Visual Studies Graduate Certificate

The field of visual studies encompasses a diverse range of images and artifacts as well as the history, processes and technologies of vision itself. This certificate will provide graduate students with the tools necessary to think critically about visual objects and experience and to apply that thinking to their ongoing scholarly work. Students will combine the sustained analysis of specific representations with attention to broader philosophical frameworks and historical conditions. Graduate students intending to concentrate in visual studies must be admitted to a PhD program at USC or get approval from the Program Director to enroll in the VSGC. To receive this certificate, students must take  VISS 501 Introduction to Visual Studies: Methods and Debates , a team-taught VISS 599 Special Topics  course, and two other graduate seminars from an approved list of relevant courses, 500 level and above, for a total of at least 16 units. A credit/no credit option will be possible with approval by the director. Directed research may not be taken toward certificate requirements.

In addition to the completion of these course requirements, students enrolled in PhD programs must demonstrate a focus on visual studies as part of their doctoral dissertation. Alternatively, PhD students may and all other enrolled students will take an oral examination based on three research papers they have written within the context of their visual studies course work. The oral exam will be administered by faculty members affiliated with the Visual Studies Graduate Certificate. Faculty will be responsible for judging the adequacy of the visual studies component in the student’s dissertation or oral examination. Students not enrolled in a PhD program will additionally be required to prepare a substantial paper (25 pages) with a deadline to be determined on enrollment in the certificate.