PhD Program

The PhD in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies prepares students for advanced professional careers in academia as well as non-profit, private, or public sector careers in fields such as law and public policy. 

Graduate coursework prepares students for the intellectual capacity to read for their tailored candidacy exams and design and implement dissertations projects. The PhD program is subdivided into the regular PhD track and the direct-to-PhD track. The regular PhD track is for students already holding Master's degrees and takes an estimated five years to complete, while the direct-to-PhD program is for students without a previous Master's degree and takes an estimated six years to complete. Students in either PhD track who do not already hold and MA in WGSS can obtain the MA by successfully completing 30 credits and passing the MA written exam or by successfully completing the PhD candidacy exam. Obtaining the MA will not interfere with progress toward the PhD.

 

Financial Support

With rare exceptions, the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies offers full funding during Autumn and Spring semesters of the academic year for all admitted PhD students, including international students, through a Graduate Associateship or a fellowship. Most Graduate Associates will serve as Graduate Teaching Associates (GTAs). GTAs are expected to teach one class during autumn semester and one class during spring semester in exchange for tuition and fee waivers (~$12,000/year for residents of Ohio and ~$32,000/year for non-residents), a health insurance subsidy ($~2,300/year), and a nine month stipend (currently at $2,364/month equaling $21,280/year). There’s no additional application needed for this opportunity as all admitted WGSS graduate students receive funding. PhD students generally receive five years of funding while direct-to-PhD students receive six.

At present, we cannot guarantee summer funding for every student. Our base funding package is a nine-month stipend that covers September through April, along with half of May and half of August. Summer funding opportunities are limited to a handful of GTA positions, with priority granted to advanced PhD candidates.

 

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