The Graduate Program

The Department of Classical Studies offers graduate work leading to the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. The graduate faculty encourages applications from talented and committed students, whose undergraduate careers have given them an appreciation of the rich, many-faceted nature of classical studies and an interest in discovering a place of their own in it. Solid experience in Latin and Greek is of course desirable, but Missouri's MA program is specifically designed for students whose study in one or both of the languages may have come late and who need help getting up to speed rapidly.

The MA program focuses primarily on traditional philological preparation that readies students for advanced work in a variety of specializations in the field of classical studies. Students are given intensive training in the Classical languages and a thorough introduction to their literatures.

The PhD program's fundamental premise is that Classics makes fullest and best sense when studied in concert with the lively inquiries and discussions of related fields. Thus while our graduates will upon the completion of their degree have a sound general competency in Classical Philology, they will also undertake systematic work in the Ancient Studies Minor or a designated Concentration in one of several special areas.

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Some of these concentrations are traditional adjuncts to the study of Classical literature, for example in Archaeology and Ancient History. Others are less usually found in graduate programs but count among the particular strengths of the faculty and resources at Missouri. These include

• Studies in the Oral Tradition
• Ancient Mediterranean Religion
• Archaeology of the Ancient World
• Ancient Political Culture
• Late Antiquity
• Rhetoric
• the Classical Tradition

Within each of these concentrations, and indeed in the fabric of Classical Studies' regular offerings, is the further principle that Classical Studies is and must be a developing intellectual discipline. New critical approaches on a number of fronts as well as renewed attention to less common areas of Classical inquiry are given due place in the curriculum.

Missouri has a strong record of placing its MA and PhD graduates in colleges and universities and in secondary school teaching positions. This success stems in part from the recognition that since the majority of teaching positions exist in undergraduate and public university settings, graduate education should seek to prepare excellent teachers with a wide grasp of Classical literature, history, and culture, as well as an openness to interdisciplinary approaches in the classroom and research. The balance of intellectual training our graduate curriculum seeks to cultivate will enable future teachers of Classics to see their discipline as a crucial part of the wider intellectual discourse of the modern world.

For information about requirements for admission to the graduate study in Classical Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia and for fuller descriptions of the MA and PhD programs of study, see Department of Classical Studies: Regulations and Procedures Affecting Graduate Students (pdf).

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Last modified: Wednesday, 18-Jun-2008 09:45:50 CDT