The University of Pennsylvania's Graduate Program in French Studies offers a five-year Ph.D. program. All students admitted to the program are awarded full financial support through the University's Benjamin Franklin Fellowships, including summer funding for the first three years. The overarching goal of the program is to train students for productive scholarship and for effective college or university teaching. We have an outstanding faculty committed to scholarly excellence and we have an impressive record in placing candidates on the job market.
In addition to our faculty having interest in a broad range of centuries, individual expertise include science studies, popular culture, film noir, fashion, travel writing, poetry, anthropology, gender, postcolonial studies, cultural history, narratology, and history of the book. Students are encouraged to incorporate new critical approaches into their dissertation topics.
Interdisciplinary study is encouraged through participation in the wide range of seminars, lectures, and colloquia sponsored by the various Graduate Groups and affiliated research institutes and centers at Penn. Students may complement their studies by taking up to four courses outside the French section. Graduate students in French and Francophone Studies may also participate in The Penn Humanities Forum which also provides a venue for doctoral students to interact with colleagues from across the disciplines.