The CUNY Graduate Center welcomes applications for its Ph.D. Program in French. Consistently rated as one of the finest and most innovative in the United States, our program offers cutting-edge interdisciplinary coursework, close mentoring with leading scholars in French and Francophone Studies, a varied program of public-facing talks, events and conferences, and the diverse research environment of the Graduate Center, a national leader in Humanities scholarship located in the heart of New York City.
Our students are rigorously prepared as researchers and as teachers, functioning as generalists who can teach a broad array of courses and as specialists with focused training in particular periods and perspectives. Recently-defended dissertations include Unnatural Issue: Gendered Adaptations of “Peau d’Âne” in Contemporary French and English Texts; L'univers mélancolique de Patrick Modiano; Body Check: The Transgressive Body Politics of Gina Pane, Orlan, and Deborah de Robertis; Memory, Violence, and Detours: Strategies of Resistance to Epidermal Invisibility within the French Republic; The Devil is in the Details: Witchcraft, Materiality and Systems of Belief in Early Modern France.
Our faculty numbers over 30 professors drawn from the nation's largest urban public university system. They specialize in a wide range of fields, from medieval era to the present, from postcolonial and Francophone studies to gender/queer theory, visual cultures, and the digital humanities. Students also benefit from the multiple interdisciplinary research centers on campus, including IRADAC (Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean), MEMEAC (Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center), the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, and the Center for the Humanities.
Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply, and for the Fall 2025 entry term we have waived all application fees, making the process totally free of charge. Our program welcomes international students from around the world and is open to candidates who do not necessarily have a traditional background in literary studies. Successful applicants receive a five-year fellowship package, including a tuition waiver and health insurance. They teach one course per semester in their second, third and fourth year and serve as writing fellows in their fifth. There is an abundance of opportunities for summer support as well as additional funding for travel and research. We also offer a dedicated fellowship for high school teachers interested in pursuing a doctorate while maintaining their current employment as well as a competitive fellowship for top alumni of the TAPIF program.
Recent alumni have received teaching positions and postdoctoral fellowships at Pomona College, University College Dublin, Lehigh University, Drexel College, and Southern Methodist University. Other alumni have ventured outside of academia, working in university administration, business, consulting, or arts programming.
The deadline for receipt of application material is January 1st, 2025. For further information, please contact Professors Maxime Blanchard [mblanchard@ccny.cuny.edu] and Sam Di Iorio [adiiorio@hunter.cuny.edu].