Contact Info

Phone:314-935-5270
Website:https://arthistory.wustl.edu/

To earn a PhD at Washington University, a student must complete all courses required by their department; maintain satisfactory academic progress; pass certain examinations; complete all requirements for doctoral candidacy; fulfill residence and Mentored Experience Requirements; write, defend, and submit a dissertation; and apply for program completion (graduation) via Workday Student.

For the details of doctoral degree general requirements in Arts & Sciences, including an explanation of Satisfactory Academic Progress, students should review the Doctoral Degree Academic Information page of the Arts & Sciences Bulletin.

Program Requirements

  • Total Units Required: 39 minimum credits
  • Degree Length: Five years
    • Note: Students must be enrolled in 9 graduate credits each semester to retain full-time status. As students complete their coursework, if enrolled in fewer than 9 graduate credits, they must enroll in a specific Arts & Sciences graduate course that will show 0 units but does count as full-time status. Students should connect with their department to ensure proper enrollment prior to Add/Drop.
  • Grade Requirement: Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Students must receive a grade of B or higher for a course to count toward program requirements.

Students in the PhD program in Art History and Archaeology will enroll in three semesters of full-time graduate-level coursework (9 graduate credits per semester), including ARTARCH 5002 Graduate Seminar: Methods in Art History. In the fourth semester of the program, students will enroll in 9 credits of ARTARCH 9000 PhD Comprehensive Exam Preparation and will successfully pass comprehensive exams in a major and a minor field. Students who have taken two courses in a minor field area of the Comprehensive Exams may take a third graduate-level course in that field during the fourth semester of study in order to pursue the minor field exemption; if so, they will enroll in 6 credits of ARTARCH 9000 PhD Comprehensive Exam Preparation. Generally, students will sit for their Comprehensive Exams during their fourth semester.

In the fifth semester, students will enroll in 3 credits of ARTARCH 9005 Dissertation Prospectus and successfully defend the prospectus. To be admitted to PhD candidacy, students must also demonstrate department-specified competencies in two foreign languages and complete all candidacy requirements as defined in the Doctoral Candidacy section. Students in ancient art and Asian art may have additional language requirements.

Once students are admitted to candidacy, they may then continue to enroll in ASGS 9000 Full-Time Graduate Research/Study or ASGS 9001 Full-Time Graduate Study in Absentia until the completion of the degree or the end of the program length.

Each PhD candidate, as evidence of mastery of a specific field of knowledge and capacity for original, scholarly work, must complete a dissertation. The subject, as outlined on the Title, Scope, and Procedure Form, must be approved by a Research Advisory Committee consisting of at least three tenured or tenure-track faculty members. This committee is ordinarily led by the student’s major advisor and must be approved by the Office of Graduate Studies. Often, the members of the Research Advisory Committee serve as the foundational members of the dissertation defense committee. Students should refer to the dissertation guide for more information regarding the complete composition of the dissertation defense committee. The Title, Scope, and Procedure Form for the dissertation must be signed by the committee members and by the program Chair, and then submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, before the start of the student's eighth semester.

Upon completing the dissertation, students must defend it before a committee of at least five faculty members. Four of the five committee members must be tenured or tenure-track Washington University faculty; one of these four may be a member of the Emeritus faculty. The fifth member must have a doctoral degree and an active research program, whether at Washington University, at another university, in government, or in industry. Additionally, three of the five committee members must come from the student's degree program; at least one of the five must not. After successful defense, students must submit an electronic version of the dissertation online to the Office of Graduate Studies.

Required Courses

ARTARCH 5002Graduate Seminar: Methods in Art History3
ARTARCH 9000PhD Comprehensive Exam Preparation6-9
ARTARCH 9005Dissertation Prospectus3

Qualifying Examinations

Progress toward the PhD is contingent upon the student passing examinations that are variously called preliminary, qualifying, general, comprehensive, or major field exams. The qualifying process varies according to the program. In some programs, it consists of a series of incremental, sequential, and cumulative exams over a considerable time. In others, the exams are held during a relatively short period of time. Exams may be replaced by one or more papers. The program, which determines the structure and schedule of the required examinations, is responsible for notifying the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, of the student’s outcome, whether successful or unsuccessful.

The PhD Comprehensive Exam is intended to test a student’s general knowledge as well as mastery of their area or areas of specialization. It is designed as both preparation for and preface to conducting the rigorous, in-depth research necessary for successfully completing a dissertation, and as a means by which students can enter the discourses of professional art history they will encounter in teaching, research, curatorial, and related practices. The comprehensive exam is not intended to be a singular, definitive event in and of itself, but rather a part of a larger process of scholarly and professional development that occurs as students move from coursework to dissertation writing, and it should be structured as an open and collaborative dialogue between students and members of the exam committee.

Students will prepare for and sit the comprehensive exam in the semester after the completion of coursework requirements, which will typically be the fourth semester in the program. During that semester, students will enroll in 9 credits of ARTARCH 9000 PhD Comprehensive Exam Preparation. Students will be examined by a PhD Comprehensive Exam Committee, normally consisting of two or three faculty members in a major area and a minor area. The major advisor must be a tenure-stream faculty member from within the department. Students may exempt the minor area exam by taking three courses in the minor area with a grade of A (for one course they may receive an A–) and completing a one-week paper or similar intellectual exercise. Students who have taken two courses in the minor area during the first three semesters of the program may take the third course during the fourth semester; in that instance, they will enroll in 6 credits of ARTARCH 9000 PhD Comprehensive Exam Preparation.

Each student will normally follow one of two formats for the PhD Comprehensive Exam: 1) a written exam to be followed within 2 weeks by an oral defense; or 2) an oral exam to be followed by a two-week written paper in the major area.

Doctoral Candidacy

Candidacy marks the transition from coursework and initial study to independent research and dissertation writing. At this stage, the student is considered prepared to contribute to their field through independent scholarship.

The status of candidacy for WashU Arts & Sciences doctoral students indicates a student has, at minimum, completed and passed their qualifying exam/paper and pre-candidacy requirements. Pre-candidacy requirements are determined by each PhD program. Those requirements may include, for example, completion of required coursework; completion of required foreign language exams; completion of the Mentored Experience Requirement; successful submission of the Title, Scope and Procedure form; and completion of the oral presentation to propose the dissertation to their Research Advisory Committee.

To advance to doctoral candidacy, students must have, at a minimum, achieved the following by the end of their fifth semester in the program:

  • Completed all required courses;
  • Demonstrated reading proficiency in no fewer than two foreign languages;
  • Passed the Comprehensive Exam in the major area;
  • Passed the Comprehensive Exam in the minor area (or have exempted this requirement through related coursework);
  • Determined a three-person Research Advisory Committee for the dissertation; and
  • Successfully defended the Dissertation Prospectus.

Mentored Experience Requirement

Doctoral students, MFA in Writing students, and MFA in Dance students at Washington University must complete a department-defined Mentored Experience Requirement. The Mentored Experience Requirement is a degree requirement that is notated on the student's transcript when complete. Each department has an established Mentored Experience Implementation Plan in which the number of units that a student must earn through Mentored Teaching Experience(s) and/or Mentored Professional Experience(s) is defined. Each Mentored Experience Implementation Plan outlines how doctoral students within the discipline will be mentored to achieve competencies in teaching at basic and advanced levels. Some departments may elect to include Mentored Professional Experiences as an avenue for completing some units of the Mentored Experience Requirement. Doctoral students will enroll in ASGS 8005 MTE - Assistant in Instruction Experience, ASGS 8010 MTE - Assistant in Instruction Experience, or ASGS 8015 MTE - Assistant in Instruction Experience; ASGS 8020 MTE - Mentored Independent Teaching Experience; or ASGS 8120 MTE - Mentored Professional Experience to signify their progression toward completing the overall Mentored Experience Requirement for the degree.

Students must complete 70 units of mentored experiences. Consult the Mentored Experience Implementation Plan tab for more details.

The Doctoral Dissertation

A Research Advisory Committee (RAC) must be created no later than the end of the student's second year; departments may set shorter timelines (e.g., by the end of the student's third semester) for this requirement. As evidence of the mastery of a specific field of knowledge and of the capacity for original scholarly work, each candidate must complete a dissertation that is approved by their RAC.

A Title, Scope, and Procedure form for the dissertation must be signed by the committee members and by the program chair. It must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, at least one year before the degree is expected to be conferred or before beginning the eighth semester of full-time enrollment, whichever is earlier.

A Doctoral Dissertation Guide and a Dissertation Template that give instructions regarding the format of the dissertation are available on the website of the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Both should be read carefully at every stage of dissertation preparation.

The Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, requires each student to make the full text of the dissertation available to the committee members for their review at least one week before the defense. Most degree programs require two or more weeks for the review period; students should check with their faculty.

The Dissertation Defense

Approval of the written dissertation by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) is strongly recommended before the student can orally defend the dissertation. The Doctoral Dissertation Committee that examines the student during the defense consists of at least five members. Normally, the members of the RAC also serve on the Doctoral Dissertation Committee. The dissertation committee is then additionally augmented to ensure that the following criteria are met:

  1. Three of the five members (or a similar proportion of a larger committee) must be full-time Washington University in St. Louis faculty members or, for programs involving Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated partners, full-time members of a Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated partner institution. All members must be authorized to supervise PhD students and have appropriate expertise in the proposed field of study. One of these three members must be the PhD student's primary thesis advisor, and one may be a member of the emeritus faculty.
  2. All other committee members must be active in research/scholarship and have appropriate expertise in the proposed field of study whether at Washington University in St. Louis, at another university, in government, or in industry.
  3. At least one of the five members must bring expertise outside of the student's field of study to the committee, as judged by the relevant department/program and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

The approval processes outlined in the RAC section of the Doctoral Council bylaws also apply to the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, including approval of each dissertation committee by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

The student is responsible for making the full text of the dissertation accessible to their committee members for their review in advance of the defense according to program rules. Washington University in St. Louis community members and guests of the student who are interested in the subject of the dissertation are normally welcome to attend all or part of the defense but may ask questions only at the discretion of the committee chair. Although there is some variation among degree programs, the defense ordinarily focuses on the dissertation itself and its relation to the student's field of expertise.

Attendance by a minimum of four members of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, including the committee chair and an outside member, is required for the defense to take place. This provision is designed to permit the student's defense to proceed in case of a situation that unexpectedly prevents one of the five members from attending. Students should not plan in advance to only have four members in attendance. If four members cannot attend, the defense must be rescheduled. The absence of all outside members or of the committee chair also requires rescheduling the defense.

Students, with the support of their Doctoral Dissertation Committee chair, may opt to hold their dissertation defense in person or by utilizing a virtual or hybrid format.

Submission of the Dissertation

After the defense, the student must submit an electronic copy of the dissertation online to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, by the established deadline for their graduation term. Dissertations must be submitted no later than three months after the oral defense of the dissertation. Petitions for an extension to the three-month limit may be submitted to the director of graduate studies for consideration and approval. 

The submission website requires students to choose among publishing and copyrighting services offered by ProQuest's ETD Administrator. Students are asked to submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates separately. The degree program is responsible for delivering the final approval form, signed by the committee members at the defense and then by the program chair or director, to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Students who defend their dissertations successfully have not yet completed their PhD requirements; they finish earning their degree only when their dissertation submission has been accepted by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

Master's Degree Along the Way/
In Lieu Of a PhD

Students enrolled in the PhD program in Art History and Archaeology who are in good standing and who have not already earned a master's degree in Art History, Archaeology, or a related discipline who withdraw from the program after completion of 30 graduate-level credits, including 3 credits of ARTARCH 5002 Graduate Seminar: Methods in Art History and at least 3 credits of ARTARCH 9000 PhD Comprehensive Exam Preparation, may be eligible to receive an MA in lieu of a PhD.

As part of their degree requirements, PhD students must complete a program-defined Mentored Experience Requirement (MER) as per these guidelines. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plan (MEIP) is the written articulation of a program-defined degree requirement for PhD students to engage in mentored teaching activities and/or mentored professional activities, collectively referred to as the MER.

Mentored Experience Requirement (MER)

Philosophy of Teaching

Teaching — whether in the classroom, the gallery, the field, or beyond — is at the core of the disciplines of art history and archaeology. Engaging in teaching is a crucial experience for PhD students no matter their professional goals. Through the Department of Art History and Archaeology's Mentored Teaching Experience (MTE), our PhD students not only solidify their base of field-specific knowledge, they also learn how to guide undergraduate students to develop skills that extend far beyond disciplinary boundaries and in turn sharpen those skills themselves. These include the close attention to detail and precise observation of visual analysis, effective techniques for communicating ideas and arguments in speech and writing, and a sense of historical context and the development of cultural traditions, to name just a few.

Students in Art History and Archaeology are carefully mentored in their teaching endeavors, and their efforts have been frequently acknowledged by school-wide awards for teaching excellence. Our students also have the opportunity to enhance their professional portfolios through mentored professional experiences.

Preparatory Engagement

Preparatory Engagement activities are those that represent an introduction to the foundational skills associated with teaching or communication. Pedagogical preparation engagement activities are normally completed before students are permitted to engage in assisting or teaching in a classroom.

PhD students in Art History and Archaeology are required to complete at least two activities in teaching preparation by the end of their third semester. They are encouraged, however, to undertake them as soon as possible in their program. The precise combination of these activities will be determined in conjunction with a student's academic advisor and the departmental Director of Graduate Studies.

Potential activities include the following:

  • The Center for Teaching and Learning's teaching orientation workshop
  • The successful completion of ARTARCH 5013 The Digital Art Historian
  • Attendance at three 90-minute Center for Teaching and Learning pedagogy workshops
  • Targeted English-language coursework for second-language teaching, such as CAPS-ELP 4470 Language, Culture, and Interaction Strategies for Instruction

Mentored Teaching Experiences (MTEs)

Assistant in Instruction (AI)

An Assistant in Instruction (AI) is a PhD student who is directly engaged in the organization, instruction, and/or support of a semester-long course primarily taught by a faculty member. An AI receives mentorship from a faculty member related to best practices in classroom engagement, instruction in the field, interpersonal engagement, and other relevant skills. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each AI experience. To complete each AI assignment and to ensure that it applies toward their degree requirements, students must register for the appropriate course number for each semester of engagement. Refer to the "Required Pathways for Completion" section below for course numbers and details.

All PhD students are required to complete 70 MTE units to successfully complete the program. Before each semester of the MTE, students and faculty will complete a mentorship plan, which will outline the roles and responsibilities of each party, as well as how feedback will be shared. For most students, the MTE requirements will take the form of five semesters of AI responsibilities in one of the department's 1000, 2000, or 3000-level courses. Assignments will be made according to departmental priorities, in some combination of the following, with the typical distribution being four semesters of 15 MTE units and one semester of 10 MTE units.
ARTARCH 1510 Introduction to Asian Art
AI leading two sections 15 MTE units
AI leading one section 10 MTE units
ARTARCH 1515 History of Western Art, Architecture, and Design
AI leading two sections 15 MTE units
AI leading one section 10 MTE units
ARTARCH 2020 Introduction to Modern Art, Architecture, and Design
AI leading two sections 15 MTE units
AI leading one section 10 MTE units
All other ARTARCH 2000- and 3000-level courses
AI without section-leading responsibilities 10 MTE units
Leading sections or equivalent pedagogical work Can result in 15 MTE units, upon petition to the DGS

Required Pathways for Completion

Students work with their faculty mentor and their Director of Graduate Studies to plan how and when they will complete their MER. Students register during the normal registration period for courses in accordance with one of these approved pathways.

  •  Preparatory Engagement

Pathway #1
ASGS 8010 Take one time
ASGS 8015 Take four times

Pathway #2
ASGS 8010 Take four times
ASGS 8015 Take two times

Pathway #3
ASGS 8010 Take seven times

Optional Activity: Professional Intensive Pathway (PIP)

The PIP is an optional pathway for those students whose career interests lie outside of academia or who want to benefit from mentored professional experiences (MPEs). An MPE is an unpaid professional experience for PhD students that allows students to develop skills and experiences relevant to their intended career outcomes. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each MPE. Students who are interested in participating in this elective experience must formally request to participate, which is subject to program approval. Due to this experience being an elective, unpaid experience, students who participate in the PIP will not receive compensation. 

With Department pre-approval, PhD students in Art History and Archaeology may engage in up to two optional semesters of the PIP. The MPE in Art History and Archaeology can be fulfilled by a wide range of activities that advance the professional interests of PhD students. These could include, for example, activities within a museum context, whether in a curatorial department or in other branches of museum administration. They could also include experiences with nonprofit arts organizations, with libraries or archives, or with another unit within Washington University. Whatever their precise nature, the tasks undertaken as part of the MPE should be intellectually substantive, and they should offer a way for the student to develop new skills and knowledge bases. Ultimately, the scope of the MPE will be determined via conversations among the student, the external mentor, the dissertation supervisor, and the Director of Graduate Studies.

Prior to the start of the semester in which the MPE will occur, the student and the external mentor will submit a plan to the department detailing the scope of the activities to be undertaken, which should include a schedule and a list of projected outcomes. In addition, the mentor will provide an explicit commitment to the mentorship. During the course of the semester, the mentor and mentee should meet frequently (weekly or biweekly) to track the progress of the student's work. At the end of the MPE, the mentor should provide a written assessment (approximately 500 words) of the overall learning experience for the student and include comments on the quality of the student's performance.

Optional Pathway
ASGS 8120 Take one or two times

Optional Activity: Teaching Intensive Pathway (TIP)

The TIP is an optional pathway for those students whose career interests lie in academia or another field that would benefit from extended teaching experiences. This immersive experience allows students to further explore the breadth and depth of teaching best practices and pedagogy related to their respective field. Students who are interested in participating in this elective experience must formally request to participate, which is subject to program approval. Due to this experience being an elective, unpaid experience, students who participate in the TIP will not receive compensation.

The department recognizes that some students have a particularly strong interest in developing their teaching abilities and offers an optional TIP. Students have until the end of their third year in the program to decide whether they wish to pursue the TIP. A student's admission to this pathway will be contingent upon faculty evaluations of the student's prior teaching, the fit of the proposed course to departmental needs and schedule, and the faculty's commitment to further mentoring. Students pursuing the TIP will complete 90 MTE units over their program length, and they are strongly encouraged to also complete the graduate teaching certificate with the Center for Teaching and Learning. The TIP offers students the opportunity to engage in Mentored Independent Teaching (MIT), and one semester of MIT is equivalent to 20 MTE units.

The MIT can be completed in a variety of ways, including the following:

  • Serving as the instructor of record for an ARTARCH 1000 or 2000-level course under the guidance of a full-time faculty member
  • Serving as a co-instructor for an ARTARCH 1000, 2000, or 3000-level course alongside a full-time faculty member
  • Serving as a supplementary instructor for an ARTARCH 1000-level course with substantial intellectual responsibilities, potentially including developing aspects of course design, delivering lectures, and supervising AIs

Optional Pathway
ASGS 8020 Take one time