This interdisciplinary Ph.D. program educates students for advanced careers in the heritage professions. Policies and requirements are shown below and in the section of this Bulletin entitled “Program of Study for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Heritage Studies” in the College of Liberal Arts and Communication. Applicants are advised that admission to Graduate Programs does not imply admission to the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program.

The mission of the doctoral program in Heritage Studies is to produce heritage professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to support the identification, assessment, preservation, interpretation, management and promotion of historic and cultural resources for non-specialist or “public” audiences. Our program is interdisciplinary, using multiple perspectives to explore and understand the interrelationships of history, culture, and geography in distinctive regions, such as the Mississippi River Delta and in other regions of the United States and the world. The concept of region is central to the Heritage Studies degree. Through case study of a region, the Mississippi River Delta, our students gain an understanding of cultural resource management and interpretation that is applicable in other settings.

While universal in scope and method, the Heritage Studies doctoral program uses the distinctive history, attributes, resources, and interests of the Mississippi River Delta as a laboratory. Our students study regional history, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, regional and ethnic literature, and the social sciences. Students develop and refine the traditional doctoral-level research skills, but as heritage professionals their expertise will be applied, practical, and public dissemination of history and culture.

Employment opportunities include senior executive staff positions in cultural and historical agencies, parks and cultural tourist sites, historical societies, museums, archives, federal, state, and local public and nonprofit agencies, and private consulting firms. This degree is not primarily designed for college and university teaching, although students may be qualified to do so.

Master of Arts Degree with a Major in Heritage Studies

Only students admitted to the Ph.D. program in Heritage Studies will be eligible for the Master of Arts (MA) in Heritage Studies. This MA degree is granted “en route” to the Ph.D. To receive this master’s degree, the doctoral student must complete the requirements in core courses (12 semester credit hours minimum), specialty area (12 semester credit hours minimum), and enrichment (12 semester credit hours minimum), and the capstone research seminar (3 semester credit hours). This capstone seminar is the culmination of a student’s class work and will result in an intensive research paper that demonstrates the student’s comprehensive understanding of Heritage Studies when focused on a specific topic. The research paper from this course is the equivalent of a written exam for the MA degree in Heritage Studies. All requirements for approval of credit in core courses, specialty area, and enrichment that apply for the Ph.D. program also apply for a doctoral student who requests the MA in Heritage Studies.

Admission Requirements

Students seeking admission into the Doctor of Philosophy in Heritage Studies program must meet the admission requirements of Graduate Programs and the specific program requirements.

Applicants to the Doctor of Philosophy in Heritage Studies program must hold a baccalaureate or master’s degree (BA, BS, MA, or MS) from an accredited institution in a related field of study such as archaeology, anthropology, English, folklore, geography, history, historic preservation, museum studies, political science, public administration, or sociology. Applicants admitted to the program without a master’s degree will be required to complete a minimum of 18 hours of graduate work before they will be allowed to take 7000 level courses. Only in rare cases will applicants be admitted who have not completed an appropriate master’s degree before they begin their doctoral studies.

Transcripts should reflect a strong background in social sciences and humanities. Applicants lacking this background who are otherwise exemplary may be granted provisional admission to the program, but will be required to make up these deficiencies. These course credits cannot be applied toward fulfillment of doctoral requirements. Up to eighteen hours in addition to the semester hours of credit required for the Ph.D. in Heritage Studies may be necessary in graduate classes that provide a suitable foundation for doctoral work in Heritage Studies. In some cases, documented work experience in the Heritage professions may be substituted for specific preparatory courses and, in exceptional cases, may be used as a criterion for admission.

In addition to application materials required by Graduate Admissions, applicants to the Doctor of Philosophy in Heritage Studies program must submit a letter explaining their interests in Heritage Studies and personal career goals. The Heritage Studies Admissions Committee will carefully review this statement and three letters of reference from former professors or professionally based supervisors or peers as well as the applicant’s undergraduate and graduate transcripts. All applicants also are required to submit an example of research and writing on a scholarly topic and to have an interview with the director or associate director of the Ph.D. program.

Applicants must submit the following to Graduate Admissions:

1. A completed application for admission to the Ph.D. in Heritage Studies program. Applicants are encouraged to submit the application no later than January 15. Review of applications will begin January 15 for the fall semester.
2. A $50 nonrefundable application fee. Checks must be made payable to Arkansas State University. If applications are received without payment, Graduate Admissions will hold all application materials and notify the applicants that no action will be taken until payment is received. International students may utilize a check or an International Postal Money Order to remit payment in U.S. currency.
3. One copy of official transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate coursework attempted, to be sent directly from the institutions(s) previously attended. Graduate Admissions will compute the graduate GPA by counting all graduate courses completed, including any repeated courses. Transcripts should reflect a strong background in social sciences and humanities. Applicants who are lacking this background who are otherwise exemplary may be granted provisional admission and required to make up these deficiencies. Such course credits may not be applied toward fulfillment of doctoral requirements.
4. Letter explaining applicant’s career goals and knowledge of and interest in Heritage Studies.
5. Three (3) letters of reference from former professors or professional supervisors.
6. International student applicants must demonstrate a satisfactory level of proficiency in the English language if English is not their native language.

Applicants will be admitted to the program based on the following criteria:

• A letter explaining interest in Heritage Studies and personal career goals.
• Undergraduate and graduate GPA
• Three (3) letters of reference
• Interview with Heritage Studies’ Admissions Committee (may be required).
• Example of research and writing on a scholarly topic
• Interview with the director or associate director of the Ph.D. program

Practicum

Students must complete 300 work hours as a quasi-professional in a culture, heritage, or public history environment. After completion of this work experience, students will provide a written assessment of the Practicum. At the discretion of the doctoral advisory committee, adjustments may be made for students with extensive professional experience in public heritage programs.

Qualifying and Candidacy Exams

After completion of the curriculum and the practicum, the doctoral advisory committee will schedule a qualifying examination of the student’s work in the doctoral program.

Successful completion of this qualifying examination will allow the committee to schedule a candidacy exam. The format of the qualifying and candidacy exams for all students is established by the Heritage Studies Program Committee. Successful completion of the candidacy exam which includes approval of a dissertation proposal allows the student to be formally recognized as a candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy in Heritage Studies.

General Requirements for the Degree

Doctoral students are required to complete a minimum of 57 semester hours beyond the master’s degree. For students without a master’s degree, the Doctoral Advisory Committee and the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program Committee, on a case-by-case basis, may require additional hours of credit beyond the minimum of eighteen semester hours indicated below. No more than nine credits earned while completing a master’s degree may be applied toward the 57 credit requirement unless approved by the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program Committee at the request of the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee. Applicants admitted to the program without a master’s degree will be required to have completed a minimum of eighteen hours of graduate work before they will be allowed to take level 7000 courses. These eighteen hours are in addition to the 57 semester hours of credit required for the Ph.D. in Heritage Studies. If a student completed a portion of these eighteen hours before admission to the Ph.D. program, up to nine semester hours of those graduate level courses may be applied as Transfer Credit (see below). In some cases, documented work experience in the Heritage professions may be substituted for specific courses.

Advisory Committees

It is the responsibility of the Doctoral Advisory Committee to work with a student to develop a specific course of study. Each student is expected to initiate this process by identifying a doctoral dissertation advisor who will chair the advisory committee. The members of Doctoral Advisory Committees must be drawn from Arkansas State University graduate faculty. Each committee must have at least three members. No more than two members may represent the same academic discipline. Committee membership is subject to the approval of the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program Committee.

The Director of the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program will serve as the initial advisor for students entering the program. In this capacity, the Director will institute a tentative curriculum for the student pending establishment of the Doctoral Advisory Committee. Before beginning the final year of course work or no later than after the completion of 30 semester credit hours of study, the student in consultation with the Director is expected to have selected a dissertation advisor, formed a Doctoral Advisory Committee, and declared a course of study.

The course of study set by the committee must meet program requirements and match the student’s academic goals, scholarly aspirations and career preparation needs. Each Doctoral Advisory Committee will meet at least once a year to review the student’s progress.

The committee is to review the student’s dissertation proposal and to provide guidance toward the successful completion of this substantial project. Once the student has passed the Qualifying and Candidacy Exams and has an approved dissertation topic, the Doctoral Advisory Committee may add new members to help with directing and assessing the dissertation work. In these cases, it is strongly recommended that at least one new member of the Doctoral Advisory Committee be an individual of national repute with extensive professional experience at an appropriate public program in cultural heritage.

Membership of advisory committees may be changed if either the student or a member of the committee feels that such a change is appropriate. The requested change must be reviewed and approved by Director of the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program and then approved by the Program Committee.

Degree Plan

A course of study, to be developed by the student and approved by the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee, is to be submitted to the Director of the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program before the end of the first 12 months after beginning the program full time, or before completing 18 semester credit hours of study.

As a reflection of the interdisciplinary nature of the program, each student is expected to develop a course of study tailored to his or her own scholarly interests, research program, and proposed career direction. The specific quantity and content of each student’s course of study will be worked out with that student’s Advisor and the Doctoral Advisory Committee within the parameters set forth for the program as a whole.

Level of Work Required

Fifty-seven (57) semester credit hours are required for completion of this program. Only in the most exceptional cases will any class that is not designated a master’s or doctoral-level (5000 and above at Arkansas State) be accepted. These exceptions must be approved by the Doctoral Advisory Committee, the Program Director, and the Program Committee. Doctoral Advisory Committees also will take great care when approving any course at the 5000 level. Special justification will be needed for such courses and typically no more than six semester hours of 5000 level course work will be approved for a student’s program of study. With permission of the professor, advanced master’s level students may enroll in doctoral level Heritage Studies classes.

Transfer Credit

No more than nine master’s level credit hours earned before admission to the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program may be applied toward the 57-credit-hour requirements unless requested by the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee and approved by the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program Committee. Decisions regarding acceptability of transfer credits are to be made by the Program Committee, upon recommendation from a student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee, within the context of that student’s course of study and subject to approval by the Registrar. Students will be held responsible on the qualifying and candidacy exams for the content of all courses within their course of study.

Grades and Credit

Courses completed during prior master’s work must have received a grade of B or better to be credited towards the degree. A single grade of C will be accepted for courses in the Ph.D. program. A second instance of a grade of C or a single instance of a grade below C will be cause for the review of the student’s status within the program by the Heritage Studies Program Committee. After such review, the Heritage Studies Program Committee may recommend dismissal of the student from the program.

Qualifying and Candidacy Exams

After completion of the curriculum and the practicum, including the capstone Research Seminar, the Doctoral Advisory Committee will schedule a qualifying examination of the student’s work in the doctoral program. Successful completion of this qualifying examination will allow the committee to schedule a candidacy exam. The format of the qualifying and candidacy exams for all students is established by the Heritage Studies Program Committee. Successful completion of the candidacy exam which includes approval of a dissertation proposal allows the student to be formally recognized as a candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy in Heritage Studies.

The qualifying and candidacy examinations are designed to test general knowledge of Heritage Studies as well as the student’s expertise in specialized areas of research and interest. Students are expected to successfully complete each exam in the first full semester following completion of all course work in the course of study. These exams have a mandatory oral component. In advance of each oral exam, a student prepares a portfolio. Exams will be administered no later than one week before the close of fall and spring semesters. Students intending to take qualifying and candidacy exams must submit an intent form to the office of the program director no later than the end of the sixth week after the beginning of classes in the semester in which they intend to take the exam.

Each student will create a Portfolio before each exam that will be examined by the Doctoral Advisory Committee which also will serve as the examination committee. The Portfolio must be available to the committee two weeks before the scheduled exam. The exam itself will consist of an oral interview of no more than one hour for the qualifying exam and no more than two hours for the candidacy exam. At each exam the student will explain and defend what is in the Portfolio.

The Portfolio for the Qualifying Exam will contain:

• A major example of the student’s work from EACH of the three divisions of the doctoral curriculum (the core, specialty area, and enrichment). These THREE EXAMPLES from the student’s course work are improved and enhanced before they are placed in the portfolio. The first example will be drawn from one of the required core seminars. The second example of enrichment may come from any class in the Heritage Studies program, other than a core seminar or the capstone research seminar, that demonstrates breadth and depth in terms of the student’s studies. The third example will be the research paper from the capstone research seminar (HS 7213). It is required as the representation of the specialty area and as a significant example of the student’s writing.

The Portfolio for the Candidacy Exam will contain:

• A meaningful essay of no more than twelve-hundred (1,200) words that gives the student’s scholarly and intellectual explanation of what is “Heritage Studies” accompanied by an extensively annotated list that will contain 20 sources, at least 10 of which must be books. The list may also include important articles, films, archives, festivals, museums or other substantial examples that are vital for the interpretation of “Heritage Studies”.
• A written report that assesses the student’s 300-hour Practicum accompanied by a letter from the supervisor, or coordinator, of the Practicum.
• The final version of the student’s dissertation proposal.

The oral component for the qualifying and candidacy exams are conducted by the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee. In case of failure, the exam may be retaken if the committee feels that improvements in the Portfolio are justified and can be carried out by the student within an additional period of time as specified by the committee. A second failure of either the qualifying or candidacy exam will result in dismissal from the program. Students may not undertake the candidacy exam until after they have successfully completed the qualifying exam.

Admission to Candidacy

A student may apply for admission to candidacy upon successful completion of the oral component of the comprehensive candidacy examination.

Continuous Enrollment

Prior to the completion of the candidacy exam, any leave from the program of six months or less must be approved by the Program Director. Any leave of six months or longer must be approved by the Director and the Program Committee. Students who have taken leave from the program for more than two years, at the determination of the Director and Program Committee, may be required to apply formally for readmission and to update specific courses.

Students must maintain continuous enrollment subsequent to passing the candidacy examination. They must maintain a minimum of one semester hour of dissertation credit during each regular semester, including at least one summer term each year, until the dissertation has been accepted.

Time to Degree

All requirements for the degree must be completed within eight calendar years of admission to the program. Requirements subsequent to the candidacy examination must be completed within four calendar years of the date of successful completion of that examination. Students exceeding the time limit may be required to repeat the candidacy exam, replace out-of-date credits with up-to-date ones, and/or show other evidence of being current within both the core curriculum and the student’s area of specialization. Extension of the eight-year requirement will be granted only if a student has obtained prior approval from his or her Doctoral Advisory Committee, the Heritage Studies Program Committee and Arkansas State University Graduate Programs.

Approval of Dissertation Research

The student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee must approve the dissertation proposal at the Candidacy Exam. As the student progresses in completing the dissertation, minor modifications of the proposal may be approved by the chair of the student’s Doctoral Advisory Committee who is also the director for the dissertation itself. Any major changes in the dissertation proposal require the approval of the on-campus members of the expanded Doctoral Advisory Committee. Students are also advised to seek the appropriate institutional approval of proposed research, as necessary, from the Institutional Review Board.

Dissertation Defense

After the research is completed the student will submit a draft to his or her advisory committee. Upon the recommendation of the committee, the candidate will arrange with the chair of his or her advisory committee to schedule and conduct an open, public presentation of the results to which members of the faculty and master’s and doctoral students will be invited. In advance of this public presentation, the candidate will also be required to orally defend the dissertation before the expanded Doctoral Advisory Committee including any new members from outside Arkansas State University such as cultural heritage professionals. Arrangements for the public presentation and dissertation defense will be made through the Heritage Studies Program Office. Students are advised to be aware of the deadlines set by Graduate Programs for submission of defense results and dissertations.

The defense must occur at least four weeks before the date of graduation. The defense is failed if more than one negative vote is cast by the members of the Doctoral Advisory Committee who are members of the Arkansas State University graduate faculty. In this case the student is placed on probation. A student who fails the defense must wait at least one semester before attempting a second defense of the dissertation. A second public presentation will not be required. If a repeat defense is failed, the Doctoral Advisory Committee will recommend the student’s removal from Ph.D. candidacy standing.

Final Form

The completed dissertation may consist of several elements, such as a museum exhibition curated by the student or a video documentary. Nonetheless, all dissertations will include an extensive written statement that places the dissertation in its scholarly, intellectual context as a representation of heritage studies. Other important parts of the dissertation project may be written as well and a completed dissertation may include extensive appendices. The written component of the dissertation will follow the style and format requirements from the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style unless an alternate scholarly style is approved by the Doctoral Advisory Committee and Graduate Programs. It is the responsibility of candidates to assure that this written component of the dissertation follows the appropriate, designated format. Before submission, the entire on campus membership of the advisory committee must approve the completed dissertation. Candidates will submit electronically a copy of the dissertation according to the Guide to Theses and Dissertations: Preparation and Electronic Submission. The bound copies will be on file with the A-State Library, the Heritage Studies Program Director, and the chair of the advisory committee.

The Abstract

Candidates will be responsible for the preparation of an abstract of the dissertation, which will be submitted at the same time as the completed dissertation project. The abstract must not exceed 300 words and will be bound with the written component of the dissertation.

Deadline for Submission

The completed dissertation and abstract, signed by all members of the advisory committee, must be submitted electronically by the deadline set for accepting dissertations. The date for each semester and summer term is given in the University Calendar.

Checklist for the Last Semester Before Graduation:

• In the last semester before graduation, candidates must register for the graduation fee.
• File an Intent to Graduate Form with the Office of the Registrar by the relevant deadline.
• Complete the oral defense of the dissertation.
• Submit the dissertation by the relevant deadline.