Graduate Certificate in Global Medieval Studies

Application due date: September 30, 2024

The Graduate Certificate in Global Medieval Studies reflects new established paradigms in research. For many years, humanistic and social science research focused on temporal connectivity, that is, continuity through time (linearity, genealogy, teleology).  In the last two decades, research focusing on spatial connectivities has led to the development of transnational, global, and connected-history approaches.

The Graduate Certificate program in Global Medieval Studies applies a new “global” research model. It takes up the challenge of regional world systems, that is, of the plurality of early worlds. It provides transdisciplinary training based on exchanging methodologies and epistemologies rather than in the narrative of spatial and/or temporal connectivities. It brings to bear the lessons of comparative history on the knowledge we gain by putting unconnected and weakly connected worlds into dialogue. What are methodologically either cognitive dissonances or concordances are epistemologically a range of shared and global phenomena in an unconnected world. In other words, methodology and comparison connect distinct areas of the globe. Connected methodologies enable a transperiodic (non-continuous) and transspatial (non-contiguous) study of early worlds. The certificate program offers students educational opportunities to explore and apply this new research perspective.

The Graduate Certificate in Global Medieval Studies is administered by the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies and housed in the Department of Comparative Literature.

Eligibility

All incoming or current UCLA graduate students pursuing an MA or PhD in some aspect of medieval studies are eligible to apply for this certificate program.

Application Process:

Admission to the certificate program is competitive. Applications are reviewed once a year. The next application deadline is September 30, 2024.

Applicants should submit (PDF format preferred):

  • A personal statement (one page, single-spaced) describing your qualifications for and interests in this certificate program.
  • One letter of recommendation from your faculty advisor or department chair. This letter should be emailed by the recommender directly to the address below.
  • A copy of your current transcript. If the fall quarter is your first academic term at UCLA, please submit a transcript from the last university you attended.

For more information, please contact:
Karen Burgess, CMRS-CEGS Assistant Director
kburgess@humnet.ucla.edu

Certificate Completion Requirements

  1. Successful completion (“B” or better) of four 200-level classes from the current list of approved courses, as follows:
  • One LAMAR (“Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance”) methodology course (usually in Fall)
  • One course within your primary research area or home department
  • Two courses outside your primary research area or home department
  1. Write an interdisciplinary medieval studies paper (maximum 5,000 words) under the guidance of a CMRS-CEGS faculty member and present it at a CMRS-CEGS Works-in-Progress session.
  2. Attend three different CMRS-CEGS lectures or conferences (two of which should be outside your primary study area). For each, write a 500-word paper discussing how the presentation reflects the unique global research perspective of CMRS-CEGS and the Global Medieval Studies Certificate program.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • I’m not currently in the certificate program, but I’ve already taken some of the seminars on the pre-approved list. If accepted into the certificate program, can the seminars I’ve already taken be retroactively counted towards my requirement?

No. Only classes taken after you are accepted into the certificate program will count toward the certificate requirements.

  • I found a 200-level graduate seminar that I think would be perfect for the certificate program, but it’s not on the pre-approved list. Can I petition to have it included on the list?

Yes. You may petition to have a 200-level, 4.0-unit graduate seminar considered for the pre-approved list. You must contact Karen Burgess well BEFORE the seminar the class is being offered, as the committee will not approve a class after it has begun. Provide as much information about the class as possible, including a syllabus, if available. Please allow a minimum of two weeks for a decision. You will be notified via e-mail of the committee’s decision, and if approved, the seminar will be added to the pre-approved list posted on this website.

  • A seminar on the pre-approved list is offered as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory or letter grade. Do I have to take the seminar for a letter grade?

Yes. In order for seminars to count towards certificate program requirements, they must be 200-level, 4.0 unit seminars taken for a letter grade.

  • I attended a conference hosted by CMRS and would like to count it towards my certificate requirements. How do I do this?

A brief (500-word) paper about the CMRS-CEGS program you attended should be submitted to Karen Burgess at kburgess@humnet.ucla.edu within one week of attending the event. The paper should include your name, the name, date, and location of the program, and a discussion of how the presentation reflects the unique global research perspective of CMRS-CEGS and the Global Medieval Studies Certificate program. If you are unsure if a particular lecture, conference, or other event can be counted towards the certificate requirement, please contact Karen Burgess well in advance.

2023-24 Graduate Certificate Students

 

Miranda Heaner (ELTS)

Amanda Styles (Library Science)

Amanda Styles is a second-year Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIS) student in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. In 2022, she graduated from UC Berkeley with a Highest Honors BA in English and minor in Medieval Studies. There, she wrote her BA thesis on the dual themes of singularity and collectivity with Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love and its modern, fictional adaptations. Within her MLIS program, Amanda specializes in Rare Books/Print and Visual Culture with a particular interest in the provenance and curation of medieval manuscripts and incunabula.This year, she intends to write her MA thesis on authors’/scribes’ relationship with the manuscript as a physical object under the direction CalRBS Director, Robert Montoya. Amanda plans to complete her certificate in Global Medieval Studies prior to graduating in June 2025. From there, she hopes to pursue a career in rare book librarianship, possibly earning a secondary masters and/or PhD along the way to better hone her knowledge on the medieval and early modern periods.

2022-23 Graduate Certificate Students

 

Moises Machuca (Comparative Literature)

Moises Machuca is a fourth-year Ph.D student in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA. He received his BA in Literature and Philosophy from UCSC in 2020. His research focuses on early (pre) colonial European and American Indian encounters/conflicts. He is interested in how Early Modern emotions helped shape European colonial powers, how American Indians thought of each other, and how emotions led to suspicion, violence, peace, and loyalty.

2021-22 Graduate Certificate Students

 

Julie Ershadi (NELC)

Jodie Miller (ELTS, French)