Master of Arts
Greek or Latin | Archaeology | Master of Arts Thesis | M.A. in Teaching
The Department of Classics offers three masters of arts programs: Greek, Latin, and Classical Archaeology. A minor in another department such as English, History, or Romance Languages is permitted, but no formal minor is required. As the student works toward the master's degree, he or she should strive, if a philology student, to acquire a sound knowledge of one language and literature (Greek or Latin), or, if an archaeology student, to master a limited number of fields (for example, Greek architecture; Roman sculpture; etc.) and to learn the basic principles involved in the use of evidence. At the same time the student should work on other areas that will be needed for the Ph.D., but without feeling the need to attain the same level of proficiency in them. Please explore the requirements for each degree, as well as the thesis requirements which are common to all master of arts degrees.
Greek or Latin
Program Description
Greek and Latin have been an important part of the University's curriculum since it opened as the nation's first state university in 1795. Graduate degrees in Classics were first offered toward the close of the nineteenth century. After the Second World War, the graduate program expanded, attracting students from around the country -- chiefly because of the presence of such distinguished faculty as B. L. Ullman, Robert Getty, T. R. S. Broughton, and Henry Immerwahr. In the latter decades of the twentieth century many students worked under the direction of such scholars as George Kennedy, Kenneth Reckford, Philip Stadter, and Jerzy Linderski. (A full list of theses and dissertations from 1910 onwards is available here). The program has been widened and deepened to the point that permanent faculty positions currently number 13, while colleagues in departments such as History, Philosophy, English and Comparative Literature, Religious Studies, and Art also contribute to the program. Strong institutional support for Classics has kept these numbers up in the new century with hires at both the junior and the senior level: eleven current faculty members in Classics joined the Department within the last decade or so. The Ph.D. degree programs include Classics, Classics with Historical Emphasis, Classical and Medieval Latin, and Classical Archaeology. Special combinations of Classics with a non-classical field, e.g. English, are also possible.
Extensive academic resources and opportunities on and off campus enhance the experiences and training of our graduate students. On campus, UNC provides a variety of research resources to Classics students. Davis Library, just around the corner from the department, holds one of the largest Classics collections in North America, and the B. L. Ullman Classics Collection, located in the department itself, is a reference library catering to the everyday needs of students and faculty alike. The Ancient World Mapping Center, overseen by Prof. Richard Talbert of the History department, is a unique research institution exploring the spatial dimensions of the Greek and Roman world and the home of the Barrington Atlas.
The Classics department also participates in a variety of inter-departmental and inter-institutional programs. First, the Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies or MEMS comprises some sixty faculty members from 10 different departments who cooperatively explore the Medieval and Early Modern world from an interdisciplinary perspective. Also, the department has a consortium with Duke University’s Classics Department. Students in Classics at each university may take classes from either Classics department. Faculty from Duke and UNC sometimes team-teach courses, and faculty from one institution can serve on the M.A. and Ph.D. committees of students at the other university. Duke University is a mere eight miles away, and a shuttle bus runs between the two campuses every half hour during term.
The Classics Department also participates in the university-wide strategic partnership with King’s College London. The Classics departments of the two institutions collaborate on a regular basis, providing opportunities for faculty and students on both sides to visit the partner department and to develop joint research initiatives. Faculty members on both sides can serve on MA and PhD committees of the partner department, thus enhancing the intellectual diversity and richness of each. Other opportunities for study abroad, including the American School for Classical Studies in Athens, the American Academy in Rome, and the American Research Institute in Turkey, are described under ‘Overseas Study’; the recently established Berthe Marti fellowship provides support for dissertation research at the American Academy in Rome. The strong resources, in combination with the demanding program, enable students to meet successfully the educational and research challenges of the 21st century. The department has a good record of placing its graduates; for a full list of graduate alumni, click here.
Students with good preparation can complete the MA in two years and the PhD after an additional three or four. At present most MA candidates take their translation and essay examinations during the second year of work and finish their theses in the fall of the third year. Those students who continue on for their PhD take their doctoral written examinations in their fourth year and are then able to begin concerted work on their dissertations. Students with a strong record in graduate courses may, upon completion of the MA exams, petition the Department for permission to bypass the writing of an MA thesis and proceed directly toward the PhD. MA candidates must demonstrate reading facility in one modern foreign language (German, French, or Italian), and PhD candidates must do so in two (German and either French or Italian). For that reason the Department prefers that incoming students already have reading knowledge of at least one relevant modern language.
The Department has a special concern in the training of teachers, and it views teaching assistantships as invaluable preparation for one’s professional career. Most students gain teaching experience from the very start of their program, normally in their first year as Instructional Assistants or Teaching Associates, working in a course taught by a faculty member, but normally by their second year as Teaching Fellows, teaching their own courses under the supervision of a faculty member. In this way students become experienced in all the aspects of teaching courses in undergraduate Latin, classical civilization, and Greek and Latin literature in translation.
Requirements
1. A minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate courses, distributed as follows:
a. 15 in the major area, either Greek or Latin.
b. 3 in an advanced seminar in the major field.
c. 3 (but no more than 3) in thesis credit (993).
d. For students in Greek, one graduate level course in Latin; for students in Latin, one graduate level course in Greek. (Note: 601 and 602 courses do not count toward the requirement of 30 hours. Courses in other Departments may be counted toward the 30-hour minimum if approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.)
e. One course in either Greek or Latin composition.
f. Students who enter the program not having had approved undergraduate survey courses in Greek and Roman archaeology are required to take or audit undergraduate survey courses in both Greek and Roman archaeology (CLAR 244 and 245). A student choosing to audit must take and pass the examination(s). Courses in these areas taken elsewhere can count toward this requirement; the DGS has discretion to decide which courses meet this requirement.
g. Students who enter the program not having had approved undergraduate survey courses in Greek and Roman history are required to take or audit undergraduate survey courses in both Greek and Roman history (HIST 225 and 226). A student choosing to audit must take and pass the examination(s). As in (f), courses in these areas taken elsewhere can count toward this requirement; the DGS has discretion to decide which courses meet this requirement.
2. A reading knowledge of French or German. This may be demonstrated either by passing a translation test administered by the Department or by passing any undergraduate literature course (e.g. French 260 or the equivalent) in the language with a grade of B or better.
3. MA Translation Examination. The student will ordinarily take this examination in the second year of work. It is offered in February and September each year, lasts four hours, and consists of four passages (two prose, two poetry) in the student's major language (Latin or Greek). These passages are selected from the MA reading lists.
4. MA Written Examination. The student will ordinarily take this examination in the second year of work. It is offered in February and September each year, lasts four hours, and consists of essays on the literature in the student's major language. The essay examination is based primarily upon the ancient authors and works on the MA reading lists.
5. Thesis.
Archaeology
Program Description
Classical Archaeology at UNC has remained a nationally recognized strength of the Department of Classics for over fifty years. The graduate and undergraduate programs emphasize the study of material culture as a vital component of research and teaching in classical studies, Mediterranean archaeology, and ancient Near Eastern studies, while substantiating the classical and Mediterranean components of the interdepartmental Archaeology Program. The environment at UNC— unusually rich and diverse archaeology with faculties across four academic units—has allowed us to shape cross-disciplinary research and teaching objectives.
Classical Archaeology at UNC is represented by six faculty members across three different departments—Classics, Art History, and Religious Studies—and supported by five additional classical archaeologists at neighboring Duke University through the Duke-UNC Consortium for Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology. Ten additional archaeologists in the Department of Anthropology and Research Laboratories of Archaeology offer a range of complementary courses in archaeological method and theory, landscape archaeology, complex societies, historical ecology, ceramics, palaeoethnobotany, and biological anthropology.
One goal of the program is to develop innovative field projects that engage faculty and students in collaborative research and teaching. Recent collaboration between the departments of classics and anthropology has led to the design and implementation of a multi-year archaeological field project on Crete, funded principally by two successive NEH grants and a collaborative NSF grant awarded to Classics. The Azoria Project has incorporated teaching and research faculty from both departments—leading to collaborative papers and publications—as well as a field school program involving undergraduate and graduate students from both departments and across the College.
Requirements
1. A minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate course work, of which one course must be an advanced seminar in archaeology, distributed as follows:
a. One course or seminar (3 hours) in Greek architecture or topography.
b. One course or seminar (3 hours) in Roman architecture or topography.
c. One course or seminar (3 hours) in Greek sculpture.
d. One course or seminar (3 hours) in Roman sculpture.
e. Two electives (any graduate-level CLAR course, 6 hours).
f. Three, but no more than three credits, in thesis credit (993).
g. One graduate-level course (3 hours) in ancient history in the History Department.
Students who enter the program without an adequate background in Greek or Roman history, or both, should take or audit HIST 225 or HIST 226, or both. A student choosing to audit must take and pass the examination(s) in the course(s). The choice of course(s) will require the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the Chair of the Archaeology Committee.
h. Two graduate level courses (6 hours) in Greek or Latin. (Note: 601 and 602 courses do not count toward the requirement of 30 hours.)
2. A reading knowledge of German, French, Italian, modern Greek, or another language appropriate to the student’s special area of study. The choice of language has to be approved by the Archaeology Committee. For French and German this may be demonstrated either by passing a translation test administered by the Department or by passing any undergraduate literature course (e.g. French 260 or the equivalent) with a grade of B or better. For testing in languages other than German and French, contact the Director of Graduate Studies or the Chair of the Archaeology Committee. Students are urged to begin German as soon as possible. Demonstrated reading proficiency in German is required for the PhD in Archaeology.
3. MA Written Examination. The student will ordinarily take this examination in the second year of work. It is offered in January or early February of each year. The student should notify the Committee Chair early in the Fall semester before the examination is to be given.
The examination consists of three parts:
a. Visual identification (one hour). Identification and brief discussion of 30 slides drawn from all areas of Greek and Roman art and architecture (8th century B.C.-4th c. A.D.). (Consult the MA reading list for standard handbooks and surveys).
b. Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture (four hours). Four essays on questions drawn from fields of Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture (8th c. B.C.-4th c. A.D.).
c. Special topic (one hour). One essay on the special topic in art or archaeology, to be arranged in consultation with the Chair of the Archaeology Committee.
4. Thesis.
5. Final Oral Examination. A one-hour defense of the thesis.
Master of Arts Thesis
Thesis Description
It is the goal of the Department to make it possible for all Philology and Archaeology students to complete the Master of Arts requirements in four semesters.
- The thesis will normally be based on a paper the student has written for a graduate course; the student will choose the appropriate paper in consultation with the faculty member for whom papers were written and with either the Director of Graduate Studies or the Chair of the Archaeology Committee, or both.
- All of our students will be encouraged from their first semester onwards to think about one of their papers providing the basis for their thesis; The term paper will be substantially revised and expanded under the direction of the faculty member for whom it was originally written (who will be the director of the thesis);
- The revisions and expansions will, in particular, involve incorporating and engaging more of the relevant scholarship on the topic, and adding a substantial bibliography;
- The paper will be expanded to a maximum of 50-60 pages (i.e., in the majority of cases, this will involve adding 35-40 pages to a term paper that was originally 15-20 pages long);
- The committee to approve the thesis will be comprised of three members (as required by the Graduate School): the director of the thesis, one other faculty member appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies in consultation with the student, and the Director of Graduate Studies ex officio (whose role will be to serve as chair of the committee, as in the oral and written exam committees);
- Students will register for three hours of MA thesis credit (993) during their fourth semester;
- Students who fail to complete their thesis in the fourth semester will be subject to the same procedures and penalties currently in force for students who fail to complete it in the fifth semester.
The “Calendar of Events” printed in the Record of the Graduate School and in the Undergraduate Bulletin gives the deadline by which final copies of theses in approved form must be submitted to the Graduate School. This is usually about November 20 for a December degree and about April 15 for a May degree. In addition, the student must complete and submit to her or his readers a first draft of the thesis two weeks before that date in order to allow time for the committee to read the thesis and for the student to revise it in accordance with the committee’s requests.
Failure to meet either of these deadlines in time to receive the MA degree at the end of the fourth semester of work (in December or, more likely, in May) will make the student ineligible for financial aid from the Department until the semester after the student completes the thesis, the Master’s degree is awarded by the Graduate School, and the student is readmitted to the PhD program.
Students must submit to the Graduate School the required Application for Graduation early in the semester at the end of which they expect to receive the degree. The Application for Graduation is available online and must be submitted by the deadline. Deadlines for submission are:
Fall (December graduation) – 2nd Friday in October
Spring (May graduation) – 2nd Friday in February
Summer (August graduation) – 2nd Friday in June
This information is printed in the Record of the Graduate School. All work for the MA degree must be completed within five calendar years of the student’s entrance into the graduate program. Approved leaves of absence do not count in the five years. Students who need to apply to the Graduate School for extensions must consult with the Director of Graduate Studies.
Admission to the PhD program
Students intending to proceed beyond the Master’s degree should indicate their desire to do so to the Director of Graduate Studies at least one week before the completion of the thesis. Upon completion of all requirements for the MA in Greek, Latin, or Classical Archaeology, a decision will be made as to whether the student should continue on to the PhD. The Director of Graduate Studies, having consulted with the student’s thesis committee and, as necessary, other members of the faculty, will inform the student of the Department’s decision as to whether or not the student will be permitted to proceed to the PhD.
Bypassing the Master's Thesis
By October 15th of the student’s third semester of work, the student may apply to the Director of Graduate Studies for permission to bypass the Master’s thesis, normally under the condition that the student has already written an MA thesis elsewhere. After evaluating the particular needs and potential of the student, the Department may still require the student to write a thesis.
Master of Arts in Teaching
The Master of Arts in Teaching is available only in Latin and is offered by the School of Education in cooperation with the Department of Classics. The program provides opportunities for individuals to expand in depth and breadth their content specialization (Latin language and literature, Roman history, Classics) while gaining additional understanding of curriculum and instruction at the secondary education level. Read more.