already fulfilled this requirement as a Master’s student in this department, this fulfillment also counts as fulfillment of the language requirement for the doctoral degree.

Course Requirements

All doctoral students must successfully complete a total of 48 units (normally 12 courses) taken for a letter grade (unless only offered S/U), and with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. These courses are chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser. No more than 8 units of 500-series independent study courses may be applied toward the graduate course requirement.

The required courses are distributed as follows:

(1) Four core courses (16 units), taken during the first year of study; World Arts and Cultures 200, 201, 202, and 204. Students must earn a “B” or higher in each core course for them to count toward their degree requirements.

(2) Four courses (16 units) in the designated major field, chosen in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser.

(3) Four elective courses (16 units).

Of the combined four major field and four elective courses, at least four of the eight courses must be graduate level courses taken within the department.

Students who enter the doctoral program from the department’s own Master’s degree program are not required to repeat courses. Having completed the four core courses (World Arts and Cultures 200, 201, 202, and 204), and if these students continue in the same major field, they will need to complete one additional major field course (4 units) and two elective courses (8 units), in consultation with their faculty adviser. If these students choose a new major field, they will need to complete four major field courses (16 units) and two elective courses (8 units), in consultation with their faculty adviser.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experience is encouraged but not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the new Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

The doctoral qualifying examinations are composed of a written and an oral examination. The timing of these examinations is determined in consultation with the chair of the doctoral committee. Students must successfully complete all required course work (including the core courses and foreign language requirement) before scheduling their examination, and must be registered and enrolled during the quarter in which the examination is administered. Students who fail the written or oral examinations are allowed to retake them once, but no later than in the following quarter. A second failure leads to a recommendation to the Graduate Division for termination from the doctoral program.

The written qualifying examination is administered by the student’s doctoral committee. This examination takes the form of four essay questions (chosen from eight possible questions), developed in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser and committee, and tailored to the theoretical and substantive interests of the student, and to the refinement of a dissertation topic. The written examination evaluates competence in three main areas relevant to the student’s dissertation topic: (1) theoretical concepts and problems; (2) geo-cultural and/or historical field of specialization; and (3) expressive genre(s) or media.

Examination answers are evaluated as pass or fail. If one answer is fail, the written examination receives an overall evaluation of fail. Any examination question that originally receives a fail evaluation may be retaken once. If a student fails any single question on the written examination a second time, the student has failed the written examination. A failed written examination leads to a recommendation to the Graduate Division for termination from the doctoral program.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination is primarily a defense of the dissertation proposal and is administered by the student’s doctoral committee. A pass examination evaluation cannot have more than one committee member who votes fail regardless of the size of the committee. Students may retake the oral examination once within the next quarter. If the second oral examination results in a second fail evaluation, the student has failed the oral examination. A failed oral examination leads to a recommendation to the Graduate Division for termination from the doctoral program.

Evaluation results of written and oral examinations are communicated to the student in writing within 14 days from the date of the completion of the examinations. However, the doctoral committee usually informs the student of the evaluation result of the oral examination immediately upon completion of the examination.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

For students entering the doctoral program with an approved Master’s degree, normative time to candidacy is eight quarters from their entering date. After reaching candidacy, these students have two years to complete their doctoral degree to remain within normative time.

For students entering the doctoral program without an approved Master’s degree, normative time to complete our Master’s degree is two years from their entering date. After completing their Master’s in this department, students have three years to complete their doctoral degree to remain within normative time.

Normal progress toward the doctoral degree is as follows for students with a Master’s degree:

Core course requirements:  third quarter

Forty-eight units of course work: fifth quarter

Completion of foreign language requirement: sixth quarter (must be completed prior to the nomination of committee and the qualifying examinations)

Approval of doctoral committee: eighth quarter

Written and oral qualifying examinations: eighth quarter

Advancement to Candidacy: eighth quarter

Completion of doctoral dissertation and final oral examination (if required): end of fifth year

Normal progress toward the doctoral degree is as follows for students in the department’s Master’s degree program and continuing to doctoral program:

Core course requirements: third quarter

Completion of foreign language requirement: fifth quarter (must be completed prior to the nomination of committee and the qualifying examinations)

Approval of Master’s Committee: fifth quarter

Advancement to candidacy: sixth quarter

Completion of Master’s Degree: sixth quarter

Twelve to twenty-four units of additional course work (depending on whether the student changes their Major Field): tenth quarter

Approval of Doctoral Committee: tenth quarter

Written and oral qualifying examinations: twelfth quarter

Advancement to Candidacy: twelfth quarter

Completion of doctoral dissertation and final oral examination (if required): sixth year

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

A recommendation for termination is made by the Chair of the department after a vote of the department’s graduate faculty. Examples for termination include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree (being “beyond normative time”), and poor performance in classes (earning less than a “B” in each core course). Before the recommendation is sent to the Graduate Division, a student is notified in writing and given two weeks to respond in writing to the chair. An appeal is reviewed by the department’s graduate faculty, which makes the final departmental recommendation to the Graduate Division.