Program Overview

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Overview of the PhD Program in Critical Ethnic Studies

The PhD program in critical ethnic studies offers an innovative path to provide students with broad training to enable them to research and analyze the intersectional and relational workings of race, ethnicity, culture, indigeneity, gender, class, sexuality, religion, dis/ability, and legal status in local, regional, and global contexts. It provides flexibility for students to pursue their individual research interests, while ensuring that they are grounded in both the foundational and cutting-edge theories in ethnic studies.

Requirements

Transfer of Credit

Students will be permitted to transfer a maximum of 9 credit hours. The Associate Chair of Graduate Studies (ACGS) will examine the academic transcripts of admitted students to determine transfer credits where appropriate. Students must submit a syllabus for each course to be considered for transfer.

Required Courses and Credits

Students must complete 60 credit hours, with a minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate-level coursework. At least 18 of the 30 credit hours of graduate-level coursework must come from the Department of Ethnic Studies.

• All doctoral students are required to complete the fall and spring sequence, ETHN 6000/ETHN 6001: Foundations in Comparative Ethnic Studies and Methods in Comparative Ethnic Studies (6 credits total, 3 per semester).
• Students will be required to enroll in a 1-credit professionalization seminar (ETHN 6002), which is a two-semester course offered by the Ethnic Studies Department.
• The remaining required credit hours of graduate-level coursework will be selected in consultation with the student's advisor from among ETHN graduate offerings, graduate courses in other units, and approved transfer credit up to 9 credit hours.

Areas of Specialty

The department encourages, but does not require, that students complete a minimum of 9 credits of graduate-level coursework in an area of specialty. Depending on their research interests, students will create an area of study which may include, but is not limited to:

• Native American & Indigenous studies
• Africana studies
• Asian American studies
• Chicanx/Latinx studies
• Criminology Thematic subfields allow students to develop a thematic framework (e.g., “Decolonial Theory,” “Diaspora and Labor Migration” or “Borderlands”) in which they will specialize.

Dissertation Credits

In addition to the 30 credit hours of graduate-level coursework, students must complete a minimum of 30 dissertation credits in total. Students must be registered for a minimum of five dissertation hours the semester (including summer semester) in which the comprehensive exam/dissertation defense is held.

Language Requirement

The department encourages, but does not require, non-English language proficiency, especially for students conducting research in contexts that extend beyond their existing abilities. Proficiency will be demonstrated by passing (with a grade of C or better) the fourth semester of a non-English language course, earning a passing score on the Graduate School Foreign Language Test (GSFLT), or by an alternative mode of assessment agreed to by the Graduate Committee.

Continuous Registration

A PhD student is required to register continuously as a full-time, regular degree-seeking student at CU Boulder for a minimum of five credit hours in the fall and spring semesters of each year. Students must be registered for a minimum of 5 dissertation hours per semester beginning with the semester following the passing of the comprehensive examination and extending through the semester in which the dissertation is successfully defended (final examination).

Learning Outcomes

By the completion of the program, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate expertise in one or more of the core areas of Critical Ethnic Studies, including knowledge of intersectional, interdisciplinary, and liberation-oriented theoretical frameworks integral to the discipline.
• Demonstrate proficiency in diverse research methodologies illustrating the unique multi-method and multi-disciplinarity of Critical Ethnic Studies.
• Design, conduct, and synthesize original research in their core area/areas.
• Effectively communicate research (motivation, methodology, and results) to academic and public audiences and forums in written, oral, and other creative formats.
• Conduct meaningful pedagogical engagement with students and community stakeholders.