New
program requirements – as of Fall 2002
Graduate
Program Information
for
Master's Degree Candidates
Master's
degrees in philosophy have been used successfully by many
students as a basis for entering Ph.D. programs at other universities
or at the University of Utah. They have been used in a variety
of other ways as well -- by students pursuing careers in the
legal, medical, or business professions, the sciences, or
the humanities. Recognizing this wide variety of student needs,
the Philosophy Department endeavors to be as flexible and
helpful as possible in arranging individual programs for individual
purposes, within the guidelines of the requirements listed
below. Completion of these requirements will normally take
two years; with planning, however, it is possible to complete
them in one year (including one summer) of full-time study.
University Requirements
University requirements for Master's degrees are listed officially
in the University General Catalogue and
in the Graduate
Handbook published by the University
of Utah Graduate School.
Masters Degree:
Departmental Requirements
In
addition to University requirements, Departmental requirements
include:
Demonstration of Satisfactory Progress Toward
Degree:
Students
receiving University or Departmental financial awards or tuition
waivers must:
·
Take and complete
at least nine hours of graduate level work (6000-7000 level
courses or thesis hours) during each semester of the award.
Students may take a maximum of twelve credit hours. Funded students are awarded credit for attending
department colloquia.
·
Maintain a high
level of quality in all graduate work. Students must maintain
a minimum graduate GPA of 3.00. While an occasional grade
of "Incomplete" in a course will not, by itself,
be regarded as a failure to comply with this condition, an
inordinate number of unremoved "Incompletes" --
normally two or more -- will.
Students with “Incompletes” are not nominated for any
fellowship awards and are not eligible for transfer to the
Ph.D. program.
·
Pass the Graduate
Study Qualifying Examination (GSQE) taken during the first
semester of study as a matriculated graduate student.
If a student fails the exam it must be taken over again
in the second semester. (The
intent of this examination is to assess the student's background
and ability to undertake graduate study in philosophy).
·
Comply with the
Department and Graduate School requirement for the formation
of a Supervisory Committee during the second semester of graduate
study, and meet with the Supervisory Committee Chair (or in
the first two semesters, the Graduate Committee Chair) for
program approval. Supervisory
committees consist of three philosophy faculty members.
·
Receive Supervisory
Committee approval of a written thesis proposal no later than
the start of the third semester of graduate study.
·
Complete all
degree requirements within two years of admission.
Students
who are not receiving University or Departmental financial
assistance or tuition waivers must demonstrate satisfactory progress towards degree as determined
by the student's Supervisory Committee and/or the Graduate
Committee Chair.
Course
of Study The Supervisory Committee must approve the graduate student's
proposed course of study at the start of each semester. Prior to the appointment of a Committee, the
student's course of study should be approved by the Director
of Graduate Studies.
Graduate
Study Qualifying Examination (GSQE) In the Philosophy Department the
qualifying examination required by the University is a three
hour written examination which must be taken during the first
semester of graduate study. Students are given three hours
to read, summarize and critically respond to two passages
of philosophy. The exam is graded by the Graduate Committee. If the exam is not passed on the first attempt,
it must attempted again no later than the second semester
of study. Failure to pass the exam on the second attempt will
result in dismissal from the program. Sample exam passages
may be obtained from the Director of Graduate Studies.
Seminar
Requirement Each Master's degree student must complete at least three
7000 level philosophy seminars as part of their course of
study, including 7010 Philosophy Proseminar.
(Note that individual or thesis research hours
are not seminars.) All
students entering the program are required to take the introductory
Proseminar during their first Fall semester. Students may
substitute 6000 level courses for 7000 level courses other
than the Proseminar only upon the recommendation of the student's
Supervisory Committee and the approval of the Graduate Committee.
Students are required to take a minimum of 7 graduate
courses total including Seminars (as indicated in the University
requirements.)
Logic
and Formal Methods Requirement All
entering students must demonstrate undergraduate capability
in logic. Entering
students should have a grade of B or better in an undergraduate
deductive logic class that covered proof theory for propositional
and predicate calculus. Any student lacking an undergraduate background
in logic will be required to take our undergraduate deductive
logic course (Phil 3200) for graduate credit.
Each student must then meet the logic and formal methods
course requirement by passing Phil 6200 or another graduate
level course with formal content with a grade of B or better.
Eligible courses include 6000 level courses in Decision
Theory, Game Theory, Probability Theory and so on.
Courses from other universities may be transferred
to fulfill this requirement with the approval of the Graduate
Committee.
Language
Requirement The MA requires standard proficiency in one approved foreign
language, whereas the MS
has no language requirement.
French and German are approved languages for Philosophy;
the supervisory committee may approve another for a particular
student if the
language is relevant to his/her research.
Standard proficiency may be established by showing
that one is a native speaker of the language, by passing a
second semester language class with a grade of B, or by registering
for and passing a standardized ETS examination (administered
through the University Testing Center) with a score of 450
or better. Where the
requirement is satisfied by course work, the student must
obtain certification within four years of the course taken
to satisfy the requirement. In every case, however, the student must obtain a certification
form in person from the Graduate Language Advisor in the Department
of Languages and Literature. Certification is the responsibility
of the student, and cannot be obtained by the Department of
Philosophy.
Transfer
Credit and Non-Matriculated Hours Students
may transfer up to 9 hours of graduate level credit as long
as it did not contribute to another degree.
Students may count 9 hours of graduate level classes
taken at the University of Utah as a non-matriculated graduate
student toward the master’s degree.
Transferred credit must be at a grade of B+ or better
and the course work must be approved by the graduate committee.
Approval of transfer credit is not automatic.
Students must present the Graduate Committee with a
syllabus and a sample of work (e.g. a term paper) from any
course that they wish to be considered for transfer.
Graduate Program - Master's Program
