Welcome to the Graduate Program in French at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, which offers outstanding academic opportunities for advanced study leading to the M.A., Ph.D., and M.A.T. degrees.

An ambitious and balanced curriculum of literary and interdisciplinary studies encourages students to shape their own programs while acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of literatures in French. Our distinguished faculty of sixteen offer seminars that explore a broad range of perspectives in all areas of French literature, including literatures in French of Africa, the Americas, and Asia, as well as topics in critical theory, cinema, and culture.

French faculty are associated with the Zimmerli Art Museum and with programs in African Studies, Cinema Studies, Comparative Literature, Medieval Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies. The Doctoral Program in French welcomes students who hold a B.A. or M.A. and wish to pursue individual research in French, with a connection to these or other related fields.

The M.A./Ph.D. track offers fellowships and assistantships to applicants with strong academic records and scholarly promise. Fellowships offer tuition remission and stipends of $18,500 or more; teaching assistantships bear similar awards, plus benefits. Transliteratures Fellows, who do additional coursework in a language other than French, receive stipends of not less than $20,000. The program guarantees outstanding applicants a combination of these forms of support, for up to five years.

Teaching experience and teacher training have been a key factor in the successful placement of our graduates, who have garnered major national fellowships and have gone on to successful academic careers in the U.S. and Canada.

The M.A.T. program in French is open to schoolteachers seeking professional development and new materials to bring into the K-12 classroom. Applications are considered after the candidate has successfully completed two courses in the summer World Language Institute on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus.

How to Apply

Resources and Options

For M.A./Ph.D. Candidates:

* Study with faculty specializing in all periods and areas of French and Francophone literature, as well as related fields.

* Through the Transliteratures Project , take for-credit graduate seminars in other language and literature programs on topics related to your course of study.

* Participate in the Department’s year-long exchange programs with the prestigious Écoles Normales Supérieures in Paris (rue d’Ulm) and Lyons (Lettres & Sciences Humaines).

* Earn a graduate certificate in African Studies , Cinema Studies , Medieval Studies , or Women’s and Gender Studies while fulfilling the requirements for the doctorate in French.

* Join the staff of the Rutgers Summer Program in Paris for six weeks as an assistant to the Director, or spend a year as an “assistant(e) d’anglais” in a French secondary school.

* Develop reading comprehension in German, Italian, Spanish or Latin by attending a free summer course, or learn a lesser-taught language through the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium.

* Participate in University-wide activities and programs with an international focus through the Graduate Student Organization.

For K-12 Teachers:

* Complete a Masters of Arts for Teachers in three summers through Rutgers’ award-winning World Languages Institute. Specially designed courses focus on language, culture, and literatures in French as well as on methods of language instruction.

* Attend Teachers at the Louvre , the only intensive program in the U.S. to teach you how to bring art into the French classroom-all inside the walls of the world’s most celebrated museum.

* Learn about the latest developments in pedagogy by taking part in workshops organized by the World Languages Institute and the French Resource Center .

* Prepare under the direction of a mentor a capstone teaching portfolio that reflects your grade level, district needs, and career objectives.