Italian PhD at University of Wisconsin Madison

The Italian program offers the master of arts and Ph.D. degrees. In most academic years, a wide array of courses and seminars is offered each semester to provide an even distribution across various literary periods. Courses typically meet two or three times a week and are broad in focus, generally exploring well-defined periods or genres. Seminars are held once a week for two hours and take up narrower topics in greater depth. Typical course offerings over a two- to three-year period cover all centuries of Italian literature and a wide variety of topics, including Italian culture, cinema, civilization, and linguistics. Strong emphasis is placed on the practice of the language; Italian is the usual language of instruction in graduate courses and seminars.

Graduate students gain a solid foundation not only in scholarship and criticism, but also in teaching. Most students have guarantees of support. The standard offer to an incoming teaching assistant provides a guarantee of three or four years of support, depending on whether the student has already done graduate work elsewhere. Study abroad programs and exchange agreements with individual universities provide opportunities for study and research in Italy. For example, the department frequently sends a graduate student to serve for a semester or a year as house fellow for the study program at the Villa Corsi-Salviati near Florence. The department also has exchange and cooperation arrangements with the Université di Siena and the Université di Firenze.

The department offers regular workshops designed to give students an overview of the job market and how to best prepare for it, making its placement record outstanding. As one of the largest Italian programs in North America, the department offers an unparalleled opportunity to study Italian literature, linguistics, and culture.

1. Demonstrate thorough knowledge and critical understanding of their area of specialization.
2. Synthesize and define a field of inquiry in a persuasive, coherent, and original way.
3. Make effective use of research sources, tools, and strategies in the field of Italian literature and culture.
4. Demonstrate, in the writing of their Ph.D. dissertation, an originality of thinking and insight that reaches beyond the current boundaries of knowledge within the field of study.
5. Articulate awareness of various questions, problems, and limitations implied by their framing of their topic.
6. Contribute substantially to their area of specialization, and engage in a dialogue with other experts in that area.
7. Fosters ethical and professional conduct.
8. Communicate and defend complex ideas in a clear and understandable manner, in both Italian and English.
9. Show reading knowledge of a second foreign language pertinent to their research specialty.
10. Be prepared to be effective teachers of Italian culture, and language at the college and university levels.