The French Department offers a doctoral degree in French Literature, an Interdisciplinary PhD, and a Joint doctoral degree program with the Institute of French Studies. The Interdisciplinary Program in French Literature (see section III 2.) is recommended for the consideration of students wishing to integrate the study of French literature with another field.

18 courses, for a total of 72 credits, are required for the PhD degree. For the PhD in French Literature and the Interdisciplinary PhD a Comprehensive Examination after the first-year of study is also required. All students in whatever PhD track must successfully pass the Qualifying Examination, defend the prospectus, and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation. 

Students in French Literature and the Interdisciplinary PhD should complete the Qualifying Exam during the January term of their third year of study, defend the dissertation prospectus in the Spring term immediately following, and complete and defend the dissertation two to three years later.

Both groups of students can also take, at the Institute of French Studies, a Certificate in French Studies for additional work in French civilization. They are all encouraged to take graduate courses in related fields: theatre & performance, cinema studies, comparative literature, art history, musicology and other national literatures. Certificates are also possible in poetics and other disciplines. 

In 2018, current and recent graduates obtained tenure-track positions at Georgetown University and St.Francis College in Brooklyn. Students have also accepted one-year appointments at NYU and Sarah Lawrence College; as well as a 5-year renewable position at Robinson College, University of Cambridge.

In 2017, current and recent graduates have accepted one-year appointments at NYU and Pomona College.

In 2016, current and recent graduates obtained tenure-track positions at Kalamazoo College and Michigan State University. Students also accepted positions in academic administration at Columbia University as well as one-year appointments at NYU and NYU Paris.

In 2015, current and recent graduates obtained tenure-track positions at Amherst College. Students also accepted one-year appointments at NYU, College of William and Mary, and Dartmouth College. 

In 2014, current and recent graduates obtained tenure-track positions at the University of South Carolina, Wagner College, and Dartmouth College. Students also accepted one-year appointments at Vassar College and New York University and a two-year appointment at Bard College.

In 2013, current and recent graduates secured tenure track positions at University of Wisconsin - Madison, Catholic University, University of Southern Indiana, and the Borough of Manhattan Community College; one-year appointments at Bryn Mawr and Wagner College (Staten Island); and a post-doctoral fellowship in the Princeton Society of Fellows. 

In 2012, current and recent graduates accepted tenure-track positions at Dartmouth College, George Washington University, Wesleyan University, Queens College (New York), and Trinity College - Dublin, as well as one-year appointments at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Wisconsin - Madison. 

Between 2000 and 2011, our graduate students accepted positions at such institutions as: Allegheny College, Arizona State University, University of the Bahamas, Barnard College, Baylor University, Bennington College, Bucknell College, University of Central Oklahoma, University of Colorado – Boulder, Columbia University, Drew University, Eastern University, Emmanuel College, University of Florida, Fordham University, Franklin and Marshall College, George Washington University, Goucher College, College of the Holy Cross, Long Island University, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, Montclair State University, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Rhodes College, Southern Methodist University, St. Mary's College, SUNY Stonybrook, University of Texas – Austin, Transylvania University, Tulane University, Virginia Tech, Uppsala University (Sweden), Wayne State University, Wellesley College, Williams College, and Yale University.

Further information about the application process and application forms are available at

http://gsas.nyu.edu/object/grad.admissions.onlineapp and

http://as.nyu.edu/french/graduate/frequently-asked-questions.html

Admission to any of the three PhD programs in French comprises a full package of financial aid. Every doctoral student in the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University is awarded a Henry M. MacCracken Fellowship which carries guaranteed financial aid for five years with annual renewal contingent on good academic standing. The minimum package (2018-19) consists of a $28,145 nine-month stipend; remission of tuition, service, and registration fees; full coverage of mandatory NYU student health insurance; a $1,000 Dean’s supplementary fellowship for start-up costs; and additional summer funding in their first, second, and third year worth $5,000 per summer (conditional upon satisfactory completion of the preceding year’s work). Students are also expected to teach for four semesters. The teaching load is one course each semester, with all teaching salaried independently for approximately $8,064 per course. Other teaching opportunities may include preceptorships in core humanities courses; summer courses (in English); introductory literary surveys and civilization; courses offered at NYU, Paris.

Students who have completed the PhD qualifying examination may apply for dissertation fellowships in both departmental and university-wide competitions. Students are also encouraged to compete for fellowships such as the French Government Chateaubriand Fellowships or the Lurcy Fellowship. (For more information on departmental, university, and external fellowships, see section V. “Fellowships, Prizes, and Job Opportunities”) 

In addition to Bobst Library resources there is a collection of books in the recently renovated Salle de Lecture at the Maison Française, now renamed for Professor Tom Bishop, and in the Department's rooms 225 and 605, for in-house use. The Salle de Lecture contains almost all of the books on the first year Comprehensive Exam reading list; many of them are also housed in the Study Room Permanent Collection located on the Mezzanine of Bobst library. 

A video library is available for graduate student use in room 609 of 19 University Place (the key can be requested from the Undergraduate Aide). Films may be borrowed for class use, after being signed out with the Undergraduate Aide. Students may also view the videos in Bobst library, equipped with systems for both French and American videos.  

All first-year PhD students in New York are given access to a shared office and all instructors have shared offices in the basement of 19 University Place. Keys can be obtained from the Department Administrator in Room 602. Students will have access to a networked printer in the copy room (room 635).  

There is also a small kitchenette in the department common area; students may temporarily store food items in the refrigerator and use the microwave. The coffee maker is available for everyone’s use; please ask the administrative aides for instructions. There is a lounge area at the north end of the floor.

The department administration asks that these common areas are kept neat and clean.

All graduate students are given mailboxes in the department lobby; students are encouraged to check their mailbox each time they stop into the department. Graduate students are also welcome to receive packages at the department as needed. Please use the following address: Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture; 19 University Place, 6th floor; New York, NY 10003. Those receiving packages that will not fit into mailboxes are asked to retrieve parcels in a timely fashion. 

The Office of Global Services (OGS; formerly known as the Office for International Students and Scholars) provides a broad range of visa services and support for international students. 

The Office of Global Services, located at 383 Lafayette Street, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The telephone number is 212-998-4720 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), and its web site is http://www.nyu.edu/global/international-immigration-services.html

International students may also consult the International Student Credential Evaluator in the Graduate School, One-Half Fifth Avenue, with questions regarding their international student credentials.

The French Graduate Students Association (FGSA) serves as a forum for students at both the master’s and doctoral level. Through meetings and regular dialogue with the Director of Graduate Studies, the FGSA provides an organized channel through which graduate students voice their interests and concerns and make suggestions to the faculty. Each year, students host a conference; recent conference titles include: “But Is It Art?”, “Conference-in-progress”, “La Bête Noire,” “Rien/Nothing”, and “(Un)documented”. 

The Graduate Student Association sometimes organizes a series of “brown-bag lunches,” including work-in-progress discussions. Individual students have also convened dissertation writing groups, the teaching and training committee, and other initiatives. Graduate students play a major role in the department’s Futures of French series, which brings a series of early-career scholars of French to NYU.

The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, covering a full city block at the southeast corner of Washington Square, is the flagship of a nine-library, 4.5 million-volume system that provides students and faculty with access to the world's scholarship. Among the services and collections at Bobst, the library offers: three specialized reference centers; the Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media; The Studio for Digital Projects and Research; special collections, including the Fales Collection, the Tamiment Library and the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives; and the University Archives. Visit the Library online at http://library.nyu.edu/ to search their collections and reserve titles.

In addition to computer facilities in dormitories and computer centers around campus, the state-of-theart Avery Fisher Media Center is located on the 7th floor of Bobst Library.

Any student at a New York City university is eligible for a New York Public Library card. Learn more at http://www.nypl.org/help/library-card. Reciprocal reading rights also apply between NYU and Columbia University, The New School, and Cooper Union, and an accelerated interlibrary loan system called EZ borrow exists within a consortium of libraries

Information Technology Services (ITS) has three main computer labs: LaGuardia Co-op, 541

LaGuardia Place; the Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, 4th floor; 3rd Avenue North Residence Hall, 75 3rd Avenue (12th Street), Level C3. For more information about NYU’s computer labs, visit http://www.nyu.edu/its/labs

In addition to the computers available around the campus, students have access to a variety of sophisticated computing facilities and systems, software, computer classes, communications devices, and the like through the University's ITS, see: http://www.nyu.edu/its/

Prior to arrival on campus, NYU email accounts should be set up at <http://start.nyu.edu>. Both students and faculty communicate through email, so students should check their NYU email frequently. To subscribe to the Current French Graduate Students listserv, or FGSA lists, contact the Graduate Aide. To post a message to the Current French Graduate Students list, French Faculty list, or Language Lecturers list, you should email your message to the Graduate Aide who will forward your email to the list indicated. Students are expected to use discretion with these lists and make sure the email account provided has adequate space to receive messages. Please do not use Hotmail or similar email accounts for these lists, as listserv messages are often filtered to junk or spam folders.  

The two most important electronic systems to student life at NYU are Albert, the system for managing course enrollment, and NYU Classes, a course site system similar to Blackboard. Both systems are accessed through NYU Home.

The award for all fully-funded GSAS students includes full coverage of mandatory NYU student health insurance for an individual under the NYU comprehensive plan. This coverage extends to two more years after the end of the MacCracken Award. After this, students are responsible for their own health insurance but it must meet NYU’s approved standard.

Other GSAS students who are not fully funded and who are registered in a degree-granting program for one or more credits of courses or for maintenance of matriculation are automatically enrolled in the Comprehensive Plan, but may choose the Basic Plan or a Waiver Option. These students must complete enrollment at the start of each academic year. 

Information about NYU health insurance benefits and costs, as well as the procedures for changing enrollment or waiving all of the NYU plans, can be found by visiting https://www.nyu.edu/students/health-and-wellness/student-health-insurance/washington-square-students.html or calling the NYU Student Health Insurance Services Office at 212-443-1020.

The Department, La Maison Française, and the Institute of French Studies regularly host eminent writers, scholars, and artists from the U.S. and abroad. Lectures are sponsored several times each week, generally at La Maison Française, while occasional mini-seminars present visitors in an intimate seminar format.

The Department and the Institute of French Studies also have an agreement with the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon and Paris that allows two students to spend a year or semester at the ENS and participate fully in its seminars. The program at ENS in Paris also includes housing. More information is available in the Spring semester each year for the following academic year. Preference will be given to candidates who apply for the full year. 

The Department requires that all its members (students, faculty, and staff) adhere strictly to the highest standards of ethical academic and professional behavior. Among the offenses considered unacceptable and taken as grounds for immediate dismissal from the graduate program are: plagiarism, falsification, cheating, sexual harassment, bias, and discrimination. Deviation from these standards or questions concerning them should be addressed to the Chair, the Director of Graduate Studies, or the appropriate University office the GSAS Office of Academic and Student Affaris, 212-998-8060.

The Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture is committed to the University's mission of creating and fostering an inclusive and diverse community of faculty, administrators, staff, and students. Discrimination or harassment based on race, gender and/or gender identity or expression, color, creed, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, disability, veteran or military status, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, or on any other legally prohibited basis is unlawful and undermines the character and purpose of the University. Such discrimination or harassment violates University policy and will not be tolerated.

If you should experience harassment, inappropriate behavior, or other climate concerns, please consult the resources offered by the Office of Equal Opportunity, including the confidential and nonconfidential/private reporting mechanisms in place https://www.nyu.edu/about/policies-guidelines-compliance/equal-opportunity.html