Graduate Programs
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Applying to the Graduate School at CCNY
The Graduate Programs in Humanities and the Arts at the City College of New York provide professional credentials, academic training to proceed to Ph.D. and other advanced graduate programs, and intellectual and creative growth. Our graduate students and graduate alumni publish novels, poetry, and journalism; perform and compose jazz; teach Spanish; write history; curate museums; exhibit in galleries; direct films; and create the media images that shape our culture.
Seminars, workshops, internships, and opportunities for self-directed independent work are hallmarks of our graduate programs. Students are mentored by accomplished faculty who are leaders in their fields and practicing professionals, and who are also passionate educators. Located in historic Hamilton Heights in Harlem, City College is proud of its legacy of providing access to excellence for generations of New Yorkers and for those who come to this metropolis from across the country and around the world, seeking its unparalleled cultural and intellectual opportunities. Our graduate programs include students of all ages, many of whom pursue their studies while working full- or part-time jobs.
As a graduate student in Humanities and the Arts at City College, you become part of an illustrious history. City College’s graduate program in Creative Writing was the first of its kind in the country. It was here that Mina Shaughnessy pioneered the field of basic writing, empowering with the written word populations who previously had not had access to higher education. Chakaia Booker honed her innovative craft and vision as a sculptor in our studios, and Pulitzer-Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos was inspired by faculty including Susan Sontag and Donald Barthelme.
We remain in the forefronts of our fields. The journals Fiction, Review, and Basic Writing e-Journal are based at City College. Our faculty exhibit at the Whitney Biennial, the Tate Modern (London), the Saatchi Gallery (London), and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among other venues. They hold research fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Students have recently exhibited at the Venice Biennale and the MoMA PS 1 Print Shop. They have garnered Fulbright Scholarships, Gold Pencil awards and LAGRANT Foundation Scholarships. They have proceeded to PhD study at Harvard, Berkeley, Cornell, Stanford, Brown, NYU, and the University of Michigan. They have landed jobs at The New York Times, the NAACP, Young and Rubicam, and Vox Media.
Students in our graduate programs enjoy job preparation and mentoring for applying to PhD programs, the opportunity to share their scholarship or creative work in interdisciplinary forums, and access to events such as the annual Mario Vargas Llosa Lecture, lectures, readings, performances, and exhibits.
Humanities and the Arts Graduate Programs in the News:
Art History
MA Art History
Concentrations available in Art History, Museum Studies, and Art Museum Education
Branding and Integrated Communications
MPS Branding and Integrated Communications
Insightful Copywriters. Nimble Strategists. Business-Minded Art Directors. Integrated PR Pros. Data-Driven Storytellers. Human-Centric Brand Managers.
Creative Writing
MFA Creative Writing
We want every student to find his or her unique voice, whether through fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenwriting, experimental or genre fiction and/or poetry, while simultaneously preparing them for life beyond graduate school as writers, teachers and scholars. Graduates of the Creative Writing Program at The City College of New York have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Fulbright Award, the O. Henry Award, a Grammy Award and more.
Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice
MFA in Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice
The [DIAP] program is a 60 credit Fine Art MFA Program in which students engage with aspects related to digital media, movement and time based disciplines, socio cultural aspects. The program’s central focus is a utilization and critical engagement of digital media that can lead to research into areas as diverse as interactive sculpture, photography, performance, video, cyber gender, non-narrative motion graphics, online privacy, online/offline interventions, printing, spatial mapping, drawing, digital cultures or bio art and is supportive of different models of individual or collaborative art practice.
Language and Literacy
MA Language and Literacy
The MA in Language and Literacy prepares graduate students for careers as teachers of adults in both college and pre-college classrooms. Language and Literacy MA graduates find employment as instructors of college writing and humanities, adult literacy, ESL, and secondary English/ESL education and as administrators of college tutoring centers and adult literacy programs. Classes are conveniently scheduled during late afternoon and evening hours.
English Literature
MA English Literature
The Literature Program attracts students of all ages of varied personal, educational, and artistic backgrounds. They reflect the riches of New York in both human and literary terms. Part-time study, evening classes, and affordable tuition underscore the Program's commitment to academic diversity and to the needs of working students. It offers courses for diverse professional and personal goals.
Film
MFA Film
Our intensive two-year MFA is the only graduate-level film program of its kind, offering hands-on Documentary and Fiction tracks in an affordable public university. We are an international filmmaking community in the heart of Harlem, and our students have ready access to the finest talent, locations, and production facilities of New York City.
History
MA History
The M.A. Program in History has two tracks: a non-thesis track for those, such as teachers, looking to broaden their horizons and bolster their credentials, as well as a thesis-option for students interested in developing professional expertise in a field of interest or applying to doctoral or other post-graduate programs.
Jazz Studies
MM Jazz Studies
The MM in Jazz Studies requires a minimum of thirty-two credits in the field of Jazz Studies; including Harmony, History, Arranging/Composition, Ensemble, Pedagogy & Practicum, Private Instruction, and a final Recital.
Spanish
MA Spanish
The M.A. in Spanish at CCNY is designed to offer students advanced courses in Spanish and Spanish American literature as well as advanced studies in Spanish language and literary theory. The program prepares students for careers in research and teaching and provides a solid cultural and linguistic competence that gives students the possibility to explore career options in interpreting, translating, diplomatic service, editorial work, social services, commerce and business. The Master of Arts degree also opens opportunities for students to pursue doctoral programs at major institutions.
Studio Art
MFA Studio Art
The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art at The City College of New York is a two-year, 60-credit program comprised of a close-knit community of exceptional students, working with committed faculty with expertise in a wide range of mediums and approaches to art-making. Students have their own studio space, where they spend the first year on work emphasizing experimentation and growth, and the last year focusing those experimentations into a solo thesis exhibition mounted in the Art Department’s spacious gallery.
Director of Graduate Advising
Migen Prifti
mprifti@ccny.cuny.edu
Graduate Studies Programs
Division of Humanities and the Arts
North Academic Center, Rooms 5/225
160 Convent Avenue
New York NY 10031
“One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.”
—Malala Yousafzai
“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is—it’s to imagine what is possible.”
—bell hooks
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
—Audre Lorde
Last Updated: 02/17/2023 10:43