The Ph.D. Program in the History and Theory of Art is a collaborative Ph.D. program which utilizes the faculty expertise, curricular offerings, resources and creative energies of the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. New technologies play an important role in this program and students will acquire skills in employing technology in teaching and research. The goal of the program is to produce excellent scholars of art history who will be uniquely competitive in the professional world of university teaching, museum and related careers because of their training in technology.

Students specialize in one of the following areas: Arts of the Americas, Arts of the Ancient and Medieval World, Arts of Europe and the Colonial World: 1400-1850, History of Photography, Modern and Contemporary Arts, Theory and Criticism, Arts of Africa and the Diaspora, and Arts of Asia. (The Arts of Asia is only offered through Arizona State University.) The Ph.D. degree requires 60 semester hours beyond the M.A. or 90 beyond the B.A., including a minimum of 12 hours in the major area of emphasis, a minimum of 9 hours in the minor area, a minimum of 6 hours in interdisciplinary courses outside Art History, and a written dissertation. The remainder of the semester hours will be planned in consultation with the student's adviser. Beyond the 36 hours of course work students must take 24 hours of dissertations research. All students will complete the requirements of the M.A. before advancing into the Ph.D. program. Demonstration of reading knowledge of a second language beyond that for the M.A. is required. In this joint program all Ph.D. Students are required to take courses taught by faculty at both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. Students are required to pass a Comprehensive Examination, write a Dissertation, and pass an oral defense of the Dissertation.

Special facilities for graduate work include the works devoted to art within the T. E. Hanley Collection of 37,000 volumes; the Samuel H. Kress Collection of 14th to 19th century European art, including the surviving panels of the Retablo of Ciudad Rodrigo by Fernando Gallego; the Charles Leonard Pfeiffer Collection of American art, consisting of more than 100 contemporary American paintings; the Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Collection of contemporary American paintings and European, Latin American, and Oriental objects of art; and miscellaneous collections, including the University Print Collection of notable examples of the various graphic arts. The Center for Creative Photography houses 50,000 photographic prints, archives of negatives, correspondence, and memorabilia as well as a specialized library of over 12,000 volumes. The University of Arizona Museum of Art schedules exhibitions from these collections and, from time to time, other exhibitions of general or special interest. For additional information please visit our department website.