The Graduate School
The Graduate School is your college of record, and the Graduate School Handbook is the document that governs all graduate programs, covering everything from admissions to graduation.
Theatre Graduate Program
The Theatre Graduate Program offers the MA, MFA, and PhD degrees. The director of graduate studies oversees and administers the program and is the department's liaison with the Graduate School.
Degree requirements, academic standards, and procedures governing the program can be found in the Theatre Graduate Handbook.
While on department funding as a graduate associate or as a graduate fellow, any and all activities and/or projects, other than curriculum assignments, graduate teaching assignments, and department productions, must have written permission from your advisor, consent of the appropriate faculty and approval by the director of graduate studies.
In addition, projects and activities for which you will be paid require approval from the Graduate School in advance of the project or activity taking place.
These projects and activities include:
- Involvement in any stage, film, or video production outside the department season, whether in the department, the university, or outside the university.
- Teaching of any classes other than the assigned GTA classes, whether in the department, the university, or outside the university.
- Participation in student organizations that require time away from your academic responsibilities.
- Participation in conferences or research activities that require time away from your academic and GTA responsibilities.
- MFA actors who utilize the option to opt-out of a semester’s casting for professional and/or personal reasons.
- Opportunity for employment not related to area of study.
Please complete the Extra-Curricular and Research Activity Approval Request form below and submit well in advance of the opportunity for approval by the Graduate Studies Committee and, if required, the Graduate School. Requests may take up to 2-4 weeks to be processed. If you have a request that requires an expedited review, contact your advisor, the director of graduate studies, and the academic program coordinator as soon as possible. Questions may be directed to the academic program coordinator.
The director of graduate studies and Theatre Graduate Program monitor the annual reviews of all graduate students. It is the responsibility, however, of faculty advisors to conduct annual reviews. The graduate faculty members in turn, consider these annual evaluations in order to determine that students are making reasonable progress within their courses of study. A student who does not maintain reasonable progress towards the degree or does not fulfill other Graduate School and departmental requirements may be denied funding support and/or denied further registration in the program. Graduate program and Graduate School procedures apply in all cases. For more information, please reference the Department of Theatre Graduate Handbook.
The Graduate Annual Review Form is completed by both the graduate student and the advisor. The graduate student should complete Part One of the form and submit to their advisor by February 1. The advisor completes the remainder of the form and submits a signed copy to the area head and director of graduate studies following a meeting between the graduate student and the advisor.
If the student has a graduate associate assignment, this review should include the annual evaluation from each faculty supervisor who oversees the student's work during the academic year. The review guides decisions for or against renewal of a graduate associate appointment for the following academic year. It also serves as one factor in recommendations for appropriate assignments.