Requirements for a Graduate Degree with a Focus in Yiddish

The M.A. degree may be earned through a program of part-time study. The requirements are the same as for the full-time M.A. degree, except that part time students may take up to four years to complete the degree. Programs should be planned in consultation with the Chair of the Interdepartmental Committee and the Director of Yiddish Studies in the Department of Germanic Languages.

Students who are admitted to the M.Phil. program following the successful completion of their M.A. are required to take an additional eight courses, six for "E" credit and two for "R" credit. Of those courses, two must be graduate courses in Yiddish studies. The remaining courses must be chosen from the fields listed below: Germanic Languages and Literatures, Hebrew Language and Literature, Jewish History, Comparative Literature, Judaism, Yiddish Studies, or courses offered in conjunction with the Max Weinreich Center for Advanced Jewish Studies of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research or other accredited academic institutions in the New York area with which Columbia has reciprocity, subject to the determinant of the Registrar. Graduate courses in Slavic Languages and Literatures may be substituted for the above upon special permission. In addition, a reading knowledge is required of the second language not required for the M.A. degree.

Students should be able to complete all coursework in three semesters. 

After completing the coursework, the student must pass the M.Phil. examination. Working with the DYS well in advance of the exam, each student will devise reading lists in three areas: general Yiddish studies, a major field of specialization within Yiddish Studies, and in one of the following outside fields: Modern Hebrew Literature, East European Jewish History, German Language and Literature, Comparative Literature, or Religion. Such consultation should take place at least three months before the exam. The exam consists of three three-day take-home essays, one in each of the separate fields.

After the completion of all requirements for the M.Phil. degree, the student is expected to develop a dissertation prospectus within three months. The dissertation prospectus should contain a bibliography of relevant primary and secondary works and a relatively detailed overview of the proposed topic. The prospectus should give a working title for the thesis and each of its chapters. Wherever possible, precise information about chapter topics, existing critical debates, and the student's particular line of argument should be included. The prospectus is to be discussed in a meeting with the DYS and the adviser (if these are different individuals) and a subcommittee of the Interdepartmental Committee. The student must then write and defend a dissertation in Yiddish Studies.

Students are expected to teach in the language program as part of the requirements for their degree. Students teaching for the first time are required to take an introductory workshop before teaching and a language pedagogy course during their first semester of teaching. Students will be supervised by the Lecturer in Yiddish. Conscientious participation in the language program is essential for continued funding as well as for future employment.

Students are expected to write at least for two courses each semester and should turn in their written work before the start of the next semester. Incompletes, where unavoidable, must be completed by September 1. First year students must submit at least one paper per term.