Major Fields or Subdisciplines
Major fields of specialization are Ancient Near Eastern civilization (including Assyriology, Biblical Studies, Egyptology, and Near Eastern Archaeology), Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Iranian, Semitics, and Turkic. Students may concentrate on either language or literature in their selected field but are required to do work in both. In the field of ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the department also offers an archaeology emphasis.

Advising
Students are assigned a guidance committee composed of an adviser and at least two other faculty members whose interests touch on their area of specialization. The adviser is named by the chair to serve on the student's guidance committee. The guidance committee usually serves as the departmental members of the doctoral committee.

New students should make an advising appointment at the beginning of their first quarter. During this appointment, students and their advisers agree on a study list and their future program. In each subsequent quarter, it is the student's responsibility to discuss their plans for that quarter with their adviser and obtain approval for their study list. If a student wishes to make changes in the study list after it is approved by the graduate adviser, the changes must be approved by the department chair or the graduate adviser before the student accesses the online enrollment system. Departmental policy requires the signature of the chair or the graduate adviser for approval of all petitions.

Foreign Language Requirement
Two modern major European languages other than English are required. The choice of languages must be approved by the adviser, who may also require additional language skills in modern and/or ancient languages if such skills are needed for scholarly work in the area of the student's interest. The requirement is fulfilled by one of the following options: (1) a departmentally-administered examination with a minimum grade of B; or (2) two years of language instruction at a UC campus, with a grade of B or better.

Course Requirements
Students who choose a language emphasis for the Ph.D. are required to add a third Near Eastern language to the two that are required for the M.A.

Students are required to achieve high competence in two of their languages and to familiarize themselves with the cultural backgrounds of each of the languages chosen. For language options, see the M.A. requirements section. Those studying Semitics or Old Iranian study three languages.

If the literature option is chosen, the student is required to achieve high competence in two Near Eastern languages and their literatures. For language options, see the M.A. requirements section. Students are required to familiarize themselves, through appropriate coursework, with the history of the cultural area, and the methods of literary research and the history of literary criticism.

If the archaeology emphasis in the ancient Near Eastern civilizations specialization is chosen, students are required to achieve high competence in two ancient Near Eastern languages and must be well-versed both in the history of the cultural area and in archaeological methodologies. For language options, see the M.A. requirements section.

Further details about the choice of languages and examination requirements may be found in the departmental Guide to Graduate Study, available in the department.

Teaching Experience
Not required

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations
Written qualifying examinations must be passed before the formation of a doctoral committee. Candidates in languages are examined in three Near Eastern languages and the literary and historical background of at least two of them. Candidates in literature are examined in the literatures written in two languages within the cultural area of concentration and the historical and cultural background of these languages, with emphasis on one of them. Candidates in ancient Near Eastern civilizations are examined in two ancient languages and in the history and archaeology of the major areas of the ancient Near East.

Following successful completion of the course and language requirements and the written qualifying examinations, students are required to form a doctoral committee and take the University Oral Qualifying Examination.

Advancement to Candidacy
Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)
Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree
Ph.D. students are expected to respect the following normative guidelines in carrying out their program:

1) From admission to the Ph.D. program (i.e., after obtaining the M.A.) to the written qualifying examinations - six quarters.

2) From written qualifying examinations to the oral qualifying examination and approval of the dissertation prospectus - two quarters.

3) From the oral qualifying examination to the conferral of the Ph.D. degree - six quarters.

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination
University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

In addition to the standards reasons outlined above, a student may specifically be recommended for termination because of: (1) a terminal master's degree recommendation from the student's master's committee; (2) inadequate scholarship as recommended by the Graduate Committee; or (3) inadequate progress toward the degree as recommended by the departmental section in the student's specialization.

In all cases, the student's academic progress is discussed in depth by the departmental section that made the recommendation. A recommendation for termination is forwarded to the departmental chair for review and decision. The student is notified of a recommendation for termination in writing.

A student may appeal a recommendation for termination by stating the reasons in writing to the departmental chair. The chair transmits the appeal to the student's departmental section for consideration.