Pursuing Doctoral Work in Ancient Art and Archaeology at UC Irvine.
Students interested specializing in ancient art and archaeology should apply through UCI’s Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies, which serves as UCI’s interdisciplinary hub for graduate work in the art and archaeology of the premodern world. Visual Studies trains students in a variety of disciplinary approaches, from traditional art historical and archaeological methodologies, to cutting edge theoretical and technological approaches. Once enrolled, students focusing on ancient Iran join the endowed Graduate Specialization in Ancient Iran and the Premodern Persianate World, which is University of California, Irvine’s interdisciplinary program for graduate study in Iranian Studies coordinating graduate study for students in a variety of different programs. In addition to Persia and the ancient Iranian world, the Ph.D. Program’s faculty include specialists in the Persianate visual cultures of medieval South and Central Asia, Byzantium, and Greek and Roman art and archaeology. Students are encouraged to work with faculty across the university and will benefit from the Jordan Center’s ancient Iranian language courses and scholarly programing as well as resources in Classics and History. For students of art and archaeology, Southern California boasts several world-class museums with collections and scholarly programming in the ancient and medieval worlds, including most notably, the Getty and LACMA. Visual Studies has developed special internship programs for its PhD students at these and other museums nationwide, such as the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The yearly admissions deadline is December 1st: The program admit students, with BAs or MAs, directly into the PhD program in small cohorts with competitive multi-year funding packages. I encourage all prospective students who intend to work on the ancient world to contact me to let me know about their potential research interests and preparation before applying.
Funding: Students accepted to work in ancient Iranian art and archaeology are eligible for one of two endowed fellowships: the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Graduate Fellowship in Ancient Iranian Studies, which is reserved exclusively for students advised or co-advised by the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Presidential Chair, and the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Graduate Fellowship in the Study of the Persian/Iranian World. The second fellowship is open to students studying the Iranian world in any time period or discipline, in any UCI Ph.D. program and advisor that participates in the program.
For more information visit the Visual Studies, Iranian Studies Specialization and Graduate Division websites. All applications must be submitted through UCI’s online portal to be considered for admission and are automatically considered for fellowship awards. For more information about University of California, Irvine’s resources in Iranian Studies, click here.
