English graduate students may also choose from a number of PhD emphases and certificates, allowing them to gain experience in interdisciplinary fields and work closely with faculty from other departments. A number of UCSB English faculty are also affiliated with numerous interdisciplinary initiatives

UCSB English PhD students currently have the option to pursue the following emphases and certificates:

The Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara has launched the Black Studies Emphasis (BSE) for students enrolled in doctoral programs in the departments of Chicana/Chicano Studies, Communications, Education, English, Feminist Studies, Global Studies, History, Linguistics, and Political Science. Faculty in these units routinely work together exchanging scholarly perspectives, launching interdisciplinary projects, and training graduate students. The BSE builds on our university’s great strengths in Race Studies, Comparative Ethnicity, and the Black experience, and positions UCSB as a leader in Black Studies and Social Justice research and pedagogy.

Students are required to successfully complete five (5) courses, designed to develop a critical and analytical understanding of racial theory and pedagogy as well as the study of Black people in local and global contexts.

Please see the Black Studies website for more info

The UCSB Certificate in College and University Teaching (CCUT) is designed for students who wish to demonstrate superior competence and experience in preparation for teaching at the university or college level. Certificate requirements include completion or attainment of a number of teaching-related skills and experiences culminating in independent instruction of an entire course with the support of a UCSB faculty mentor.

Please see the CCUT website for information on requirements and to apply.

UCSB’s various cognitive centers have a global reputation. Currently over fifty faculty members from psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, neuroscience and literary studies participate in the teaching of the Graduate Emphasis in Cognitive Science. The focus is on interdisciplinary approaches to understanding mental processes and intelligent behavior, as determined jointly by the nature of the environment and by the internal architecture of the intelligent agent, whether human, animal, or machine. As of June 2018, English doctoral students can add an Emphasis in Cognitive Science. Those who meet the requirements of the Cognitive Science Emphasis graduate with wording on their transcript stating they have earned an Emphasis in Cognitive Science (i.e, Ph.D. in English with an Emphasis in Cognitive Science).

For further information please go to the Cognitive Science program website (http://www.cogsci.ucsb.edu/). For questions not addressed on the website, please write to Professor Sowon S Park.

The interdepartmental PhD Emphasis in Environment and Society (IEES) is a new PhD emphasis, launched in 2014, with the goal of providing UCSB doctoral students an opportunity to receive training and mentorship in interdisciplinary environmental studies and sciences. IEES is administered by an advisory board of faculty from across campus and is based in the Environmental Studies Program. Our Core Seminar, offered each fall, brings together that year’s cohort for an interdisciplinary discussion with faculty guests from across campus about key issues, concepts, problems, and methods in interdisciplinary environmental studies and sciences.

Please see the Environmental Studies Program website for more information on requirements and to apply.

The interdisciplinary Feminist Studies emphasis enhances students’ understanding of feminist pedagogy, feminist theory, and topics relevant to the study of women, gender and/or sexuality. Candidates for the Feminist Studies doctoral emphasis complete four graduate courses and select a member of the Feminist Studies faculty or affiliated faculty to serve on their dissertation committees.

Please see the Department of Feminist Studies website for more information on requirements and to apply.

The interdisciplinary Global Studies Emphasis allows students to design a course of study focused on international and transnational issues, processes, and flows. The emphasis requires the completion of four course components: a gateway course, two qualifying courses, and a capstone course. When a participating student constitutes a dissertation committee, at least one member of the committee should be a Global Studies faculty member, faculty affiliate, or member of the Global PhD Emphasis Coordinating Committee.

Please see Global & International Studies website for more information on requirements and to declare your intention to pursue the emphasis.

The interdisciplinary PhD emphasis in Medieval Studies is designed primarily for Ph.D. candidates specializing in European and Mediterranean cultures (roughly 500-1500), although students focusing on other medieval cultures may also participate, if they fulfill the requirements.

Required courses for the emphasis add up to a total of 22 units. Students petitioning to participate in the emphasis must also be writing dissertations that focus on topics considered appropriate to the European Medieval Studies Emphasis. Students may choose to write on contiguous or comparative topics as well (for instance, on themes relating to late antiquity and the European middle ages; or to medieval and early modern Europe), but at least half of the dissertation should treat some aspect of medieval European and Mediterranean society.

Please see the Medieval Studies website for more information on requirements and to apply.

The optional PhD emphasis in Technology and Society is a degree supplement that provides multi-disciplinary training for graduate students planning dissertations dealing with the societal implications of technology. The curriculum for the emphasis has two components: participation in a Technology and Society Colloquium (a.k.a. the “gateway seminar”) and completion of a set of graduate courses chosen from a stratified menu. Additionally, a student must form his or her dissertation committee, containing at least one CITS affiliated faculty member from a department other than the student’s own.

Please see the Center for Information Technology and Society website for more information on requirements and to apply.

Courses in Translation Studies engage the theoretical questions that are germane to a philosophy of translation and that inform the practice of translation.

The emphasis requires the completion of four courses, including Comparative Literature 170/260: Literary Translation: Theory and Practice, which is offered every other year, or an equivalent course covering some aspect of translation theory and practice approved by the Translation Studies faculty advisor in consultation with the advisory committee. PhD students must include Translation Studies as a significant research topic or methodology in their doctoral dissertation OR complete a final translation studies field project.

Please see the Translation Studies website for more information on requirements and to apply.

Writing Studies is a research-based field broadly focused on analyzing the production, consumption, and circulation of writing in specific contexts. The field incorporates subspecialties such as composition and rhetoric, computers and writing, second language writing, genre studies, and textual analysis.

The PhD emphasis curriculum provides both an overview of Writing Studies and opportunity to specialize in areas congruent with a student’s research interests. The course requirements include A) a proseminar (4 credits); B) three additional courses (12 credits) as described on the requirements page; and C) completion of an advanced project.

Please see the Writing Studies website for more information on requirements and to apply.