Contacts • Faculty/Staff • Undergraduate • Graduate • Courses • Study Abroad • Language Media Center • Newsletter • Support Us
Contacts • Faculty/Staff • Undergraduate • Graduate •
Courses • Study
Abroad • Language Media Center • Newsletter • Support Us
The Department of French and Italian offers courses leading to the Master of Arts and the Doctor of Philosophy in French.
Graduate students in French and Francophone Studies benefit from the expertise of a nationally and internationally known faculty. Courses are available in the traditionally recognized historical periods of French literature and culture, as well as in various literary genres and critical theories. The Department provides a wide variety of courses in Francophone literatures and cultures from Canada, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, North and sub-Saharan Africa as well as the literatures of immigration in France. We have specific strengths in Interdisciplinary studies in the areas of Comparative arts, Early Modern Studies, Film Studies, History, and Women’s Studies. The recent inclusion of courses in Arabic and Swahili reflects the dynamism of our program and brings new strengths in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary research and teaching.
Emphasis on language proficiency, composition and stylistics remains integral to the M.A. program. Along with the literature-centered M.A., the Department offers an M.A. in French Education.
The Graduate College has been notified by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation about the availability of Mellon Fellowships for graduate students in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences. Nearly all who apply to your doctoral program are eligible for these fellowships which provide a first-year stipend of $17,500 and tuition. The application request deadline is November 12 and the completed application deadline is December 1. For more information – http://www.woodrow.org/mellon
Teaching and research assistantships are available to many qualified applicants. During the academic year 2009-10 beginning half-time teaching and research assistants are paid a stipend of $16,575. All non-resident graduate students who are employed at least quarter time are entitled to pay resident tuition fees.
Teaching assistants have the opportunity to participate in a pedagogically sophisticated program that provides support for novice teaching while at the same time emphasizing individual initiative. Extensive use of technology (video, multi-media materials, web-based materials) allows teaching assistants to gain expertise in an area of growing importance. It is also possible for teaching assistants to take courses in second language acquisition and thus acquire adavanced academic credentials in this area. See our FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for more information about teaching.
The Iowa Fellowship Program offers tutition waiver as well as higher stipends and summer support. It provides a service-free fellowship in the first year as well as in the fourth year of study. In addition, various fellowships are available through the Graduate College for dissertation research and writing including the T. Anne Cleary International Research Fellowship and the Ada Louis Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Year Fellowship.
The Mary Susan Morse Iosue Memorial Scholarship in French recognizes outstanding undergraduate or graduate students. This scholarship was established with a generous gift from Frank A. Iosue (M.F.A. 1978, English, graduate of the Writers' Workshop) in memory of his wife Mary Susan Morse Iosue (B.A. 1976, French).
Many of our students have benefited from grants and fellowships available from the French Government. Several awards and fellowships for graduate students are also available through The University of Iowa International Programs.
Exchange appointments for graduate students in French are made each year with the Universities of Pau and Poitiers.
In addition to course offerings in several departments, our students may take advantage of Crossing Borders, an interdisciplinary cross-area graduate training program in the social sciences and humanities. Students are encouraged to present their research in enriching interdisciplinary research groups housed in International Programs such as the African Studies Program, the Caribbean Diaspora and Atlantic Studies Program, the European Studies Group, the Middle East and Muslim World Studies Group, and the 18th and 19th-Century Interdisciplinary Colloquium.
The French and Italian Forum, our lecture series is another venue for graduate students to hear presentations by national and international scholars, and meet writers from the world renown University of Iowa International Writing Program. The Forum also gives ABDs the opportunity to prepare for conferences and job interviews. We also encourage them to publish article and book reviews in respected journals.
In spring 2009, our graduate students organized a very successful University of Iowa Graduate Symposium in French and Francophone Studies around the topic of "Trespassing, Translation, Transcendence and Transvestism: Finding Comfort in the Space Between."
The Department of French and Italian regularly collaborates with Cinema and Comparative Literature on an Ad Hoc Ph.D. program in Film/French. Participants in the program develop expertise in film and French studies through a comprehensive plan of study directed by an interdepartmental committee. Taking advantage of The University of Iowa’s outstanding resources in the field of cinema studies, Film/French students prepare for a career of interdisciplinary teaching and research through critical and theoretical work. Film/French students, like all students in the graduate program, have the opportunity to learn the latest techniques for employing film and video materials in the teaching of language.
Founded at Iowa in 1978, the Dada Archive and Research Center houses the largest collection in the world of documents and materials from Dada and related avantgarde movements. Its holdings provide a unique resource for studies in twentieth-century literature and fine arts.
To be considered for admission to an M.A. program in French, applicants must have completed the equivalent of The University of Iowa undergraduate major in French. The M.A. in French is prerequisite to admission to the Ph.D. program in French. Successful completion of the M.A. program, however, does not necessarily qualify a student for doctoral studies.
Applicants for fall semester whose application materials are received in the Department by January 15 have the best chance to be admitted and receive financial aid. They must submit
Requests for applications for admission are available online at the Graduate College Admissions page or call 1-800-553-IOWA and ask for the graduate packet for study in French.
For more information about the graduate program in French, see our Guide to Graduate Students and Assistants or contact:
The Department of French and Italian
The University of Iowa
111 Phillips Hall
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1409
Phone: 319/335-2253 Fax: 319/335-2270
e-mail the
Director of Graduate Studies: Anny Curtius
e-mail the Department Administrator: Rosemary Stenzel
e-mail the Graduate Student Representative: Elizabeth Carroll
The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment and in its educational programs and activities on the basis of race, national origin, color, creed, religion, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or associational preference.
Copyright © 2003 The University of Iowa. All rights reserved. Contact: french-italian@uiowa.edu - Updated 11/9/09