Film Studies

The Designated Emphasis (D.E.) in Film Studies, a quasi Ph.D. Minor, provides curricular and research resources for students who want to concentrate on film or visual culture within their respective disciplines and have their work formally recognized. Designed to bring together faculty and students from different departments, the D.E. provides a unique context for rigorous cross-disciplinary research. Students must take the Film Theory and Film Historiography seminars and write dissertations with a significant film, or moving image component.

Requirements for Admission
Applications to the Designated Emphasis program are accepted each spring semester for admission in the following fall semester. Applicants must be enrolled in a doctoral program at UC Berkeley and must have completed the Film Theory seminar (Film Studies 200), offered each Fall Semester. Only a limited number of students will be admitted.

Special allowances will be made for current students who have fulfilled all or most of the course requirements before the D.E. was officially available, provided they have not yet completed their Qualifying Exams.

Applications are accepted during the Spring semester for admission to the following Fall. The application deadline is April 1st.

Requirements for the Designation

Students admitted to the Designated Emphasis Program must complete the following requirements before completion of their degree:

1. A minimum of three graduate seminars in Film Studies must be taken at Berkeley:

• Film Studies 200;
• Film Studies 201;
• Film Studies 240 or a graduate seminar cross-listed with Film Studies.

Note: Independent study courses are not acceptable to fulfill this requirement.

2. A member of the Graduate Group in Film Studies must be a formal member of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination committee. Under most circumstances, the Film Graduate Group member in the student's home department will serve in this function. A member of the Graduate Group may also serve as the outside member of the qualifying exam committee.

3. A Film Studies topic must be a subject on the Qualifying Examination.

4. A member of the Graduate Group in Film Studies must be a formal member of the dissertation committee.

5. The dissertation must contribute to the study of film.

Upon completion of these requirement and the dissertation, the student will receive a designation on their transcript to state that they have completed a "Ph.D. in (...) with an Emphasis in Film Studies.

For more information on Berkeley's Film Studies faculty and program, please see http://filmstudies.berkeley.edu/

UCB doctoral students who wish to apply to the Designated Emphasis in Film Studies Program should contact the Graduate Assistant in Film Studies for an application at (510) 642-1416, or by email at filmstu@socrates.berkeley.edu.

Designated Emphasis on Women, Gender, and Sexuality

Designed to enhance interdisciplinary graduate studies at UC Berkeley, the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality provides curricular and research resources and opportunities to students who are already admitted to Ph.D. degree programs on campus. Admitting its first students in Fall 1996, the Designated Emphasis program was developed to accomodate some of the many students who conduct graduate level research in related topics across numerous fields. Administered by the Graduate Group in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, the Beatrice Bain Research Group, and the Department of Women's Studies, the Designated Emphasis program provides its students with certification as well as with a unique context for the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and development of research.

Students admitted to the Designated Emphasis program must complete three seminars:

• An Introductory seminar (WS200)
• An elective graduate seminar on women, gender, and sexuality.
• A dissertation research seminar (WS220).

A faculty person affiliated with the Designated Emphasis program must be included on the committee of the qualifying examination for advancement to candidacy in the Ph.D.

Dissertation proposals and final dissertations will be reviewed by the chair of the Executive Committee to insure that they are informed by and contribute to the interdisciplinary study of women, gender, and sexuality. Upon completion of the requirements and the dissertation, the student will receive a degree with the designation "Ph.D. in (...) with Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

In addition, the Designated Emphasis program will co-sponsor the Boundaries In Question Conference with the Women's Studies Department and the Beatrice Bain Research Group. The conference is an event run by graduate students for other students to present their work on women, gender, and sexuality. A limited number of graduate student instructor positions, research assistanceships, fellowships, and readerships are available to participants in the Designated Emphasis program.

For further information about the Designated Emphasis, please see:

Designated Emphasis on Women, Gender, and Sexuality