We offer “direct-admit” programs, meaning students with either a Bachelor's or a Master’s degree may apply to be directly admitted into the PhD program. Students who enter without an MA and who fulfill all the requirements of the first two years of their PhD program may earn an MA degree on their way to the doctorate.
Admission of students to the PhD programs in French & Francophone Studies or Italian Studies is the dual responsibility of the Graduate School and the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee in accordance with the rules of the Graduate School. Applicants must apply online at the Graduate & Professional Admissions website. Students are normally admitted to our PhD programs beginning Autumn semester.
Fee waivers must be requested through the Graduate & Professional Admissions website.
1. A baccalaureate or professional degree (or equivalent foreign credential) from an accredited college or university, earned by the expected date of entry into your graduate program.
2. A minimum of a 3.0 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for the last degree earned. (How to calculate your GPA.)
3. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required only of applicants (domestic or international) whose Grade Point Average from all previous higher-education institutions, when converted to the American 4 point scale by the Graduate School, is lower than 3.0.
4. Proof of English language proficiency is required for international applicants and those who have held the status of U.S. permanent resident for less than one year from the first day of the first term of enrollment. Minimum required scores:
- TOEFL: 19 on each section of the paper-based TOEFL; 79 on the Internet-based or TOEFL Internet-based Home Edition; 550 on the paper-based
- IELTS: 7.0
- Duolingo: 120 or higher
- Note: The Duolingo test cannot be used to exempt an admitted student from the English placement exam or the Oral Proficiency Assessment for Graduate Teaching Associates.
Applicants who are citizens of, or who have received a bachelor’s degree or higher by the time of matriculation from, one of the following countries are exempt from the English proficiency requirement: Australia, Belize, the British Caribbean and British West Indies, Canada (except Quebec), England, Ghana, Guyana, Ireland, Liberia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Singapore, Scotland, the United States and Wales.
For questions regarding completing your application, visit Graduate and Professional Admissions FAQ.
1. Online Application
2. Statement of intent (1 to 2 pages)
3. Curriculum vitae or resume (1 to 2 pages)
4. Two academic writing sample: one in English and another in French (for the French and Francophone program) or Italian (for the Italian program). These documents should be combined and uploaded as a single file.
5. Three letters of recommendation. Recommenders will be automatically contacted with a link to submit their letters when you submit your application. If you email or mail the letters, they must be accompanied by the Graduate School Reference Form.
6. Official transcripts for each college or university attended. Guidelines for submitting transcripts.
7. Students who wish to be considered for a Graduate Teaching Associateship should complete the GTA Application Form and upload it via the Document Uploader. The department’s Graduate Studies Committee will nominate top applicants for a University Fellowship (there is no separate application).
8. Proof of English Proficiency. To be considered “official,” scores must be sent directly from the testing agency to Ohio State. Learn more: English Proficiency Requirement
9. If required, GRE Scores must be sent electronically from the testing agency.
The application deadline students who wish to be considered for a Fellowship: November 30
The application deadline students who wish to be considered for a Graduate Teaching Associateship: January 30
Applications received after this date may still be considered for Graduate Teaching Associateships if funding remains, but students are advised to submit their application as early as possible after this deadline if it cannot be met.
The application deadlines for students not requesting funding:
June 1 for international students
July 29 for U.S. students
Applications are evaluated as soon as all required components are received and the file is complete. Since some components, such as transcripts and letters of recommendation, may take time to be sent out after requested, students should plan well ahead of deadlines.
Once you are admitted, complete the items on this checklist to officially enroll in the program.
Department Chair
Prof. Sarah-Grace Heller
Director of Graduate Studies
Prof. Benjamin Hoffmann
Graduate Program Manager
Matthew C. Lang
Why Ohio State?
- Worldwide reputation and reach
- The nation's most comprehensive research university
- Financial support for students
- Small, selective graduate programs
- Expert faculty, expert students
- Cutting-edge facilities
- Diverse community
- Urban campus in Columbus, Ohio
- Worldwide network of alumni
Learn more: Nine great reasons to choose Ohio State
Take a virtual tour of Ohio State's Campus
Why Columbus?
Columbus has been dubbed a Midwestern style capital by The New York Times and one of the top ten best cities to start a career by Time. A major metropolis and the 15th largest city in the U.S., Columbus is home to more than two million in the metro area. The city has an open-minded approach to life, business and ideas.
Learn more: Columbus: Smart + open
Thierno Aliou Diallo, PhD 2023
"Challenging Clitics”: Examining the Effects of Processing Instruction and Traditional Instruction on the Acquisition of Third-Person French Direct Object Pronouns"
Dissertation Advisor: Wynne Wong & Kiwako Ito (University of Newcastle, Australia)
Placement: Visiting Professor of French, Coastal Carolina University
Alioune Fall, PhD 2021
"From Negritude to Migritude: Multidimentional Resonances of the Concept of Africanness in African Literature"
Dissertation Co-Advisors: Lucille Toth, Adeleke Adeeko (Department of African American and African Studies)
Placement: Assistant Professor of French, Providence College
Kirby Childress, PhD 2021
Queer(ing) Trauma: Understanding the Role of Affect in Creating Visual Empathy through Contemporary French Film and Band Dessinée
Dissertation Advisor: Maggie Flinn
Placement: Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Enrico Zammarchi, PhD Comparative Studies 2019, MA Italian 2021
“‘My Style is Strictly Italo’: A History of Italian Hip-Hop”
Dissertation Co-Advisors: Barry Shank (Comp Studies), Dana Renga (Comparative Studies PhD)
Placement: Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Gonzaga University
Lauren DeCamilla, PhD 2020
"Female Leads: Negotiating Minority Identity in Contemporary Italian Horror Cinema"
Dissertation Advisor: Dana Renga
Placement: Social Media Influencer + LGBTQ+ Activist
Dan Paul, PhD 2019
"Redefining a Gendered Genre: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary Italian Teen Film"
Dissertation advisor: Dana Renga
Placement: Assistant Professor of Italian, Brigham Young University
Brian Troth, PhD 2019
"Risky Business: A Reworking of Risk in the Era of the Post-Post Aids in France"
Dissertation advisor: Maggie Flinn, Lucille Toth
Placement: Associated Faculty, Coffman and Scioto High Schools
Laurene Glimois, PhD 2019
"The Effects of Input Flood, Structured Input, Explicit Information, and Language Background on Beginner Learners’ Acquisition of a Target Structure in Mandarin Chinese"
Dissertation advisor: Wynne Wong
Placement: Assistant professor of Linguistics/Second Language Acquisition, Auburn University
Mackenzie Leadston, PhD 2019
"Theorizing the Comic Object in Classic French Cinema"
Dissertation advisor: Maggie Flinn
Placement: Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Xinyi Tan, PhD 2018
"Exotes en Asie Francophone: François Cheng, Ying Chen, Shan Sa, Kim Thúy, Victor Segalen"
Dissertation advisor: Danielle Marx-Scouras
Placement: Assistant Professor of French and Chinese, Coastal Carolina University
Caroline Noble, PhD 2018
"Mediterranean Seascapes in Contemporary French Cinema: Between Myth and Reality"
Dissertation advisor(s): Maggie Flinn
Placement: Teacher, Ecole Kenwood French Immersion School
Matthew Roesch, PhD 2017
"Les Sensation fortes: The Phenomenological Aesthetics of French Action Film"
Dissertation advisor(s): Maggie Flinn
Placement: Career Coach/Counselor, Idaho PTECH
Darrell Estes, PhD 2017
"Physical and Ontological Transformation: Metamorphosis & Transfiguration in Old French and Occitan Texts (11th –15th Centuries)"
Dissertation advisor(s): Sarah-Grace Heller, Jonathan Combs-Schilling
Placement: Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Dionisio Mingallon, PhD 2017
"Duplicité chamanique et vérité d’une folie dans le Neveu de Rameau de Diderot et Caligula d’Albert Camus"
Dissertation advisor(s): Danielle Marx-Scouras, Karlis Racevskis (Emeritus)
Placement: Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Rachel Elizabeth Willis, PhD 2017
"Souveraines de corps frontaliers: Narrating Quebec’s Insurgent Girlhood"
Dissertation advisor(s): Danielle Marx-Scouras
Placement: Visiting Teaching Assistant Professor, The University of Denver
Paige Piper, PhD 2016
"Deathly Landscapes: The Changing Topography of Contemporary French Policier in Visual and Narrative Media"
Dissertation advisor(s): Maggie Flinn
Placement: Visiting Assistant Professor, Denison University
Ashley Powers, PhD 2016
"The Commerce of Time: The Influence of Thirteenth Century Commercial Society on the Conception and Expression of Time in Parisian Poet Rutebeuf’s Corpus"
Dissertation advisor(s): Sarah-Grace Heller, Jonathan Combs-Schilling
Placement: Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Ohio Wesleyan University
Adrianne Barbo, PhD 2015
"From Post-Cards to Stand-up: Cross-Cultural Representations of the Veil in the Maghreb and France"
Dissertation advisor(s): Danielle Marx-Scouras
Placement: Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Michele Gerring, PhD 2014
"Conflicting Representations of Maghrebi-French Integration in France: a Spectrum of Hospitality from Derrida to Foucault, as Seen in Contemporary Novels, Films and the Magazine 'Paris-Match'"
Dissertation advisor(s): Cheikh Thiam, Jean-François Fourny
Placement: Visiting Assistant Professor of French at Allegheny College
Douglas Roberts, PhD 2015
"The Hidden Ally: How the Canadian Supreme Court Has Advanced the Vitality of the Francophone Quebec Community"
Dissertation advisor(s): Wynne Wong, Danielle Marx-Scouras
Placement: Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Jaleh Sharif, PhD 2015
"France-Iran: dans le sillage du ‘désintérêt’ politique à une fascination culturelle mutuelle"
Dissertation advisor(s): Jennifer Willging
Placement: Teacher, Language Door Schools
Heidi Brown, PhD 2014
"What I Cannot Say: Testifying of Trauma through Translation"
Dissertation advisor(s): Jennifer Willging
Placement: Associate Professor, Loyola University Maryland
Clare Balombin, PhD 2013
"Saints in the Roman de Renart"
Dissertation advisor(s): Sarah-Grace Heller
Placement: Independent Scholar
Anais Wise, PhD 2012
"L’Ironie Merimeenne ou l'art de transformer le coup de griffe en coup de maitre"
Dissertation advisor(s): Louis Shea
Placement: Language Training Specialist, U.S. Department of State
Lisa Bevevino, PhD 2012
"Demis Defors: the Narrative Structure and Cultural Implications of the Contemplation of Death in Medieval French Courtly Literature"
Dissertation advisor(s): Sarah-Grace Heller
Placement: Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Morris
Jennifer Branlat, PhD 2012
"Paris, Female Stardom, and 1930s French Cinema"
Dissertation advisor(s): Judith Mayne (Emerita)
Placement: Faculty, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Adela Lechintan, PhD 2011
"Cinematic Reverberations of Historical Trauma: Women's Memories of the Holocaust and Colonialism in Contemporary French-Language Cinema"
Dissertation advisor(s): Judith Mayne (Emerita)
Placement: Professor of Teaching, The Ohio State University
Andrew Anderson, PhD 2011
"Show, Not Tell: How the Theater of the Absurd Exposes the Violence of Identity in French Postcolonial and Regional Literature"
Dissertation advisor(s): Jennifer Willging
Placement: Senior Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Julie Parson, PhD 2011
"The Tradition of Femininity: Rethinking Sexuality and Gender in 1950's French Cinema"
Dissertation advisor(s): Judith Mayne (Emerita)
Placement: Senior Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Elizabeth Bishop, PhD 2010
"Brittany and the French State: Cultural, Linguistic, and Political Manifestations of Regionalism in France"
Dissertation advisor(s): Jean-François Fourny
Placement: Senior Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Kelly Campbell, PhD 2010
"Film, French, and Foie Gras: Examining the French cultural Exception"
Dissertation advisor(s): Jean-François Fourny
Placement: Senior Associated Faculty, The Ohio State University
Jacob Schott, PhD 2010
"The Kafka Case: Constructing Kafka, Deconstructing the Self in Robert, Blanchot and Robbe-Grillet"
Dissertation advisor(s): Gene Holland
Placement: Academic Tutor, AJ Tutoring
Philip Nelson, PhD 2010
"Irony's Devices: Modes of Irony from Voltaire to Camus"
Dissertation advisor(s): Jennifer Willging, Karlis Racevskis (Emeritus)
Placement: Assistant Professor, Ohio Wesleyan University