Certificate Candidacy

To earn a graduate certificate at Washington University, a student must complete all courses required by their department; maintain satisfactory academic progress; fulfill all academic and residence requirements; and file an Intent to Graduate. Graduate certificates are not standalone programs and are only available to current students in applicable graduate programs. Thus, graduate certificates are conferred at the same time as the student’s primary graduate program.

Program Requirements

• Total Units Required: 12 units
• Certificate Length: 2 semesters
  • Note: Students must be enrolled in 9 graduate credits each semester to retain full-time status. As students complete their course work, if enrolled in fewer than 9 graduate credits, they must enroll in a specific Arts & Sciences graduate course that will show 0 units but does count as full-time status. Students should connect with their department to ensure proper enrollment prior to Add/Drop.

Graduate Certificate in Early Modern Studies

The Graduate Certificate in Early Modern Studies enables students to develop interdisciplinary and transnational expertise outside of their home departments; such expertise can generate innovative work at the dissertation level and beyond. Through courses, reading groups, summer seminars, conferences, and teaching opportunities, certificate students will come into a wider intellectual community of early modern faculty and graduate students from several departments.

Students who satisfy certificate requirements will earn the Graduate Certificate in Early Modern Studies along with a PhD in their home department. The certificate takes advantage of two long-standing strengths in Early Modern Studies at Washington University: a long tradition of interdisciplinary work and a commitment to cross national and geolinguistic boundaries. In particular, Comparative Literature and Thought — where the certificate is housed — has created strong cross-departmental links between Eastern and Western departments and programs.

Required Courses

Courses counting for the interdisciplinary requirement or the extra-department requirements require prior approval by the Early Modern Studies Graduate Certificate Director. 

Methods Course

A methods course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of early modern studies and some of its current organizing principles and issues.  This course will rotate among different faculty members and will be offered every other year, unless demand makes a more frequent schedule necessary.

Interdisciplinary Course

A course that models early modern interdisciplinary inquiry is required. This will either be taught by one faculty member, who will invite other faculty in for guest sessions during the course of the semester, or it will be team-taught.

Extra-Departmental Courses

Students must complete two early modern courses outside of their home department. 

Other Requirements

Regular attendance and active participation in either the Early Modern Reading Group or the Eighteenth-Century Interdisciplinary Salon. 

The goal is to promote professionalization and give certificate students an opportunity to form collegial relationships with faculty and fellow graduate students outside their primary field and to present their work to these interdisciplinary groups. 

All courses must be a "B" or better grade. 

Contact Info

Contact:	Robert Henke
Phone:	314-935-9336
Email:	rhenke@wustl.edu