PhD in Asian Religions

Admission

A student who wishes to enter the doctoral program in Asian Religions must apply to and be accepted by the Graduate School of Cornell University. Applicants will be screened by the Director of Graduate Studies and chosen by the Selection Committee within the field. Acceptance to the field of Asian Religions is contingent upon the agreement of a faculty member to serve as the student’s committee chair and principal advisor for the duration of his or her graduate studies.

Students with B.A. or M.A. degrees will be considered for admission to the Ph.D. program, although an M.A. degree and thesis is necessary before formally proceeding to Ph.D. work. Ideal candidates will have undergraduate and/or graduate preparation in Religious Studies and Asian Studies. It is also expected that viable candidates will have begun their study of the necessary primary and secondary languages for their chosen field of specialization. Strong applicants with limited deficiencies in any of these areas may be admitted with the understanding that they will address specific areas of competency as recommended by their committee chair.

All applicants must take the Graduate Records Exam (GRE), and most students who are admitted score above 1200 in the combined Verbal and Quantitative sections. GRE scores are valid for only five years. Any exams taken before 2003 will not be accepted.

Foreign nationals, whose native language is not English, must take the TOEFL exam and score at least as follows: Writing 20; Listening 15; Reading 20; Speaking 22. TOEFL scores are valid for only two years. For the Fall 2008 admission cycle, we will only accept exams taken 2005 and later.

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) will send results of the TOEFL and the GRE directly to the Graduate School so long as the applicant indicates Cornell's institutional code on the exam. Cornell's institutional code for all versions of the TOEFL and GRE is 2098. The department code for the GRE is 2299 and the TOEFL is 80. Scores must be submitted directly to the Graduate School by ETS to be considered official.

Exemption from TOEFL: The TOEFL is not required for applicants who have studied full-time for two or more years in a college or university where English is the language of instruction AND the college or university is located in a country where English is the native language.

Each applicant must submit, along with an on-line application, a statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, college transcripts, and a sample of a substantial piece of writing. The statement of purpose, recommendation letters, college transcripts, and writing sample should be mailed directly the the field office at the address below. If the recommendation letters are submitted by the references on-line, there is no need to mail hard copies of the letters to the field office. The Selection Committee will weigh all of these materials in addition to the student’s academic background in making decisions on admission to the field. Applications for Fall 2007 admissions are due to the Graduate School by January 15, 2007.

Because of the high cost of mailing application packets, the preferred way to apply for admission to the Cornell University Graduate School is on-line. We encourage you to visit the Graduate School website to access the on-line application. There is a $70USD application fee for on-line applications. You will also find a downloadable version of the application form as well as links to the recommendation form that should be sent to your three references. Please note that the application fee for a paper application is $80USD.

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Financial Aid

Most students who are accepted into the Ph.D. program are offered a multi-year financial aid package that combines guaranteed fellowships and teaching assistantships. In order to apply for fellowships (which are highly competitive) simply check the appropriate boxes in the "Financial Support Application" part of the application form. Students are also urged to apply for any national or regional fellowships for which they may be eligible, e.g. Mellon Fellowships, Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) awards.

If the applicant is a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident he/she may be eligible to apply for a Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) award. The FLAS awards are administered by the area program offices listed above, East, South, and Southeast. This is an academic year award which covers tuition, health insurance, and a living stipend. Deadlines for the FLAS awards for 2008 - 2009 are:

East Asia - February 4, 2008

South Asia - January 21, 2008

Southeast Asia - January 21, 2008

All application materials for the FLAS for study in South Asia or Southeast Asia should be mailed to the graduate field assistant in the Department of Asian Studies, 350 Rockefeller Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853. Application materials for the FLAS for study in East Asia should be mailed directly to the area program office at 140 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853. For more information about the FLAS awards, other funding opportunities, or for a FLAS application please see the area programs web pages, (East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia).

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Curriculum

The field of Asian Religions is designed to attract a diverse body of students with multiple interests and talents and to prepare them for careers in teaching and research. Given the range of topics in which our students might specialize, no uniform curriculum will meet the needs of every student. Students will develop a program of study in consultation with their principal advisor and Special Committee. Nevertheless, A Ph.D. candidate in the field of Asian Religions will be expected to demonstrate a high degree of competency in several areas:

I. Major Field

Students will be expected to specialize in a religious tradition or traditions within a single cultural zone. Such a mastery will include an understanding of the dynamics of religion (praxis, doctrine, community, etc.) within a cultural context, the study of the relevant language(s), and course work as necessary in related fields: history, literature, anthropology, art and material culture, etc. The major field will provide the student with professional mastery of a given specialization within the academic study of religion.

II. Minor Field

Students will demonstrate breadth of study by subspecializing in at least one tradition or discipline ancillary to their major field. The purpose of the minor field is to provide a basis for disciplinary or area comparison and to broaden the teaching capabilities of our students. The minor field may be fulfilled by one of the following concentrations:

A. competence in a related tradition for comparison with major field (i.e., another tradition in the same cultural sphere or the same tradition in another cultural sphere)

B. competence in a related discipline for application to work in major field (e.g., anthropological/ethnographic training for the study of popular religion)

III. History, Theory, and Methods of the Academic Study of Religion

Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the history, theories, and methods involved in the academic study of religion. Students will be expected to have mastery of the material covered in ASIAN 449 (History and Methods in Academic Study of Religion). Other courses may focus more specifically on the application of a specific approach to a particular tradition or traditions.

IV. Additional Requirements

A. Students will acquire reading knowledge of French or German and any additional language(s) deemed necessary by his or her Special Committee.

B. Prior to the end of their fourth term of study, students will be expected to make an oral presentation on a substantial paper or research in progress before a meeting of the faculty in the field. These presentations will give the faculty an opportunity to monitor the progress of students during their coursework and to suggest courses or areas of focus in which students might be encouraged to augment their training.

V. Admission to Candidacy Exams (A-Exams)

After demonstrating the above areas of competence, students will prepare for three qualifying exams (written and/or oral) in each of the following areas: major field, minor field, and the academic study of religion. A student will arrange for a member or members of his or her Special Committee to represent each of these areas.

VI. Dissertation

The writing of a thesis based upon original research will be considered the most important facet of a student’s training toward a Ph.D. in Asian Religions. A student is expected to structure coursework in consultation with his or her advisor and Special Committee so as to develop the necessary academic tools for producing a monograph-length work, which makes an original contribution to the field of Religious Studies.

Upon completion of the dissertation and with the approval of the student’s principal advisor, a candidate will arrange for a final oral examination (B-Exam) with the student’s Special Committee. Passing this examination and submission of the final draft of the dissertation in accordance with the guidelines of the Graduate School will constitute successful completion of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Religions.

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Placement of Graduates

The field of Asian Religions has experienced tremendous growth over the past two decades. It is in response to this growing need that the Ph.D. program in Asian Religions seeks to prepare students for careers in a variety of academic settings. Successful graduates of the field will be expected to attain a breadth of training that will make them highly desirable to small, liberal arts colleges that may have few specialists in Asian Studies or Religious Studies as well as to research universities and institutes. Graduates will be capable of continuing original research in primary sources and of sharing their expertise in advanced seminars.

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Library and Program Support

Students and faculty of Asian Religions at Cornell University benefit from substantial library holdings in East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian monographs, periodicals, and reference works, as well as audio-visual, microform, and electronic media.

The Wason collection, housed with the Carl A. Kroch Library, contains more than half a million holdings related to China, Japan, and Korea. Wason’s East Asian language collection is ranked eighth in size among university libraries in the United States. Cornell’s Chinese holdings are deservedly well known for their scope and comprehensiveness, and the recent acquisition of the 13,000 volume Maeda collection has substantially increased our Japanese holdings as well.

The South Asian and Southeast Asian (John M. Echols Collection) holdings each represent almost 300,000 volumes. Both collections are integrated within the Kroch Library, along with related Western-language publications, making this one of the most user-friendly Asian Studies libraries in the world. In short, the existing library collections and ongoing acquisitions will more than serve the needs of doctoral students in Asian Religions.

In addition, students in the field of Asian Religions will also benefit from the support of area studies programs, all National Resource Centers that have a long and rich history at Cornell University.

East Asia Program

The East Asia Program seeks to promote understanding and scholarly cooperation between students and faculty whose fields of interest include China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The East Asia Program regularly organizes lectures, visiting speakers, colloquia, films, etc. designed to reach out to all members of the university community and beyond. In addition, the East Asia Program is a major source of funding for graduate students concentrating on East Asia. Students are eligible for academic year fellowships (Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships, Starr Fellowships, Robert J. Smith Fellowships in Japanese Studies; Lee Teng-hui Fellowships in World Affairs); summer FLAS fellowships for intensive language training, and research travel grants (Hu Shih Memorial grants for research in Taiwan, Lam Family Awards for South China Research, China Travel Grants for research in the PRC, and Japan Research Travel Grants). For more information, visit the East Asia Program website at http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/eastasia.

South Asia Program

Since 1953, the South Asia Program has provided a forum for scholarly exchange among students and faculty dedicated to the study of the Indian subcontinent, including the modern states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. As one of only nine National Resource Centers for South Asian Studies, the South Asia Program coordinates the study of several South Asian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Sanskrit, and Pali. In addition, the South Asia Program regularly sponsors seminars, visiting scholars, film series, and campus student groups. For more information, visit the South Asia Program website at http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/SouthAsia.

Southeast Asia Program

The Southeast Asia Program has for the past fifty years brought together students and faculty at Cornell in the humanities and social sciences who conduct research on the languages and cultures of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. With over five hundred Ph.D.’s awarded to graduate students in Southeast Asian studies, Cornell has long distinguished itself as the premier center for this field in the United States. A number of prominent faculty in the Southeast Asian Program have carried out research and directed graduate students in topics related to Buddhism and Islam in this region. For more information, visit the Southeast Asia Program website at http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/SoutheastAsia.

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