Penn State Department of Art History of the College of Arts & Architecture. Graduate Section.

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2007-08 Requirements for the M.A. in Art History

Examination

The master's examination must be taken during an M.A. candidate's third semester of full-time study (not counting summers). There are two essay questions, representing two different fields in the history of art and two different faculty members. For each field, the student has a choice of one out of two essays. The essay for each field is a take-home, "open book" examination, written over one weekend (or the equivalent). For example, the student will be given the exam questions (choice of one out of two) by noon on a Friday, with the essay due by noon on the following Monday. The two different fields will be examined on two different weekends during the same semester (or summer). Although the student has seventy-two hours to contemplate his/her chosen question, the actual written response should be done in approximately a two-hour period and should be no longer than five typed pages (double-spaced). Each essay will be graded pass/fail. It is the student’s responsibility to make arrangements with individual faculty members to take the examination. A failed essay can be retaken once during the student’s fourth semester of full-time study (excluding summers). If an essay is failed for a second time, then the Graduate Programs Committee will decide if the student should be allowed to take the essay for a third time or be terminated from the program. The fields and graduate faculty members for these essays are as follows:

  • African art (Dr. Okeke)
  • South and Southeast Asian art and architecture (Dr. Desai)
  • Ancient Egyptian art and architecture (Dr. Walters)
  • Ancient Greek art and architecture (Dr. Walters)
  • Ancient Roman art and architecture (Dr. Walters)
  • Late Antique/Early Christian art and architecture (Dr. Cutler)
  • Byzantine art and architecture (Dr. Cutler)
  • Early Medieval to Romanesque art and architecture (Dr. Smith)
  • Gothic art and architecture (Dr. Smith)
  • Italian Renaissance art and architecture (Dr. Curran)
  • Southern Baroque art and architecture (Dr. Curran)
  • Northern European art and architecture, ca. 1400­1600 (Dr. Houghton)
  • Northern Baroque art and architecture (Dr. Houghton)
  • European and American architecture, ca. 1750­1900 (Dr. Zabel)
  • European art, ca. 1780­1880 (Dr. Locke)
  • European art, ca. 1880­1940 (Dr. Locke)
  • American art to ca. 1940 (Dr. Rich)
  • Architecture since ca. 1900 (Dr. Zabel)
  • Art since ca. 1940 (Dr. Rich)

A field may be modified by a faculty member with the approval of the graduate officer. Specialized fields with an affiliate graduate faculty member in art history may also be chosen (such as African American art with Dr. Robinson), with the approval of the graduate officer. The affiliate graduate faculty members are Dr. Mazow, Dr. McGrady, Dr. Ploog, Dr. Robinson, and Dr. Wormhoudt.

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Last Updated: Monday, January 14, 2008



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