The doctoral program in Department of Film, Television, and Media is a small, interdisciplinary humanities program that provides students with the opportunity to work closely with faculty on their research at a world-class university with excellent resources and support. Typically students in our program enter with a Master’s degree, though we do not formally require a Master’s degree for admission to the program. We do not offer a M.A. degree. Students work with faculty to create individualized programs of study that draw upon film, television, and new media as well as offerings across campus in fields like History, Women’s Studies, Communication Studies, American Cultures, German Studies, Asian Languages and Cultures, Romance Languages, Music, Comparative Literature, and many more.
Our students and graduates have found success inside and outside of academia. Our doctoral students have a strong record of winning competitive fellowship support for dissertators at the University of Michigan, as well as from outside institutions like the Japan Foundation and others. They have published widely, in prominent publications including Film History; Media, Culture, and Society; Television & New Media, Flow. Students have been researchers in a wide range of projects, including the Detroit City Study, the Connected Viewing Initiative at the Carsey-Wolf Center/Warner Bros., and the Screen Arts Mavericks & Makers project, a UM resource which includes the archives of filmmakers Orson Welles, Robert Altman, John Sayles, Alan Rudolph, Nancy Savoca, and producer Ira Deutchman. In addition to tenure-track careers as academics, our graduates have gone on to work in academic counseling, public relations, project management. As with any humanities graduate degree, we believe a doctorate in Department of Film, Television, and Media prepares students with skills in writing and research that can be applied widely.
