M.A. in Art History

Admission

The M.A. Program welcomes applications from all those interested in seeking an advanced degree in Art History. No more than eight students are accepted each year to a thirty-two unit program that emphasizes focused study of cultural production from ancient times to the present and interdisciplinary connections with collateral departments in the Colleges of Arts & Architecture and Letters and Sciences. Art History faculty meet yearly to read and assess applications, with a particular sensitivity to the students’ work and professional goals. Limited numbers of graduate teaching assistantships are usually available within the School of Art and are awarded on a competitive basis to formally admitted graduate students. To learn more about graduate assistantships and applying to the M.A. program, review the program website: http://art.montana.edu/ma-program.html.

Program Requirements

ARTH 501Pedagogy and Professionalism2
ARTH 506Methods and Critical Theories3
Five Required Core Courses (3 graduate art history seminars & 2 4xx level art history lectures at graduate level)15
Two Elective Courses (2 graduate seminars at 500 level outside the department)6
ARTH 590Master's Thesis (Students will take ARTH 590 for 3 credits during fall semester and 3 credits during spring semester)6
Total Credits32

All graduate students must take: Pedagogy and Professionalism (ARTH 501), Methods and Critical Theories (ARTH 506), and Master's Thesis (ARTH 590).

In addition to the courses listed above, graduate students will select 5 courses, of which 3 must be 500-level graduate art history seminars, and 2 must be 400-level upper-division undergraduate art history lectures in which the student will be required to complete supplementary readings, write advanced comparative analyses of articles, and complete a rigorous research project. Students will also select 2 elective courses at the 500-level taught in other departments in the humanities (e.g. History and Philosophy, English).

Program requirements include

  • Successful completion and presentation of a research plan
  • Successful completion and presentation of research paper including an annotated bibliography and a state-of-the-field essay on a period/culture 
  • Successful completion of a Master’s Thesis. 
  • Successful demonstration of classroom teaching and public research presentation

Mastery of the discipline will be determined by a record of excellence in all courses taken within the graduate program and a well-written, well-argued thesis.