PhD Minor

The department does not offer a Ph.D. at this time. Candidates for the Ph.D. in other departments may obtain a Ph.D. minor in African American Studies by completing a minimum of 12 graduate credits in the department, of which only 3 may be directed study credits. All four courses (12 credits) must be taught by faculty from the African American Studies Department. Three of the 12 credits must be a seminar course. Advance approval by the candidate’s departmental major advisor is required for the Ph.D. minor.

The department does offer minors for Ph.D. students in disciplinary graduate programs including African Languages and Literature, Art History, Comparative Literature, Education, Psychology, English, History, Music, Political Science, Social Work and Sociology. For students who specialize in literature or history and who wish to remain at UW–Madison to pursue a Ph.D., the Bridge Program, linking the departments, offers them the opportunity to make that transition following successful completion of the M.A. in African American Studies. The Department continues to explore possibilities of similar cross-departmental bridges with other UW–Madison Ph.D. programs.

All Graduate School students must utilize the Graduate Student Portal in MyUW to add, change, or discontinue any doctoral minor. To apply to this minor, log in to MyUW, click on Graduate Student Portal, and then click on Add/Change Programs. Select the information for the doctoral minor for which you are applying.

Please contact Dr. Ethelene Whitmire, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, with any questions.