Welcome to Comparative Literature at UC Santa Barbara!
Our doctoral program offers graduates a uniquely open degree structure. Our students carry out research at the crossroads of disciplines and practice the methods and theories of Comparative Literature, taking courses in departments across campus and developing their professional skills and disciplinary knowledge through our innovative Field Exam system. We offer a graduate Emphasis in Translation Studies and our graduate students can also choose from six additional graduate emphases. Alumni from our graduate program have secured research positions, teaching appointments, and post-doctoral fellowships in humanities departments at Dartmouth, Harvard, Rutgers, CU Boulder, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, Yale and many other outstanding colleges and universities around the country and world.
Our undergraduates benefit from the opportunity to work closely with faculty in their fields of study, explore the interactions of literary cultures across borders, and take courses in the literatures of the world on such topics such as "Global Humanities," "World Literature and Cognitive Science," "Children’s Literature," "Fantasy and the Fantastic," and "the Jewish Graphic Novel." We also offer an innovative Minor in Translation Studies.