FIELDS OF STUDY

Ancient Near Eastern Studies

Ancient Near Eastern Studies comprises the following research areas: Egyptology including archaeology, language, history and religion; Mesopotamia and the Near East including archaeology and Assyriology; Hebrew & Judaic Studies including Biblical Hebrew, history and religion; Aramaic & Syriac Studies including language, history and religion.

Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies comprises the following research areas: Arabic Studies; Syriac Studies; Persian Studies; Islamic Studies; History of the Islamic World & the Modern Middle East. History of Islamic art and Turkish language also fall within this field.

COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMMES

Jewish Studies Collaborative Doctoral Programme

The purpose of the Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Jewish Studies is to offer both broad and intensive exposure to the constituent fields within Jewish Studies. Because of Jewish civilization's vast chronological and geographical range, as well as its constant interaction and cross-fertilization with other cultures, graduate work within Jewish Studies demands intensive exposure to a wide variety of languages, textual traditions, and scholarly disciplines.
The Doctoral Collaborative Programme involves eleven departments at the university of Toronto; in addition to the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, Anthropology, the Centre for the Study of Religion, Fine Art, German, English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Slavic Languages and Literature, and Sociology are also involved.
Those applicants to the Jewish Studies Collaborative Doctoral Programme through Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations must satisfy the admission requirements of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. In addition, they must fulfill the requirements of the Jewish Studies Collaborative programme, which include:

Two half-courses, one within and one outside of the student's home department. Valid courses include regular offerings and occasional offerings by visiting professors of Jewish Studies.
JSP1000H1Y: core course in research topics and methods in Jewish Studies.

A doctoral dissertation that deals substantively with topics in Jewish Studies.
A programme of study should be planned in consultation with the Director of the Jewish Studies Collaborative Doctoral Programme, Prof. Hindy Najman (phone: 416-978-1624; e-mail: hindy.najman@utoronto.ca, as well as with the Coordinator of Graduate Studies of the student’s home graduate unit.

Graduate Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies (CWGS)

Graduate units from the humanities, social sciences and life sciences participate in the Graduate Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies (CWGS) at the University of Toronto. The collaborating units contribute courses and provide facilities and supervision for graduate research. This programme, offered at the master’s and doctoral levels, is administered by the Women and Gender Studies Institute. CWGS provides a formal educational opportunity for qualification in the field of women’s studies through the pursuit of original interdisciplinary research in women and gender studies and advanced feminist scholarship. It provides a central coordinating structure to facilitate and disseminate women’s studies research through student and faculty research seminars, colloquia, circulation of work in progress, study groups, conferences, and publications. CWGS contributes to the development of an integrated research community in women’s studies at the University of Toronto. Applicants to the programme are expected to meet the admission and degree requirements of both the home department and CWGS.
Normally, both Master’s and PhD applicants to CWGS should have at least one course (and preferably more) in Women’s Studies, Feminist Studies and/or Gender Studies. This course may be in Women’s Studies/Gender Studies, or it may be a course on gender and women in another discipline. In exceptional cases, extensive work or activist experience, which also requires academic knowledge of research on women and/or gender, will also be considered.
In order to qualify for admission to Women and Gender Studies, applicants must be offered admission to the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. Applicants may apply concurrently to the CWGS and are encouraged to do so in the interest of expediency. Please note that applicants cannot be admitted to CWGS until they have been officially admitted to the Department of NMC.
The collaborative requirements can be met concurrently with, or in addition to, home unit requirements. Upon successful completion of the requirements, students receive the M.A. or Ph.D. degree in their departmental area with the notation “Completed Collaborative Programme in Women’s Studies” on their transcripts. For further information, please contact the Graduate Coordinator of the Department, Professor P.A. Beaulieu or Professor Michelle Murphy, Graduate Coordinator of the Graduate Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies, Room 2036, 40 Willcocks Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1C6; Tel: (416) 978-3668, Fax: (416) 946-5561, E-mail: grad.womenstudies@utoronto.ca, website: www.utoronto.ca/wgsi.
A programme of study should be planned in consultation with the Graduate Collaborative Program Coordinator as well as the Coordinator of Graduate Studies of the student’s home graduate unit. Courses are selected from an established list of core courses approved by CWGS for the Collaborative Program. Each year these are available on the Women and Gender Studies Institute’s website: www.utoronto.ca/wgsi. For further information regarding the Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies Institute see the SGS 2009-2010 calendar online website: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/programs.htm.

Graduate Collaborative Program in Sexual Diversity Studies

The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations participates in the M.A. and Ph.D. Graduate Collaborative Program with the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. For the M.A. and Ph.D. Programs students must take the core course offered by SDS (SDS1000H). This requirement must be supplemented by at least another half-course in the area of sexuality. Course selections must be approved by the director of the Collaborative Program. Doctoral students who have completed the Collaborative Program at the Master’s level will not be required to take SDS1000H a second time, so that they will be required to take only another half-course in the area of sexuality. Students must pursue a dissertation topic related to sexual diversity, and include on the thesis committee at least one faculty member associated with SDS. The director of the Collaborative Program must approve the topic as compatible with the requirements of the program. Doctoral students are expected to participate in a variety of other activities programmed by the Bonham Centre, including a monthly colloquium series, and in an annual one-day student conference envisaged for the Centre, and regular "brown-bag" talks. The Collaborative Program director is responsible for certifying the completion of the Collaborative Program requirements. The home graduate unit, in this case the NMC Department, is solely responsible for the approval of the student’s home degree requirements. Upon the completion of requirements of the home program and the Collaborative Program, student transcripts will indicate that they have completed all the requirements for the "Collaborative Program in Sexual Diversity Studies." Detailed information on the Program and its requirements can be found on the Web Site of the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.