SMU - Meadows School of the Arts

Master of Arts in art history

Expansive range of classes taught by tenure-track research faculty, personalized advising and mentorship, museum internships and research travel opportunities, and pre-professional career training for your future in the art world.

Meadows School of the ArtsArt history trains our students to think critically and engage aesthetically with a world saturated by images.

Our graduate students receive personalized mentorship, rigorous training in cutting-edge theory and substantial financial support from SMU. Our students and alumni have been widely successful in securing prestigious fellowships, teaching awards, internships and job placements in museums, galleries, commercial art ventures, tenure-track professorships and other careers after graduation.

Program overview

Admission

Admission to the Master of Arts in art history program is selective. In most cases, a minimum of 12 credit hours of undergraduate art history above the survey level or equivalent is required for a student to be considered for admission to the program. Please speak with the director of graduate studies to determine whether you meet this requirement. Once applications to the program have been reviewed in January, offers will be made to the top applicants.

Degree requirements

This is a 36-credit hour program. Students take three graduate seminars per term, each term is three credit hours. The Master of Arts thesis, taken in the second year, amounts to six credit hours. Prior to enrollment in thesis hours, all students must pass a translation exam in a language related to the field of study and their graduate colloquium, which is generally scheduled at the beginning of their third term.

If a student does not pass the colloquium, he or she has the opportunity to present the work one more time. If unable to pass the second colloquium, he or she will be dropped from the program. The thesis must be approved by a committee of three faculty members at the conclusion of the student’s master’s work.

Ensuring your professional success

All students admitted to the program will receive fellowship support and close mentorship within a small program setting. Candidates are ensured professional success through a program featuring:

  • Small graduate seminars of six to eight students.
  • Teaching assistantships for all first- and second-year M.A. students.
  • A lively program of extracurricular events including Comini lectures, work-in-progress seminars and professionalization workshops for graduate students.
  • Close mentoring from matriculation to graduation and beyond.

Funding

Art history awards four Master of Arts fellowships each year. The fellowship is renewable each year for two years and includes:

  • Scholarship covering the full cost of tuition and fees.
  • $12,000 assistantship.
  • Up to $2,000 toward summer research between first and second year.
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The SMU Meadows School of the Arts educates visionary artists, scholars, and arts and communications professionals prepared to create sustainable and transformative impact on both local and global society.