SDSU School of Art, Design, and Art History

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ART HISTORY GRADUATE APPLICATIONS

PROGRAM OF STUDY

The Art History area of the School of Art, Design and Art History offers a graduate program leading to the Master of Arts degree. The program is intended to meet needs of students anticipating careers in museums and galleries, art and slide libraries, art criticism and junior college teaching. It also provides a thorough preparation for those who wish to pursue the Ph.D. elsewhere.

Concentration Areas Offered for the Masters in Art History:

American Art
Asian Art
Japanese Art
Twentieth Century European Art
Contemporary Art
Latin American Art

Application Process

Students applying for admission to the M.A. degree in Art History should submit the University Application (www.csumentor.edu) by February 1st for the fall semester.

University Application – SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY VIA THE WEB

Application must also be made to Graduate Admissions by the same February 1 deadline as observed by the School for Graduate Review. Please apply on-line at www.csumentor.edu. In addition, you must send transcripts (one original from each institution attended) and test scores to the following address:

Enrollment Services
Graduate Admissions Document Processing Unit
San Diego State University
San Diego CA 92182-7416

The following materials should be submitted as a complete package, directly to the Art History Graduate Adviser in the School of Art, Design and Art History by the deadline:

School of Art, Design and Art History application form (attached) – SUBMIT TO SCHOOL

One copy of transcripts for all college/university-level institutions you have attended.
Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and TOEFL scores are to be sent directly to SDSU from the Educational Text Service. The correct institution number for San Diego State University is 4682. http://www.ets.org/
Statement of purpose addressing your professional goals and reasons for selecting the School of Art, Design and Art History at SDSU for your pursuit of these goals, what you plan to accomplish at SDSU (in which areas do you plan to specialize), and what your long range career goals are.
A copy (it will not be returned) of your best term paper or seminar report, or reprint of a published article, accompanied by a statement explaining how you came to your topic, your method of research and the facilities available.
Three letters of recommendation from instructors who can assess your academic performance (you may include one museum reference). Letters can be sent separately or included with your application in sealed, signed envelopes. Please mail or deliver your complete admissions package to:

Art History Graduate Adviser
School of Art, Design and Art History
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-4805

Graduate applicants are encouraged to apply for the Robert D. Wallace Art History Scholarship. These scholarships are awarded annually to new and continuing students.

If you have further questions concerning the program or Graduate Review procedures after reading the attached information, please do not hesitate to contact Jo-Anne Berelowitz at (619) 594-4995 or jberelow@mail.sdsu.edu

In addition to meeting the requirements for admission to the University, students wishing to be admitted to the art history graduate program with Classified Graduate Standing must complete the equivalent of the graduation requirements for a BA in Art History as specified in the current General Catalog (a minimum of 39 units of art history to include Art 593).

Students who do not meet the requirements for admission to the graduate program in art history but meet the requirements for the graduate admission to the University, may, at the discretion of the art history faculty, be accepted for post-baccalaureate work.

Students must apply to both the University (www.csumentor.edu) and the School of Art Design and Art History. Art History program applications, obtainable from the School of Art office or from the link below, are due on February 1st for fall admission. They must be accompanied by two sets of sealed, certified transcripts of all undergraduate or post-baccalaureate work, three academic letters of recommendation and other materials as stated in the graduate adviser’s letter.

Art History Graduate Application Form (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Requirements for the degree:
Those electing art history must complete at least 18 units from the 600- and 700-numbered courses in art history to include Art 799A (thesis), and 12 units of 500-numbered courses selected in consultation with the graduate advisor, to include Art 593 if this course is not already completed. A written thesis is required as fulfillment of Art 799A. Master’s candidates in art history will also give an open lecture on their thesis subject, to be scheduled with the approval of the thesis chair.

Classified graduate students working for the Master of Arts degree in the field of art history must pass a qualifying examination in art history no later than the beginning of the third semester as classified graduate students.

Before advancement to candidacy, graduate students in art history must have passed the qualifying examination and have completed three semesters of French, German or another language in their area of specialization. The language requirement must be met before the add/drop date of the student’s first semester as a Classified Graduate Student, or the student must enroll for appropriate language courses.

Application Criteria:
Applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered for admission with Classified Graduate Standing to the Art History M.A. Program:

1. B.A. in Art History that is the equivalent to the graduation requirements in art history as specified in the SDSU General Catalog.

2. A combined satisfactory score on the Graduate Records Examination Aptitude Test, with a minimum of 500 on the Verbal section.

Any student admitted to the University with Conditionally Classified Standing must remove any deficiencies in the major, or in other qualifications required by the School of Art, Design and Art History, before applying for Classified Standing. Conditionally Classified students may not enroll in advanced degree courses in the 600- and 700-numbers.

Thesis in Art History:
The thesis required for the Master of Arts degree in Art History is a written document. A copy of all art history theses must be given to the Slide Library of the School of Art, Design and Art History in addition to one submitted to the University.

Graduate Faculty:

Jo-Anne Berelowitz, Associate Professor of Art History, Graduate Advisor
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Nancy Deffebach, Assistant Professor of Art History
Ph.D University of Texas at Austin

Hiroko Johnson, Associate Professor of Art History
Ph.D., University of Southern California

Ida K. Rigby, Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Research Facilities:
Students have access to the University Library which houses over 800,000 volumes (including books and periodical holdings) and 385,000 government documents as well as microfiche and micro-opaque cards, microfilm, phonograph records and archival papers. The Library receives 10,000 periodical and series titles. Among other SDSU facilities which students may utilize are Centers in Asian Studies, European Studies and Latin American Studies. Students also have at their disposal the library of the University of California, San Diego, and libraries and permanent collections of local museums, including San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Historical Society, Museum of Man, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and the Museum of Photographic Arts. Research facilities of the Huntington Library, University of California, Los Angeles, and Getty Museum are within three hours’ drive.

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