Cultural Studies and Social Thought

Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education

Department of Teaching and Learning

http://education.wsu.edu/graduate/specializations/culturalstudies/

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have a degree from an accredited 4-year institution and a 3.0 or higher cumulative grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale. The GPA is based on the last 60 semester hours of graded course work. A writing sample, letter of intent, and three letters of recommendation are required. Students should have well-developed writing and critical thinking skills. Students should be interested in intellectual research and have a passion for ideas. Students should also maintain a practical orientation remaining grounded in doing good work for their communities.

Program Description

The cultural studies and social thought in education Ph.D. option is a rigorous, flexible, and individually tailored course of study that focuses on the problems of culture and power in the contemporary and historical contexts of education. Cultural studies includes popular culture and media, social justice, environment, ethics, aesthetics, race, ethnicity, gender, and social class, which are applied to a range of educational sub-fields that include literacy, educational leadership, teacher leadership, school reform, curriculum theory, higher education, science, art, special education, and bilingual/ESL (English as a second language). The overall goal of the faculty is to articulate a cohesive and supportive community of educational scholarship and practice. While coursework is important, we work to establish a strong program of mentorship in which doctoral candidates are mentored into the world of research, knowledge generations and dissemination, and pedagogical and social action. We are committed to the idea that our scholarly endeavors stimulate positive change in schools and the communities and society those schools serve. Education, whether it takes place in the formal settings of schools and museums or the informal contexts of home and the movie theater, is defined by its cultural context. Cultural studies takes these cultural contexts as the essential starting point to build research projects and define teaching practices.

Department of Teaching and Learning

Contact Information
Graduate Coordinator
Office of Graduate Studies
Cleveland Hall, Room 252
PO Box 642114
Pullman, WA 99164-2114
Telephone: 509-335-9195/335-7016
Fax: 509-335-2097
E-mail: gradstudies@wsu.edu