Italian Studies

Italian Studies – M.A. and Ph.D.

Our graduate program is led by faculty committed to both serious humanistic research and innovative teaching. Since it was first established in 1961, our doctoral program has become a focal point for Italian studies in North America and has provided advanced training for many students who are now leaders in their fields. To date, our graduates have had highly successful career placements in colleges, universities, cultural foundations, and businesses despite declining economic conditions in higher education.

Strong allied programs in comparative literature, art history, medieval studies, Renaissance studies, the center for theoretical inquiry in the humanities, cinema and media, and gender studies, among others, provide unequaled opportunities for the inquisitive mind, as do the Jacobs School of Music and The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Our faculty offer a broad range of expertise, with research ranging from an exploration of the superhero genre to Dante and economics.

We offer financial aid in the form of fellowships and associate instructor positions, generally in five-year packages for students who successfully complete the M.A. degree and continue on to the Ph.D. We also offer a graduate student research exchange with the University of Bologna which includes funding for independent research. Indiana University Bloomington is a great place to study, with a beautiful campus and vibrant scholarly environment.

The Department of French and Italian has partnerships with the Lilly Library of rare books and manuscripts, the Medieval Studies Institute, the Renaissance Studies Program, Cinema and Media Studies, and other programs to offer students interdisciplinary experiences. Upon completion of the Ph.D., our graduate students typically obtain excellent job placements at universities and colleges worldwide.

Areas of study

  • Medieval literature and culture
  • Renaissance literature and culture
  • Baroque and enlightenment
  • Romanticism, 19th century, and the Risorgimento
  • 20th-century literature and its socio-political context
  • Contemporary literature and culture
  • Cinema, media and popular culture
  • Pedagogy

Find more information in our Student Portal Meet our faculty

A note from the program director

Welcome to the Indiana University graduate program in Italian Studies. We are a distinguished faculty comprised of six professors committed to humanistic research ranging from Dante to Italian American culture, from media and popular culture to pedagogy.

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