The Dual Track in Romance Languages permits students to obtain a Ph.D. in two Romance languages and literatures, through exploring different fields more in depth than a major/minor track allows them to do. Students pursuing the Dual Track should have equal command of the two languages and literatures.The Dual Track allows incoming students with a clear idea of their fields of interest to design an appropriate, consistent, and feasible individualized course of study. It also helps students to explore various intellectual paths and establish links across languages. Criteria for admission include language proficiency and strong cultural and literary foundations in each of the languages and literatures chosen. Candidates must explain their intellectual reasons for combining two languages and define the areas of interests they wish to explore in their course of study. Current single-track students may switch to the Dual Track upon approval of the DGS of the two languages they wish to combine. The same criteria used for external candidates applies to current students (proficiency, foundation, and an intellectual project). Conversely, a student admitted in the Dual Track may switch to a single track if it appears that this is not the best plan of graduate study for him or her.Required courses:

Eighteen courses (that is, two more than in the single track), to be completed in two years. The course distribution between the two languages should be fairly balanced, e.g.: 9:9 or 8:10, and may include Romance Studies courses. Students may take a
maximum of two courses outside of the Department.

Students specializing in the period preceding 1700 must take one course in the history of the language for each language studied, but they may replace one of these courses by Latin. Students specializing in the period after 1700 must take one course in the history of one of their languages. Pre-1700 students must take at least one post-1700 course in each language; post-1700 students must take at least one pre-1700 course in each language.

Romance Studies Courses
The program encourages professors to offer individually or team-taught Romance Studies courses specially designed for graduate students. Course offerings vary from year to year, but encourage graduates to cross linguistic lines and provide dual-tracks graduates with models for their own intellectual undertakings.

Advising
Each dual-track student has one faculty adviser in each language. Advisers are designated prior to enrollment, according to the student’s chosen field and stated interests. Students may change advisers later on after discussion with their respective DGS. Advisers are in charge of supervising the plan of studies and of organizing the General Examinations.First Year Examinations
At the end of their first year, dual-track students take the usual first-year examination in each of their languages.

General Examinations
The general examinations are organized by the student’s advisers, who work with the student in preparing the reading list in each field, and defining topics and angles of approach. The examinations consist of a written portion in each language (between 3 and 5 hours per language) based on the lists and topics. The oral portion of the examination is common to the two languages and administered by an examination committee made up of faculty members from the two sections concerned. The examination is multilingual. It provides the opportunity to revisit the written examination, test the aptitude of the student to move within his/her fields, and possibly discuss his/her thesis topic.

Dissertation
The dissertation should be deeply informed by issues pertinent to both literatures.

Last updated on September 17, 2009