Program Overview

Master of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts

The Master of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts requires a minimum of 33 semester credit hours.

Coursework

• Thirty-three semester credit hours of coursework are required, with at least eighteen semester credit hours taken as organized graduate-level courses in Visual and Performing Arts.

Required Courses

• 21 semester credit hours are required, including:
  • VPAS 6300: Proseminar in Visual and Performing Arts
  • ARHM 6310: Team-Taught Interdisciplinary Seminar
  • 15 semester credit hours of organized graduate-level VPAS courses

Free Electives

• 12 semester credit hours of electives in any graduate-level courses are required.

Professional Option

• Students in the professional option must complete thirty-three semester credit hours of coursework.
• They are not required to complete a portfolio or meet the foreign language requirement.

Research Option

• Students in the research option must complete thirty-three semester credit hours of coursework.
• They must fulfill a foreign language requirement.
• They must complete a portfolio.

Foreign Language Requirement

• The research option MA degree requires demonstrated proficiency in an approved foreign language.
• The requirement can be satisfied upon enrollment in the MA program by demonstrating evidence of one or more of the following:
  • Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher with a grade of B or better.
  • Completion of a graduate course taught in a foreign language or with more than 25% of its required readings in a foreign language.
  • An undergraduate major, graduate degree, or certificate in a foreign language.
  • Successful completion of graded coursework at a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
  • A degree in any discipline from a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
• The requirement can be satisfied during graduate study at UT Dallas in one of the following ways:
  • Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher at UT Dallas or elsewhere with a grade of B or better.
  • Successful completion of LIT 6380: Translation Workshop with a grade of B or better.
  • Successful completion of one of the following: HUMA 6330: French Workshop; HUMA 6331: Spanish Workshop; HUMA 6333: German Workshop with a grade of B or better.
  • Passing a written translation exam in an approved foreign language at UT Dallas.

Portfolio

• Two research papers or a creative project plus a scholarly essay originating in or completed for graduate courses are revised and presented in a portfolio for evaluation by a master's committee.
• VPAS 6300: Proseminar in Visual and Performing Arts must be taken during the first Fall semester of enrollment in the program.