University of Chicago

Program Options

Most MAPH students design their own programs of study, depending on their specific research and professional interests. But MAPH students with interests in Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, Cultural Policy, or Creative Writing often take advantage of one of the four MAPH Program Options in those fields. MAPH administers the Program Options in conjunction with certain departments in the Humanities Division. The Options provide standard, directed ways of using electives for students with the pertinent research interests.

The Options are just that: optional. They are in place for students whose intellectual projects are best located in one of the four Option areas. Students whose research lies in other areas (which includes the majority of our students, most years) simply design programs of study suitable to their own intellectual projects, in consultation with their faculty advisors and preceptors.

The Cinema And Media Studies Option

The University of Chicago program in Cinema and Media Studies does not offer an MA in Cinema and Media Studies. The program has, however, made it possible for MAPH to administer a Cinema and Media Studies MA-level program option.

Students choosing this option take the MAPH Core, the Cinema and Media Studies Methods and Issues course, CMST 40000, and History of International Film I and II. The two-term history sequence takes students from silent film up through film of the 1960s. In addition, a student choosing this option will take one or two of their remaining four elective courses in Cinema and Media Studies, and write a thesis on film under the supervision of a member of the Cinema and Media Studies faculty.

Because serious work on film requires broad intellectual engagements, students choosing this option will take at least two of their elective courses in other fields, ideally in fields that will contribute to their film research.

For more information on Cinema and Media Studies at Chicago, visit the CMS Committee web-site

The Classical Languages Option

The MAPH Option in Classical Languages, which is offered in cooperation with the University of Chicago's Classics Department, is designed primarily for students interested in studying Classics but whose language skills do not yet meet the graduate admissions requirements of most major Classics Departments, including our own. Most major Departments want to see at least two years of either Greek or Latin and at least three years of the other language, and they would prefer three and three. A significant motivation for this course of study, although not the only one, is an interest in strengthening an application for doctoral study in Classics, at Chicago or elsewhere. In order to do that in a year with MAPH, a student contemplating using the Classical Languages Option should already have finished at least one year of either Greek or Latin and at least two years of the other language, when s/he begins our program in the autumn.

During the week before autumn classes begin, students admitted to MAPH's Classical Languages Option are required to sit competency exams, administered by the Classics Department, in both Latin and Greek. Results of these exams determine placement in appropriate-level language courses for the year.

Students choosing the Classical Languages Option are required to take the MAPH Core in Autumn, and EIGHT elective courses, six of which must be in Classics. Core is designed to both provide a broad foundation for critical methodologies applied across humanistic fields, and serve as the experiential common denominator linking otherwise highly individualized programs of study in MAPH. Students must receive a 'B' or better in the Core and maintain a 'B' average in all of their courses. They work out their programs of study in consultation with a Faculty Advisor from the Classics Department. In addition to the thesis written by other MAPH students, students in the Classical Languages Option must pass the language competency exams in both Greek and Latin set by the Classics Department in Spring quarter.

Students in the Classical Language Option are expected to concentrate their study on the weaker of their two classical languages so as to bring their skills up to entry-level competence for a major Classics Ph.D. program.

For information on Classics courses and faculty consult the Classics web site.

The Cultural Policy Studies Option

The MAPH option in Cultural Policy Studies, offered in cooperation with the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, is designed for students whose interests in the humanities include a focus on the forces and institutions, both private and public, which shape the arts, humanities, and cultural heritage. The option serves individuals seeking careers in the public service area of the cultural sector (i.e., foundations or government agencies that support the arts); leaders, both actual and would-be, of cultural organizations wishing to improve their understanding of the policy concerns confronting their sector; and students seeking to pursue doctoral work in a humanities discipline with a focus on the policy dimensions of cultural studies, cultural theory, or cultural history.

Students taking this course of study will be introduced to the conceptual frameworks governing research on cultural policy, and will become acquainted with some of the basic tools used in cultural policy research, as well as with the data sources commonly used by researchers. Graduates should come away with a basic understanding of the features of the cultural sector, of the issues it faces, and of the governmental tactics (i.e., funding structures, property rights, censorship, incentives, etc.) being used to address these issues.

Students choosing the Cultural Policy option will take the MAPH Core, and the three Cultural Policy core courses (PBPL 39600: Intro to Cultural Policy Studies, ENGL 52401: The Policing of Culture, and PBPL 41200: Excavating Cultural Policy). Students will take two of their four additional courses in areas specifically related to their work in Cultural Policy Studies and will write a thesis advised by a faculty member of the Center.

Students are encouraged to visit the Cultural Policy Center's website for additional information.

The Creative Writing Option

The MAPH option in Creative Writing (CRWR) is intended for students who plan to do a creative writing thesis project in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. Unlike MFA programs that offer professionally oriented training in writing, students taking the Writing Option are not expected to concentrate all their attention on their own writing, but rather to develop their writing skills in the context of humanistic study. Although they may wish to do so in the course of a year of intensive study of literature, those students who wish instead to study, say, philosophy, music, or art history along with creative writing will be encouraged to do so.

In addition to completing the MAPH core course, students in the Writing Option take:

  • 1 CRWR course in the student's chosen genre in fall quarter
  • a CRWR Thesis/Major Projects workshop in winter quarter
  • 3 academic courses relevant to the proposed thesis area
  • 2 elective courses to be taken in any area of student interest.

Writing Option thesis projects must have both a creative component and a brief critical essay about the work. In practice, the Writing Option is designed to provide a flexible structure for creative thesis work.

Instructor permission is required for most creative writing courses. This process requires submission of previous creative writing work by fixed deadlines prior to the start of each quarter. Students who apply to and are admitted to the Writing Option in the spring before their MAPH year have priority for spots in autumn quarter CRWR classes, but must still submit writing samples for writing courses requiring them. They also automatically have a place reserved for them in the genre-specific Thesis/Major Projects workshop in winter. The creative writing faculty member who leads the winter workshop will also be available to serve as the student's thesis director during spring quarter.

MAPH students have the opportunity to switch into the Writing Option even if they did not originally apply to the Option. Any student contemplating a creative thesis in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction should take a creative writing course in the relevant genre during fall quarter. A student who decides to do a creative writing thesis too late to apply for a creative writing course in fall quarter may still switch into the Option, if their writing sample qualifies them for admission to a Thesis/Major Projects workshop course in winter quarter.

Applicants to this program option are also encouraged to visit the website for the Committee on Creative Writing for further information on creative writing at the University of Chicago.