MLA-MLA - Master of Liberal Arts (MLA)
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Program Overview
The Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) program aims to provide a flexible, interdisciplinary program for returning adult students who seek a broad education in the liberal arts. Begun in 1991, the underlying premise of the MLA program is that knowledge gained through an interdisciplinary course of study leads to intellectual independence and satisfaction not always found in discipline-based programs of study. The goals of the MLA program are to develop advanced critical thinking, to foster intellectual range and flexibility, and to cultivate an individual's ability to find the connections among different areas of human thought: art, history, literature, music, philosophy, political science, science, and theology.
The program is designed with part-time students in mind: seminars meet in the evening, and students complete the degree in 4-5 years. All master's seminars are taught by members of the Stanford faculty. Seminar size is limited to 20 students.
Director of Graduate Studies
Free Form Requisites
Candidates for the MLA degree must complete a minimum of 50 units of course work with at least a grade point average of 3.3 (B+). These units must include a three-quarter foundation course (equal to 12 units total), one 4-unit core introductory seminar for second-year students, at least seven 4-unit MLA seminars, and a 6-unit master's thesis. Students must also fulfill distribution requirements in each of the following areas: humanities; social science or social policy; and science, engineering, or medicine.
Foundation Course
During the Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters following admission to the program, a three quarter foundation course is required of all students, course Foundations I, course Foundations II: the Middle Ages and Renaissance, course Foundations III: the Enlightenment through Modernism. The purpose of this course sequence is to lay the groundwork for the interdisciplinary, intercultural studies the student will shortly undertake. The foundation course introduces students to the broad framework of history, literature, philosophy, political science, and art.
Core Seminar
During the first quarter of the second year, students take the core introductory seminar, course An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Graduate Study. This seminar prepares students for interdisciplinary graduate work at Stanford. Students concentrate on writing a critical graduate paper, conducting library research, presenting the results of their research, and productively participating in a collaborative seminar.
MLA Seminars
Students are required to take at least seven MLA seminars of 4 units each. Each MLA course requires a substantial seminar paper. Students are encouraged to use these papers as a way to investigate new fields of interest, as well as a way to develop different perspectives on issues in which they have an ongoing interest.
Master's Thesis
The MLA program culminates in the master's thesis. Students approaching the end of the program write a thesis, approximately 75-100 pages in length, that evolves out of work they have pursued during their MLA studies. The thesis is undertaken with the prior approval of the MLA program, and under the supervision of a Stanford faculty member. During the process of writing the thesis, students are members of a thesis-in-progress course, course, which meets regularly to provide peer critiques, motivation, and advice. Each student presents the penultimate draft of the thesis to a colloquium of MLA faculty and students, in preparation for revising and submitting the final draft to the adviser and to the MLA program.
Enrollment Requirements
MLA students must enroll for each academic year from the time of original matriculation until conferral of the degree. To remain active, students must either:
complete a minimum of two courses (eight units) in one academic year, defined as from the beginning of Autumn Quarter through the end of the following Summer Quarter; or,
be actively working on their thesis and regularly attend a minimum of three quarters of the thesis-in-progress meetings from the time the student enrolls in thesis-in-progress through graduation.
Timeline for Completion
All requirements for the Master of Liberal Arts degree must be completed within five years after the student's first term of enrollment in the program. If extraordinary circumstances prevent completion within five years, a student may submit a written petition for a maximum one-year extension to the Associate Dean and Director. This petition is reviewed by a committee which makes a recommendation to the Director; the final decision is at the discretion of the Director. To be considered, the petition must be submitted on or before May 1 of the student's fifth year in the program.