The degree of doctor of philosophy generally follows the requirements of The Graduate School as described in the section on graduate degree requirements in the Graduate School Handbook. Additionally, specific departmental guidelines governing movement through the program, such as the formation of the dissertation committee and scheduling of committee meetings can be found on the departmental Sakai website.
Art History at UNC-Chapel Hill is recognized as one of the top programs in the United States. The National Research Council (NRC) rankings place us among the top ten percent of programs, along with departments at UCLA, Northwestern, Harvard, Yale, and others. We offer excellent graduate and undergraduate training in the history of the visual arts, taking a critical, interdisciplinary approach to the study of images, architecture, and objects. The Art History faculty is composed of leading scholars whose contributions to the field are reflected in numerous publications, awards, leadership positions, and activities within the museum world. UNC-Chapel Hill consistently ranks within the top ten public research universities in the country, and our students benefit from the institution's outstanding area studies centers and strong department connections to related disciplines. In addition to long-established strengths in the arts of Europe from antiquity into the twentieth century, our research and teaching encompasses the arts of Asia, Africa, and the Americas from the medieval period to the present day. Art and critical theories of representation, cultural interchange, gender, museum studies, and the history of architecture in pre-modern Europe, Asia and Africa, are areas of research and teaching emphasis. PhD students take a total of nine courses, at least four of which are research seminars (900-level), plus a final course, ARTH 994 (Dissertation Registration). Two of the nine courses may be taken in other departments as electives for supplementary and complementary studies.
