Department of Dance
REVIEW CALENDAR - MFA Handbook
1. All MFA students are reviewed by the dance faculty in the spring semester of their first year. Faculty assesses students’ progress and promise in their degree program, and makes recommendations for improvement. Students receive a letter from the Graduate Coordinator reporting faculty recommendations after May 15.
2. MFA students submit a portfolio of their work to the Graduate Coordinator on DECEMBER 1 of their second year. Materials that must be submitted as part of the review, including questions that must be answered, are included in the Graduate Handbook. The Graduate Committee may decide to pass a student into MFA candidacy, or decide that the student should complete study with a MA degree, concentrating in choreography. Students will be notified of this decision in writing on or before after DECEMBER 15. Students completing with a MA should form a committee and finalize a project no later than JANUARY 30.
3. MFA students passing into candidacy will form a project committee no later than MARCH 15 of their second year. Each student will invite three members of the UNCG Graduate Dance Faculty to serve as members of his/her committee, designating one as chair. Project proposal requirements and the required signature sheet are included in the Graduate Handbook. When asking committee members to sign your signature sheet, it is important to tell them the intent of the project and any specific tasks you envision for them as committee members. A copy of this document must be turned in to the Graduate Coordinator. The Committee will assist the student in developing a final project proposal of size and scope appropriate for six hours of graduate credit. Committee heads must report approval of the final project using the Proposal Acceptance Sheet, with copies distributed to the student, and Graduate Coordinator. The project is completed in Fall or Spring of the third year of study.
4. MFA students will schedule a formal defense of their project, in the weeks following its completion. The defense must be carefully scheduled to allow time for faculty to read writings, and for revisions of written documents before graduation. Defenses may be open to interested members of the department for observation, at the discretion of the student. Committee chairs must write a formal letter noting the date of the defense and its outcome, distributing copies to the student and the Graduate Coordinator.
5. MFA students must submit copies of their culminating work as follows before they can be cleared for graduation. Depending on the format of their concert or project, MFA students may have records of their work on videotape or DVD and in written form. MFA students whose culminating work consists of a performance in the UNCG Dance Theatre should turn in two copies of their programs to the Graduate Coordinator and double check with the Technical Director to see that copies of their work have been submitted to the Teaching and Learning Center and our departmental video archive. MFA choreography students electing to do final projects must submit two copies of any written work to the Graduate Coordinator. (Submit research reports or other documents created as part of the project, but not journals or other documents prepared for the project defense.) If MFA students show their choreography somewhere other than the UNCG Dance Theatre as part of their culminating work, two video or DVD copies of these performances should also be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator.