Graduate academic calendar 2012 - 2013 - Trent University

GRADUATE PROGRAMS Cultural Studies
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for the first project, normally by October 31 of Year Two. Where necessary to meet University
regulations, the Director will serve, ex officio, as the third Supervisor. These Supervisors comprise
the student’s Supervisory Committee, which will be chaired by the primary Supervisor. The Director,
in consultation with the student, will appoint a Supervisory Committee on the same model for the
second and third projects, normally by October 31 in each subsequent year, and also a Supervisory
Committee for the final dissertation and oral defence.
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Completion of each component of the program as described below is required of each student.
Satisfactory completion of each program requirement requires a passing grade (PASS). In all
cases of program requirements, the grade awarded, and transcripted, will be PASS or FAIL, or
INC (“incomplete”), in accordance with the University’s grading system. Each INC grade alerts
the student to a problem in progressing toward the degree and requires consultation with the
Supervisory Committee. Any combination of two INC grades will elicit a letter of warning from
the Director and will require an interview with the Director where the student will have to show
cause why he/she should not be asked to withdraw from the Program. Each FAIL grade indicates
unsatisfactory work and the student may be asked to withdraw from the Program. .
The expected time of completion of the degree is four years. The CUST Ph.D. degree is granted
once the Program confirms that all Program requirements have been met and once the dissertation
is formally approved by the University.
REQUIRED COMPONENTS
The 14 required components that must be successfully completed are listed below.
Oral Defence
After the Supervisory Committee confirms that the dissertation may proceed to examination, an oral
examination is held, in accordance with Trent University regulations.
Submission for Publication
Each of the three projects is completed by the student at a level considered publishable by the
student’s Supervisory Committee. At least one of the three projects is to be actually submitted for
publication before the degree is granted. By April of Year Four, the student will submit to a journal
approved by the Supervisory Committee at least one paper for publication, based on the projects
that make up the Dissertation.
Language Requirement
As part of the degree requirements, all doctoral students are required to pass (PASS) a twohour
language test involving translation into English of a French text or, with permission of the
Program, another language if it is more relevant to their projects. Dictionaries are allowed. The
source text will be of an intellectual quality suited to Ph.D. research. This requirement may also
be met by completing and passing (PASS) an undergraduate Trent University language course (or
its equivalent), which includes reading and writing components, as well as a suitable translation
component.
CUST 6100 – Intellectual traditions in cultural studies
A year-long seminar concerned with questions, problems and traditions in Cultural Studies and
organized around the materials selected for the Comprehensive Exam that year. CUST 6100 will
help students prepare for the exam (CUST 6125) and, indirectly, to integrate their research into the
field of Cultural Studies.
CUST 6110H – Research methods in cultural studies
A practical introduction to research in two six-week units. Unit 1 covers research on cultural objects.
Unit 2 covers processes of subjectivity, culture and society. Taught through reading exemplary
research on art, theatre, film, television, paraliterature, the internet, landscapes, etc; with methods
including psychoanalysis, ethnography, interviews, cultural history, archival research