Master of Arts

Admission Requirements

For admissions, see The Graduate School.

Degree Requirements

Courses
In addition to courses required of all students in The Graduate School, 30 graduate credits are required as follows:

• A program seminar required of all students, preferably during their first year of study (3 credits); this course will ordinarily be Introduction to Jewish Gender Studies
• One course in feminist theory (3 credits), which may be taken at one of the graduate schools in the Consortium Program
• Five additional courses (15 credits) in Jewish Gender and Women's Studies
• Three courses (9 credits) in an area of concentration selected by each student from any one department or program. Courses cross-listed with Jewish Gender and Women's Studies may be counted toward both the cognate and the Jewish Gender and Women's Studies distribution requirement

Once the distribution requirement has been met, the remaining credit requirement may be met with electives, to be chosen in consultation with the program adviser. For cross-listed courses taken to fulfill the 15 credits of elective JGW courses, where a syllabus is not fully dedicated to a women's studies or gender studies approach, students are expected to fulfill their elective assignments and papers by choosing gender and women's studies themes.

Master's Thesis or Project
Each student must write a master's thesis (40–60 pages), ordinarily on a topic in the area of concentration, in consultation with the program director and under the supervision of a faculty member who is preferably both in the area of concentration and on the Jewish Gender and Women's Studies faculty. An alternative path is permitted for artists who design a serious creative project (e.g., creative writing, visual, music, or performance arts) and enlist an appropriate JTS faculty member as co-adviser.