Cultural Studies Announces New MA Program

ADMISSIONS ANNOUNCEMENT

CULTURAL STUDIES MA PROGRAM AT SABANCI UNIVERSITY

The deadline for applications for the second and final round of admissions to the MA Program in Cultural Studies, to be launched in Fall 2006, is Friday, 21 July 2006, at 5:00 p.m.

 The Cultural Studies Program is committed to addressing the critical relations between culture, power, and history through multi-disciplinary engagement, innovative research, methodological openness, and critical pedagogical practice. Combining the strengths of the humanities and social sciences, the MA Program in Cultural Studies seeks to become a unique center of research and debate on culture and politics in Turkey and the world.  It also aims to contribute to the ongoing critical self-reflection of the humanities and the social sciences through local and international initiatives. Particular areas of research include Memory and Cultural Heritage; Conflict, Violence and Trauma; Media, Law and Public Spheres; Nationalism and Transnationalism; and Gender and Sexuality. More details on the program are also available at the following address: http://www.sabanciuniv.edu/ssbf/cult/eng/.

The standing faculty includes specialists in Anthropology (Ayşe Gül Altınay, Ayşe Parla, Leyla Neyzi), History (Tülay Artan, Halil Berktay), Literature (Hülya Adak, Sibel Irzık, Annedith Schneider), Political Science (Nedim Nomer), Conflict Resolution (Betül Çelik) and Sociology (Dicle Koğacıoğlu, Ahmet Öncü, Ayşe Öncü) and the program regularly invites visiting scholars in these fields and in others, including Media Studies and Visual Studies.

The Cultural Studies Program at Sabancı is actively involved in European Union Socrates exchange programs, allowing for the exchange of both faculty and students. There are currently agreements with universities in Denmark, Germany, Holland, Norway and Sweden.

Current projects involving faculty members and students include the TÜBITAK-TÜBA-YÖK Funded Research Project “Gender-based Violence: Analyzing the Problem and the Struggle Against It” and the EU 6th Framework funded EUROSPHERES Project.

The two-year MA program offers both thesis and non-thesis degrees. The thesis MA requires eight courses to be completed by the end of the third semester, and a thesis to be written by the end of the fourth semester. The non-thesis MA requires a minimum of ten courses, and a term project.

Applicants with a BA in sociology, anthropology, literature, history, political science, philosophy, or media and communications are particularly welcome, but applicants from any field will be considered. All applicants will be required to submit the following as part of their applications:

●statement of purpose (2-3 pages)

●writing sample (maximum 25 pages)

●two letters of recommendation

●official undergraduate transcript (minimum GPA of 2.5 of 4.0)

●minimum LES score of 45 or minimum GRE score of 610

●TOEFL score of 220, IELTS score of 7 or a passing score on the Sabancı University English Language Assessment Exam

Of those students who meet these minimum criteria, a selected group will be invited for interviews in order to determine the applicants who will receive offers of admission.

All students may apply for financial assistance in the form of partial and full tuition waivers, scholarships and teaching or research assistantships. These are awarded on a competitive basis. Full-time graduate tuition in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences is currently 13000 YTL. Information concerning on-campus housing and other fees is available at http://www.sabanciuniv.edu/eng/?Ogrenciler/Ucretler/2006-2007AkademikYiliUcretleri.html.