As far as possible, IPCAA is designed to encourage students, from the start, to pursue their own research interests and goals. This is matched, however, by the need to ensure that students receive the broad and well-balanced training which is an essential prerequisite for undertaking doctoral-level research and for subsequent success in professional placement. Consequently, certain formal requirements are part of IPCAA expectations.
In brief, students are required to:
Register for each fall and winter semester from matriculation to degree completion.
Enroll in an introductory one-credit Proseminar in Classical Archaeology in the Fall semester of their first year.
Adhere to a regular course-load of four courses per semester (three courses in semesters when a student is teaching.)
Take at least one graduate-level course in each of five broad areas in Mediterranean archaeology, as well as two courses in ancient history.
Take the Theoretical Approaches to Classical Art and Archaeology course offered by Classics every two years.
Demonstrate proficiency in two ancient languages (ancient Greek and Latin) and two modern ones (German and French, Italian, or modern Greek.)
Pass an ancient history examination at the end of their first year.
Complete successfully two sets of archaeological examinations: the Qualifying Exams (normally taken at the end of the second year) and the Preliminary Exams (normally taken before the end of the third year.)
Conceive of an original and viable doctoral dissertation topic, choose a dissertation chair, and form a dissertation committee.
Compose and defend dissertation prospectus in consultation with dissertation committee.
Write a doctoral dissertation (normally completed in three to four years) in regular consultation with dissertation committee and report periodically to the IPCAA Executive Committee on progress towards completion.
Defend dissertation before dissertation committee.
Further information about these requirements may be found by clicking on the links below. Full details of the official regulations governing the Program are provided in the IPCAA Handbook.
In accordance with its interdepartmental and interdisciplinary character, IPCAA both allows and encourages maximum flexibility in a student's choice of courses. The faculty associated with the Program offer a broad and diverse range of courses which are designed to familiarize the student with the major areas, subfields, and methodologies within our discipline, as well as to provide a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
Students must take a one-credit Proseminar in Classical Archaeology, taken in the Fall term of the first year, and the Theoretical Approaches to Classical Art and Archaeology course offered by Classics every two years. Students must also take for graduate credit (i.e., classes at the 400 level or above) at least one course from each of five areas: Method and Theory in Art History, Archaeology, and Anthropology; Near Eastern and Egyptian Art and Archaeology; Greek Art and Archaeology; Etruscan, Hellenistic and Roman Art and Archaeology; Prehistoric Art and Archaeology and/or Late Antique/Early Byzantine Art and Archaeology. In addition, they need to enroll in two graduate-level courses of their choice in Greek and Roman History. All course elections must be approved by the IPCAA Director or Graduate Advisor.
Four courses per term is considered the optimal course load for full-time students and three courses per term an appropriate load for those students who are also working as Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) or Research Assistants. In consultation with the Advisor, it may be considered appropriate for an individual to take less than a full course load of four courses for full-time students and less than three for GSIs in a given term.
Course requirements are normally completed during the first three years in the Program, the regular course load being four courses per term (or three in terms when a student is teaching). Summers are reserved for independent study, archaeological fieldwork, museum internships, or other relevant professional experience.
What courses do we offer? We could simply list here the titles of courses "on the books" in the various departments that provide teaching in relevant areas (e.g. Classical Art & Archaeology); but not all of these are regularly offered. So it is far more instructive to see what courses current IPCAA students have actually taken — an astonishingly rich and diverse list of more than 175 courses! Please scroll down to view this list, which is organized by department.
AAPTIS (Arabic, Armenian, Persian, Turkish, and Islamic Studies)
101 Elementary Modern Standard Arabic, I
151 Elementary Turkish, I
152 Elementary Turkish, II
ACABS (Ancient Civilizations and Biblical Studies)
474 Archaeology of Nubia
513 Ancient Mesopotamia
521 Coptic, I
522 Coptic, II
587 Selected Topics in Ancient Egyptian History and Culture
681 Ancient Egyptian History
686 Seminar in Egyptian Archaeology
AnthrArch (Anthropological Archaeology)
480 Practica in Archaeological Research Techniques
482 Topics in Anthropological Archaeology
483 Near Eastern Prehistory
581 Archaeology I
582 Archaeology II
593 Archaeological Systematics
680 Old World Regional Archaeology
681 Material Culture
683 Topics in Archaeology
691 Settlement Systems in Pre-Industrial Societies
692 Studies in the Origin of the State
693 Archaeological Research Design
694 Analytic Methods in Archaeological Research
AnthrBio (Biological Anthropology)
570 Biological Anthropology: An Overview
AnthrCul (Sociocultural Anthropology)
526 Traditions of Ethnology I
527 Traditions of Ethnology II
545 Image-Based Ethnography
576 Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
ClArch (Classical Archaeology)
422 Etruscan Art and Archaeology (= HistArt 422)
423 Roman Campania (= HistArt 423)
424 Archaeology of the Roman Provinces (= HistArt 424)
425 Hellenistic and Republican Roman Architecture
426 Roman Imperial Architecture
433 Greek Sculpture (= HistArt 433)
435 The Art and Archaeology of Asia Minor (= HistArt 435)
436 Hellenistic and Roman Architecture (= HistArt 436)
439 Greek Vase Painting (= HistArt 439)
440 Cities and Sanctuaries of Classical Greece (= HistArt 440)
443 The Art and Archaeology of Greek Colonization (= HistArt 443)
475 Archaeology, Identity, and Nationalism in the Balkans and Europe
481 Art of Ancient Iran (= HistArt 481)
515 The Archaeology of the Roman Economy (= HistArt 515)
520 Early Rome and Her Neighbors
534 Ancient Painting (= HistArt 534)
536 Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture (= HistArt 536)
600 Proseminar in Classical Archaeology
815 Hellenistic Cities of the Near East (= HistArt 815)
820 Approaches to Archaeological Field Survey (= HistArt 820)
828 Ceramic Analysis and Chronology
832 Archaeology of Ionia
841 Topography of Rome (= HistArt 841)
842 Topography of Athens (= HistArt 842)
843 Space and Place in the Graeco-Roman World (Archaeology of the Black Sea)
844 Theoretical Issues in Archaeology (= HistArt 844)
855 Problems in Roman Archaeology (Greek Cities of Roman Asia; Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity) (= HistArt 855)
860 Conceptualizing Empire
ClCiv (Classical Civilization)
456 Egypt after the Pharaohs
ClLing (Classical Linguistics)
635 Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin
113 Accelerated Reading in French
111 First Special Reading Course
112 Second Special Reading Course
401 Greek Prose
402 Greek Drama
435 Fifth-Century Prose
471 Imperial Greek
473 Advanced Koine
501 Special Reading Course in Greek
506 Advanced Greek Composition
507 Second Year Greek I
508 Second Year Greek II
511 Hesiod and Hymns
515 Pindar and Bacchylides
560 Hellenistic Poetry
591 History of Greek Literature, Homer to Sophocles
592 History of Greek Literature, Euripides to the Romances
608 Greek Epigraphy
636 Palaeography & Textual Criticism
637 Introduction to the Language and Interpretation of Papyri
638 Paleography of Papyri
804 Early Historiography
810 Kallimachos and Theokritos
820 Ethnicity and Culture in Greco-Roman Egypt
400 Problems in Greek History I
600 Understanding Records and Archives
630 Introduction to Greek and Roman Studies
631 Greek Studies I
633 Studies in Roman History I
698 Topics in History
701 Seminar in Ancient History I
HistArt (History of Art; for courses crosslisted with Classical Archaeology, see see also ClArch)
613 Museum Research
615 First Year Graduate Seminar
617 Visual Valence
642 Problems in Byzantine Art
646 Problems in Medieval Art
689 Special Topics in History of Art
771 Problems in Modern Art
822 Problems in the Art of the Persian Empire
853 Problems in Etruscan Art and Archaeology
103 Accelerated Italian
205 Italian Conversation for Non-concentrators
401 Republican Prose
402 Imperial Prose
403 Elementary Latin Composition
409 Augustan Poetry
410 Poetry of the Republic or Later Empire
440 Vergil, Bucolics and Georgics
505 Intermediate Latin
506 Advanced Latin Composition
514 Tacitus, Annals
515 Sallust
591 History of Roman Literature, Beginnings to Cicero
592 History of Roman Literature, Vergil to Ausonius
606 Latin Inscriptions
642 Introduction to Roman Law
860 Ancient Religion
800 Plautus
ModGreek (Modern Greek)
501 Elementary Modern Greek
MSP (Museum Studies Program)
601 Museum Proseminar I
602 Museum Proseminar II
609 Museum Practicum
NRE (Natural Resources and the Environment)
531 Principles of Geographic Information Systems
538 Natural Resources Statistics
Stats (Statistics)
412 Introduction to Probability and Statistics
Continuous Enrollment Policy
All University of Michigan students must register for each fall and winter semester from matriculation to degree completion, unless on an approved Leave of Absence or with Extramural Study status. Students who do not register will be presumed to have withdrawn and will be discontinued from the program. Once discontinued, students may reapply to the program by submitting the proper request and supporting documents to the IPCAA office no later than April 1st. Their reinstatement would begin the following Fall term.
More information is available in the IPCAA Handbook.
Students are required to demonstrate reading knowledge of two ancient languages (ancient Greek and Latin) and two modern languages (German and French, Italian, or modern Greek).
Competence in ancient Greek and Latin is determined by three-hour translation examinations in each language. Students will be tested only on passages drawn from the IPCAA ancient Greek and Latin reading lists. The use of dictionaries is permitted. Students may also opt to fulfill one ancient language requirement by coursework: by passing an upper level undergraduate or graduate ancient Greek or Latin reading course (higher than LAT 410 or GREEK 410) with a minimum grade of B or better. The purpose of the ancient language requirement is to ensure that students have basic literacy in both ancient Greek and Latin, and that they have the ability to read untranslated texts (or to check existing translations) for research purposes
Competence in German and French, Italian, or modern Greek is determined by two-hour translation examinations in each language. Students will be tested on passages drawn from the scholarly literature on Classical art and archaeology. The use of dictionaries is permitted. Both modern language requirements must be fulfilled by examination. The purpose of the modern language requirement is to ensure that students have full access to scholarship in the other major academic languages besides English.
Examples of recent examinations in all the languages may be requested from the IPCAA office.
Students are required to take at least one language examination each semester until their language requirements are fulfilled. Completion of the language requirements is a condition of advancement to candidacy, and students are not permitted to take their preliminary examinations until they have satisfied these requirements (usually by the middle of the third year at the latest).
For full details of these examinations, including the works on the ancient Greek and Latin Reading lists, consult the IPCAA Handbook.
Ancient History Exam - End of First Year
All IPCAA students are required to take an ancient history exam at the end of their first year. This exam covers both Greek and Roman history and is administered to all graduate students in both IPCAA and Classical Studies. The exam lasts 4 hours, and includes both identification and essay sections. All IPCAA students must pass the ancient history exam before taking their IPCAA Qualifying Exams at the end of their second year. The reading list and the lists of terms and names on which the identification section of the exam is based is available on the Classics Department website, under the rubric: Ancient History Exam.
Performance Evaluation - End of Third Semester
The performance of each student who enters the Program is evaluated by the entire Program Committee after three semesters of full-time enrollment. No student may proceed further on work for the Ph.D. without a favorable evaluation. Before evaluation by the Committee takes place, each professor with whom a student has worked is asked to evaluate his or her academic performance and capabilities as a Ph.D. candidate in the professor's field. A grade average of B+ is regarded as a minimum.
Archaeological Exams - End of Second & Third Years
Knowledge of Classical Archaeology is tested in two rather different sets of examinations: the Qualifying Exams (normally taken towards the end of the second year) and the Preliminary exams (before the end of the third year). Students need to pass these exams in order to achieve Candidacy and move on to dissertation research.
The Qualifying Exams
The qualifying examinations are designed to test basic knowledge of the major sites, monuments, and scholarly trends in three major fields: Prehistoric and Greek art and archaeology; Etruscan and Roman art and archaeology; and Near Eastern and Egyptian art and archaeology. The scope of these examinations is very broad, with the intention of guaranteeing that students attain a minimum level of information on which to base serious work at an early point in their graduate careers. Accordingly, students are encouraged to take the qualifying exams without delay—normally at the end of their second year.
Students may also sit in on undergraduate courses providing introductory surveys of Greek Art and Archaeology (CA 221) and Roman Art and Archaeology (CA 222), or may serve as GSIs in those courses, to help prepare. The qualifying exams are not to be thought of as narrowly linked to the required courses (V.B, above) in terms of a student's progress and preparation.
The examinations will consist of two parts administered over two days (6 hours each day): slide and term identification, and essay questions. The examinations are given at the end of the second year on days agreed between the Graduate Advisor and those students taking the exams. The basic format of the exams is as follows:
Part 1: Slide and term identification (3 hours)
Slide Identification: 90 minutes. Students will be shown 10 slides in each of the three major fields (30 in total). All slides must be identified.
Term identification: 90 minutes. For each of the three major fields, students will be given 15 words or phrases, of which they will be required to identify and comment on 10. The words or phrases may include (but are not limited to) technical terminology and the names of objects, buildings, people, or places.
Part 2: Essay examinations (9 hours)
Part 2 consists of 3-hour exams in each of the three major fields. Each field-exam will be divided into two sections.
Section 1: short essays (2 hours). Students will be asked to answer four essay questions out of a choice of six.
Section 2: long essay (1 hour). Students will be required to answer one question out of a choice of two.
Preparation for the Qualifying examinations:
Students will be provided with four reading lists, one for each of the major fields, and one consisting of more general methodological and theoretical works in the appendix of the IPCAA Handbook. The essay questions for each major field will draw on relevant works from the Method/Theory reading list as well as from the list for the relevant field.
These reading lists are meant as study-guides, reflecting to some degree the strengths of the IPCAA faculty and resources. They are limited to scholarship available in English. For each field, they combine general surveys and handbooks, seminal studies and works by leading scholars, and selected examples of current research. Where appropriate, the reading lists indicate which sections or chapters of longer works are considered most important.
In addition, samples of examination questions and slide lists from recent Qualifying Exams are available for inspection on request from the IPCAA office.
The Preliminary Exams
The final set of exams in the Program consists of two Preliminary Examinations in Classical Art and Archaeology, taken only after all coursework and language requirements have been satisfied and the Qualifying Exams have been passed. The two 3-hour written exams, on topics chosen by the student, are intended to test ability in analyzing and synthesizing specific related bodies of archaeological material and in controlling relevant methodologies and bibliographies in depth.
An important function of these exams is to ease the often difficult transition from organized course work to independent dissertation research; indeed, preparation for them will normally constitute a major step in formulation of ideas for the Dissertation. Accordingly, students are urged to choose Preliminary exam topics in complementary areas and methodologies useful to their own research interests.
For these exams, the student must enlist a chair and form a Prelim committee by the beginning of the term following passage of the Qualifying Examinations. After consulting with all the members of the committee, the student should then write two proposals (one for each exam, usually 3-5 pages per proposal in length, not including bibliography) for submission to the committee by the end of the first month of the term (Sept. 30 for fall term, Jan. 31 for winter). If the Prelim Committee accepts the proposals, they will then be forwarded it to the Executive Committee of IPCAA for final approval at its next scheduled meeting. If the Prelim Committee thinks the proposals need revisions, the student should complete these in a timely manner and resubmit to the Prelim Committee.