Academic Advising

Who is my academic advisor?

Academic Advising in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies is provided by the Graduate Program Coordinator. Your Graduate Program Coordinator works with you from admission through graduation. The role of your Graduate Program Coordinator is to provide resources to help you achieve academic success including information on: registration, drops & withdrawals, academic policies, tutoring, plan of study (iPOS), and graduation. 

Please contact your Graduate Program Coordinator, Mark Barrios, if you have questions at Mark.Barrios@asu.edu or 480-965-5778. 

1. Program Description & Timeline

The doctoral program has two main goals: to train graduate students for careers as scholars and teachers in the academic study of religion and to provide supplementary training for graduate students in a range of related programs (including history, anthropology, political science, journalism, secondary education, and justice studies) who would benefit from greater expertise regarding the nature and role of religion around the world.

 A. Phase I – Meet Requirements of MA Degree:

The student entering the PhD Program with a previously earned master’s degree may request that 30 credit hours be applied toward the total credit hours required for the PhD degree and begin their program in Phase II. These credits cannot replace core course requirements; they are applied as a blanket 30 credits toward elective requirements.

Students who have not earned a previous master’s degree approved for use in the program will focus in the first phase on earning a Master’s in Passing (MIP). They must fulfill all the requirements of the Religious Studies MA program, including course work, language exams, and either a thesis or portfolio culminating event. Mastery of the Phase I material is demonstrated by successful completion and oral defense of the thesis or the portfolio. For additional information on the MIP, please consult the Graduate Program Coordinator and/or the Associate Head of Graduate Studies, Religious Studies, (AHGS).

All students must complete the foreign language requirement before moving to Phase II. 

B. Phase II – Coursework & Examinations

Students advance to Phase II of the program when the MIP degree is attained. They take 30- 36 hours of graduate level coursework to bring the total number of credit hours on the student’s iPOS to 60+.

During Phase II, students must pass written and oral comprehensive exams and successfully defend a dissertation prospectus.

C. Phase III – Candidacy

During Phase III, students complete all research and dissertation requirements (12 credit hours each of 792 and 799 courses) and prepare to defend and submit a dissertation.

Students enrolled full-time are able to graduate within six years. The Graduate College requires degree completion within ten consecutive years from the time of initial enrollment. 

Click here to view sample timelines for completion of the program.

2. Doctoral Research Tracks

Students typically specify a research track in their graduate application. Students hoping to change their tracks should submit the Track Change Form. This form must be signed by the supervisory committee and approved by the Director of Graduate Studies for Religious Studies.

• • Global Christianity

  • Anthropology of Religion

  • Religions in the Americas

  • Religions in Asia

  • Islam in a Global Context

  • Religion and Conflict: Within each track of study, students may choose to focus on issues relating to religion and conflict.

Click here for a more detailed description of each track.

3. Graduate Faculty

Graduate Faculty in Religious Studies consists of Religious Studies faculty internal to SHPRS and Graduate Faculty from other ASU academic programs approved by the SHPRS Religious Studies Internal Unit Graduate Faculty to serve as Supervisory Committee members. A complete list of the Religious Studies Internal Unit Graduate Faculty can be found on the SHPRS website. SHPRS Religious Studies Graduate Faculty including their possible Supervisory Committee roles (Chair/Member), dependent on the Associate Head of Graduate Studies (AHGS) guidance and approval, can be found on this Graduate College webpage.

4. Supervisory Committee

The Graduate College requires all graduate students to establish a supervisory committee to direct their graduate study. A supervisory committee has three basic charges:

• • Recommend and approve the student’s plan of study.

  • Advise a student regarding the topic and for a dissertation.

  • Administer the final oral examination in defense of the dissertation.

The committee must be comprised of at least three people: a chair and two other members or two co-chairs and one member. An additional one to two members may be added, one of whom can be external to ASU. No more than five people may serve on a committee.

A. Committee Chair and Member Selection

Each graduate student is responsible for choosing a committee chair as primary dissertation director and advisor. In making this important choice, students should consider several qualities of a potential chair: expertise in a particular field, religious tradition, geographical area, time period, theory and/or methodology, availability, scholarly reputation, and the possibilities for developing a good working relationship.

In most cases, students will choose a chair because of that professor’s expertise in a field, time period, religion, theme, or geographic region related to the proposed dissertation topic. Students interested in Buddhism, for example, will normally work with one of our Buddhologists; those studying history of the Americas will study with one of our Americanists. Supporting members of the student’s supervisory committee should complement the methodological and/or theoretical strengths of the chair and bring additional geographical, historical, theoretical, methodological, thematic, or other relevant scholarly expertise.

The student’s chair must be a tenured or tenure-track member of the discipline’s internal unit graduate faculty (the faculty who officially work within the relevant discipline at ASU, not those employed by other units) who is endorsed to chair. The student and the supervisory committee chair work together to develop a plan of study, dissertation topic, and research plan. 

Students have the option of having two faculty members serve as co-chairs (co-directors and co-advisors). Co-chairs must be tenured or tenure track faculty members in the discipline’s internal unit graduate faculty. 

At least two members of a student’s supervisory committee, including the chair or co-chairs, must be internal unit graduate faculty.

All supervisory committee members need to be approved by the AHGS and Graduate College. The supervisory committee’s chair(s) and members should be selected by April 1 of the student’s first year. 

B. Committee Selection Form

Supervisory committee members must be selected by April 1 of each student’s first year in the academic program. The student prints and completes the Committee Selection Form, obtains the signature of the chair and all members, and submits the form to the graduate coordinator, who will obtain a signature from the AHGS. The student must also enter the supervisory committee members on their iPOS.

C. External Supervisory Committee Members

Students may select one university faculty member not affiliated with ASU or their discipline’s graduate faculty to serve on their supervisory committee. To request approval for an external Committee Member, please contact the Graduate Programs Coordinator. The external Committee Member’s current CV and date of birth will be needed. The external committee member can be added in addition to at least three faculty members from within the discipline’s internal unit graduate faculty.

D. Committee Member Change

Faculty listed on the student’s plan of study (iPOS) serve as their supervisory committee. Supervisory committee chair and member changes must first be approved by the AHGS, and then submitted through the iPOS for final approval by the Graduate College.  

The student completes a Supervisory Committee Member Change Request form to request a change and submits it to the graduate coordinator. Students must obtain signatures from the chair, outgoing member(s), new member(s), the remaining supervisory committee, and finally the AHGS. The student then submits the original form with signatures to the graduate coordinator.

5. Coursework

Click here for a list of required courses. Course requirements for each year are included in the Handbooks Archive at the bottom of this page. Please refer to the handbook published in your admission term for policies relevant to you.

6. GPA and Satisfactory Academic Progress

Graduate students are expected to make steady progress towards completion of their degrees. Students must meet the standards and deadlines of the Graduate College as well as the requirements established by the graduate programs, as stated in this handbook, to maintain satisfactory progress in their respective degree program. Students who fail to meet requirements will receive written notice from the AHGS identifying the deficiency and be given the opportunity to meet with the AHGS to discuss difficulties the student may be having in reaching goals of the program. The student’s chair may be included in this meeting. A written plan will be set in place by the AHGS, giving the student specific steps to remedy the deficiency and a time period to complete the plan, during which the student will be placed on academic probation for a specific period identified in the letter.  Students placed on probation may be restricted from teaching courses or being otherwise employed in the department and may lose funding.

When the student remedies the deficiency satisfactorily, the probation will be lifted and a new letter issued stating that the student is back in good standing. Failure to resolve the issue as directed will result in one or more of the following options:

• • Termination of funding, if any.

  • Recommendation from the SHPRS Director to the Graduate College to dismiss the student from the degree program.

A recommendation of immediate dismissal may occur under certain circumstances, such as: 

• • Failure to follow proper procedure set by the office of Research Integrity and Assurance.

  • Violation of the University’s academic integrity policies. 

  • Unprofessional or threatening behavior in a classroom, internship, or any public setting in which the student is representing their degree program, the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, or Arizona State University. 

  • Student’s GPA falls below program requirements.

The student will be notified in writing that they are recommended for dismissal and will be given ten business days to appeal the dismissal decision or complete a voluntary withdrawal. Voluntary withdrawal from the program will avoid the notation of a dismissal on the student’s record. To appeal a dismissal recommendation, the student should follow guidelines set out in the dismissal letter and contact the SHPRS Director in writing by the specified date. All mail and email will be sent to the addresses on file for the student. The student is responsible for checking mail regularly. A student may appeal any action concerning dismissal through the Graduate Council Appeals Board (GCAB).

Students enrolled in the History PhD program are required to maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on the iPOS GPA, Overall Graduate GPA, and Cumulative GPA. The iPOS GPA is based on all courses that appear on a student’s approved iPOS. The Cumulative GPA represents all courses completed at ASU during the graduate career. The Overall Graduate GPA is calculated based on all courses numbered 500 or higher that appear on the transcript after admission to the program. These GPAs are all visible through My ASU. 

If a student’s GPA falls below 3.5, the student is automatically placed on academic probation for one semester with the expectation that the GPA will improve and meet the requirement by the end of the following semester. Failure to raise the GPA and meet other terms set in the academic probation letter may result in dismissal from the program. 

The AHGS may also recommend a student for dismissal from the program if the following situations occur:

• • Student receives three C or lower grades or incompletes in courses taken after admission to the program.

  • Student’s Cumulative GPA, iPOS GPA, or Overall Graduate GPA falls below 3.5 for two consecutive semesters.

  • It becomes impossible for a student to graduate with a 3.5 iPOS GPA.

7. Annual Review of Students

The Religious Studies faculty reviews all graduate students annually to provide students with feedback about their progress through the program and identify concerns the faculty may have with their work. The annual review also provides an opportunity for students to keep their committee members and the graduate faculty informed of their professional activities, accomplishments, and progress toward graduation. Students are required to submit an annual self-evaluation that their chair will use to prepare a presentation for the AHGS and Graduate Affairs Committee.

Each faculty member reviews each student for whom they are a chair. After each student is reviewed, the student’s chair, in conjunction with the AHGS, will prepare a letter reporting to the student their progress, performance, and concerns.

8. Foreign Language Requirement

The foreign language requirement specifies proficiency in the language(s) of both primary sources and scholarly literature in the major field of specialization. The specific foreign language(s) required is determined by the student’s Supervisory Committee, who may require two languages or more. At least one foreign language requirement must be met. Proficiency in reading will be required of all students and will be established by passing the language exam(s) administered through the School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC) at ASU. The SILC examination is required for all students with the language requirement and may include students, subject to AHGS discretion, who have taken courses or reported proficiency by other methods. 

Language exams are offered two times per year by the School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC) at ASU. Exam applications (obtained from the SILC Placement & Testing webpage), with the selected book, must be submitted to the School of International Letters and Cultures approximately one month before the scheduled exam date. Students must complete the Religious Studies Program Foreign Language Approval form prior to scheduling the exam through the School of International Letters and Cultures. The form requires justification for the selected language, exam book selected, as well as Supervisory Committee and AHGS approval. 

 The Foreign Language exam:

• • Must be in the foreign language designated by the student’s Supervisory Committee;

  • Must be a minimum of 200 pages;

  • Must be a scholarly work;

  • May not be fiction or poetry;

  • Must relate to the student’s closest relevant field of study or research (language learning books from foreign language courses may not be used);

The chosen foreign language and text to be used for the exam must be justified by the Supervisory Committee and approved in advance by the AHGS of Religious Studies. This includes re-examinations.

Students will be graded on their ability to translate a short text from the foreign language being tested into coherent English. Translations should include main ideas and important details of the passage. Test results are Pass/Fail. Students obtain a “Pass” grade if:

• • Translated text contains main ideas and important details of the foreign language text;

  • Vocabulary and grammar contain main ideas and important details of the foreign language text;

  • English translation consists of grammatically correct sentences that form a coherent text that stands on its own as an understandable piece of prose.

Students who do not pass the language test on the first try may retake the exam once. If a student fails the exam on the second attempt, he or she must meet with his or her Chair and AHGS of Religious Studies to determine probation toward the degree which will likely result in a recommendation to dismiss the student from the program.

Undergraduate language classes taken to obtain proficiency for the foreign language requirement do not count toward the total number of hours needed for the program or used to meet proficiency in a language.

9. Comprehensive Exams

The Comprehensive Examination is designed to ensure the student’s mastery of the field, including its broader issues, theories, and key findings. The exam also tests the student’s ability to organize, synthesize, and analyze a substantial corpus of knowledge and reading in response to questions posed by the faculty. The comprehensive consists of two parts: written and oral. The examination committee is composed of at least three tenured or tenure-track faculty members who are usually, but not always, the student’s Supervisory Committee. At least two of the three members must be members of the Religious Studies Internal Unit Graduate Faculty. Students entering with a BA are expected to pass comprehensive exams in their fourth or fifth year in the program; students entering with an approved MA are expected to pass comprehensive exams by the end of their third year in the program. Failure to pass exams in a timely manner will result in academic probation, which may lead to dismissal from the program.

Students qualify for comprehensive examination when they have completed Phase II, have an approved Plan of Study, and have completed the language requirement(s). When the Chair decides that the comprehensive stage has been reached by the student, the Chair will e-mail the AHGS (copying the PhD Graduate Coordinator) to request the examination, provide the names of the committee members, and inform the date and time of the exam. Comprehensive examinations can be taken in the fall or spring semester. In order to take the comprehensive examination, the student is required to be registered for one of the following: 

• • At least one semester hour of credit that appears on the Plan of Study.

  • At least one semester hour of appropriate graduate-level credit, for example: Research (792) or Continuing Registration (795).

  • At least one hour of a graduate-level course.

A. Comprehensive Examination Preparation

Bibliographies, reading lists, and conceptual frames for each of the three examination test areas should begin amongst the student and all examination committee members as early as a year prior to the planned examination time. The student is required to meet with his or her examination committee several months prior to the comprehensive exams in order to begin to form a shared understanding of the student's interests and project as well as the role of each faculty within it. 

Each student, in preparation for the comprehensive exams, along with their Chair prepares a reading list covering key sub-areas of the student’s research area and includes major works defining those areas (the sub-areas must be approved by the Chair). The reading list needs to be approved by the student’s entire Supervisory Committee (no formal meeting is required for such approval).

Reading lists are extensive, open-ended, and position the field of study in relation to the student's research areas. Recognizing that there are important publications in each field, the faculty in Religious Studies does not use standard reading lists for comprehensive exams or standardized exam questions. As no two exams are alike, there are no sample questions on file. Chairs can share past reading lists or exam questions, if available as an illustration or example; however, students should expect their exam questions to be uniquely formulated in relation to their research areas. 

Faculty provide each student with a sense of the type of questions they may ask and are explicit about the high level of competence they expect from their student in the exams. A student should have a general sense about what kind of exam questions to expect. Students should have an outline in mind prior to starting the exam and bring their own research interests in conversation with the strengths and weaknesses of the literature in each examination field. Students may want to make reference to different sections of their comps (e.g. “I discussed this in greater detail in Question #1”) to avoid repetitive answers.

B. Written Examination

The written portion of the comprehensive examination is presented through the Religious Studies Comprehensive Examination Blackboard. It consists of three written exams – one for each of the following areas:

• • Method and theory in the academic study of religion.

  • Major world area of study.

  • Major religious tradition of study.

Comprehensive examination questions are released to the student one at a time on specified dates and times during a five-day period. One question is given each day, usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of one week. The student has four hours to complete and upload each response. Students submit their responses through Safe Assignment that is provided on the Blackboard site.

C. Oral Examination

After the student has completed all parts of the written exam and the examination committee has reviewed their answers, the student will undergo a culminating oral exam. The oral requirement usually takes place between seven to fourteen days after completion of the written portion. The oral examination tests a student’s ability to engage in discussion of issues relevant to his or her fields of competence. The focus will be on the student’s answers to the written examination questions as well as the student’s proposed dissertation topic. In cases where some or all of the written examinations are below the Pass level, a strong oral exam is necessary in order for the student to pass the comprehensive examination. The Student’s Chair is charged with convening and administering the oral exam.

Each student is responsible for scheduling the rooms in which the oral examinations take place by coordinating with the Coor Hall 4th floor front desk staffer, who can be reached at (480) 965-5778 or shprsfrontdesk@asu.edu. 

D. Exam Results

The PhD Graduate Coordinator provides a Religious Studies Comprehensive Exam Results Form to the Chair of the examining committee prior to the start of the exam. Examination committee members discuss student responses and record their individual decisions of the outcome on each exam on the results form. The committee Chair submits the completed form to the AHGS for approval and then the PhD Graduate Coordinator submits the outcome to the Graduate College.

To pass the comprehensive examination, a student must score a Pass, or Pass with Distinction, on all written examinations and complete the oral examination at a passing level as determined by the examining committee. When the members of an examining committee agree that a student did not successfully complete the comprehensive exam, the Chair of the committee must gather comments from the other members and write a summarized explanation as to why the student failed and a recommendation given as to whether the student should be permitted to re-take the exam if the student decides to petition to do so. The Chair meets with the student to discuss the report.

Students who fail the comprehensive exam may petition the Graduate College for one re-examination by completing the Petition to the Graduate College form. Students need to obtain physical signatures, at the committee member’s individual discretion, for this petition in the following order: each member of the examining committee followed by the Director of Graduate Studies. 

Religious Studies does not allow a third retake of the comprehensive examination. Failure of the comprehensive examination will lead to dismissal from the PhD program.

10. Prospectus Defense

Students are required to complete a dissertation prospectus that must be approved by their Supervisory Committee within one academic year (two semesters) of the date they passed their comprehensive exam. The student failing to meet the deadline must meet with their Chair and the AHGS to discuss their progress.

A. Prospectus Format

The prospectus explains the focus of the research proposed, its relevance, its location within the wider discourse in the field, the contributions the project will make to this conversation, a time line, a discussion of methods, and a general outline of the dissertation chapters. Students need to confer with their Chair before preparing the prospectus for advice concerning its format. The proposal should include:

• 1. Clear statement of the major research question addressed in the dissertation.

  2. Thorough literature review of sufficient scope making the problem statement fully comprehensible. The literature review needs to provide the reader with a clear and concise understanding of the current scholarly discourse about the major question and shows how the project contributes in an original way to its broader scholarly discourse.

  3. Outline the sources of data and defend the selection of those sources.

  4. Detail the methods employed in the research project. 

  5. Plans for obtaining IRB approval, if necessary.

  6. Extensive bibliography of the relevant literature. 

 Proposals submitted to funding agencies can often be re-worked into a dissertation prospectus. 

 B. Prospectus Review & Defense

When the student completes the prospectus document, the student submits a copy to each member of the prospectus committee and arranges a date and time for the oral defense. Students reserve a room for the defense by submitting a coordinating with the Coor Hall 4th floor front desk staffer, who can be reached at (480) 965-5778 or shprsfrontdesk@asu.edu. 

A Prospectus Defense Result Form can be downloaded here and the student takes this form to the defense. The Chair of the committee is responsible for obtaining the signatures of the committee members and submitting the form to the PhD Graduate Coordinator who will submit the form to the AHGS for final signature.

C. Defense Results

If the prospectus committee agrees that the defense was not successful, the Chair gathers comments from the other members and writes a summarized explanation as to why the student failed and a recommendation given as to whether the student should be permitted to re-take the defense if the student decides to petition to do so. The Chair meets with the student to discuss the report.

Students who fail the prospectus defense may petition the Graduate College for a re-examination. Petitions are initiated by completing the Petition to the Graduate College form. Students will need to obtain signatures, at the committee member’s discretion, for this form in the following order: each member of the examining committee followed by the Associate Head of Graduate Studies.

If the petition is approved, the student must submit the new prospectus by the end of six months (the six months begins from the date that the first doctoral dissertation prospectus defense was held). If the academic unit does not grant the student permission to retake the proposal defense, or if the student fails to pass the retake of the prospectus defense, the Graduate College will withdraw the student from the degree program. Religious Studies does not allow a third retake of the prospectus defense.

11. Candidacy and Dissertation

Graduate students enrolled in a PhD program do not officially become doctoral candidates until they have successfully completed all coursework, demonstrated proficiency in any required languages or skills, passed the qualifying/comprehensive examination, and successfully defended a dissertation prospectus.

Students will receive notification when they have been advanced to candidacy. Notification will include a list of Graduate College requirements that need to be completed for the degree. The student must complete 24 semester hours of research/dissertation credits (12 hours of each) and must pass the oral defense of the dissertation. The student’s supervisory committee will direct the research and writing of the dissertation. Doctoral candidates, at their chair’s discretion, may begin applying for tenure track faculty positions.

Click here for information about dissertations and defenses.

12. Graduation

A detailed list of graduation procedures can be found here: Graduation