Recruitment with stipend for the French and Francophone Studies Program (Tulane Univ. New Orleans)

Recruitment with stipend for the French and Francophone Studies Program, Tulane University, New Orleans, 2021-22

The Department of French and Italian at Tulane University is inviting applications to its PhD program in French Studies.

Graduate study at Tulane fosters a comprehensive and integrative approach to French Studies, which provides students with intellectual depth and interdisciplinary dynamism. The program's areas of strength include Francophone and Afro-Caribbean Studies, medieval and early modern studies, cultural studies, critical theory, humanitarian law & ethics, the history of race in the Francophone world, gender studies, film and media studies, linguistics, European and African philosophy, performance studies, creole studies, and migration and diaspora studies. We especially welcome applicants from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

Interdisciplinary study is further fostered through the Department's course offerings in Arabic and Haitian Creole, and through its strong ties to other programs and departments at Tulane, including History, Africana Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies and Medieval & Early Modern Studies.
Faculty profiles can be found here: https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/departments/french-italian/faculty  

Small seminars taught by leading scholars

With an international faculty covering a broad range of research and teaching interests, our program lets students choose from a rich variety of courses and encourages them to approach the study of language, literature and civilization through transhistorical and cross-cultural perspectives. Our small classes and seminars allow for an enhanced student experience inside and outside the classroom, and graduate students have the opportunity to explore the linguistic laboratory that is French Acadiana, transcribe eighteenth-century colonial records, or collaborate with one of New Orleans’ many French immersion schools. The Program also offers students the opportunity to spend a year in Paris through our exchange program with l’Ecole Normale Supérieure-Ulm.

Where will Tulane University take you?

Our program has an excellent placement record. In the past six years, our graduate students have accepted tenure-track and instructional positions at The College of William and Mary, Jacksonville University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Central Arkansas, Princeton University, and Columbia University. Other students have gone on to careers in publishing and secondary education. We place special emphasis on supporting our students in these challenging times, not least through providing a wide range of training opportunities and workshops for career-planning within and beyond the academy.

Life in New Orleans

While New Orleans’ location gives students a privileged vantage point from which to observe and study the French, Creole and Cajun cultures of South Louisiana, it also has a lot more to offer: parades, festivals, world-class restaurants, Spanish and French colonial architecture, a plethora of archives and a general spirit of “laissez les bons temps rouler,” New Orleans is truly a city like nowhere else in the United States.

A tight-knit community

One of the greatest strengths of our Department is the strong sense of solidarity fostered between professors and students and between graduate students themselves. Professors pride themselves on mentorship and will go the extra mile to help students succeed; and thanks to ADEEFF, the French graduate student association, our graduate students look at Tulane as a home away from home. In addition to providing students with a support system, ADEEFF organizes many events, including a graduate conference in French studies in November. The annual celebrations of National French Week, the collaborations with the local Alliance Française, and the Department’s Graduate Conference all reflect the sense of community that brings our graduate students together. In 2017, the Embassy of France in the United States recognized the students’ dedication by awarding them the first prize in the national France on Campus contest.

Generous funding for all admitted students

The Ph.D. program is fully funded for 5 years for students entering with a BA degree (4 years for students entering with an MA). Students admitted to the program receive full tuition remission and a stipend of $26,323. They also have the opportunity to apply for competitive summer research funding through the Beth Poe Travel Grant (currently worth $5,000) and the Summer Merit Fellowship Award (up to $5,000), and for conference travel grants during the school year of up to $2,250 annually (through the GSSA Fund, the Land Fund and the Alfred Mercier and Lafcadio Hearn Travel Grants).

*

The deadline for applications is January 15, 2022. We accept students with B.A. or M.A. degrees. We do not require our applicants to take the GRE but candidates are expected to demonstrate a sufficient level of English and French.

For further information on our graduate program and the application procedure, please visit our website at 

https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/departments/french-italian/academics/graduate/french-phd 

You are also welcome to contact our director of graduate studies, Jonathan Morton.