Certificate Program in the History of Monastic Movements

Advisor: Jana K. Schulman
Susan Steuer, Interim Director, Center for Cistercian and Monastic Studies
111E Walwood Hall
269-387-8748

The Graduate Certificate in the History of Monastic Movements is open to students enrolled in a graduate degree program at Western Michigan University. The certificate requires 18 credit hours of approved courses, including a Seminar on Monastic and Communitarian Movements offered by faculty of one or more of the participating departments or institutes.

Program requirements

Students are required to receive at least a “B” in the following courses (or in equivalent courses taken at other institutions).

MDVL 6000 - Advanced Seminar in Medieval Studies Credits: 2 to 4 hours
(Topic: History of Monastic and Related Movements Credits: 3 hours)
LAT 5600 - Medieval Latin Credits: 4 hours
Or another appropriate research language.

AND

At least 11 additional credit hours in graduate courses on appropriate topics (see partial list of offerings below).

Intermediate-level reading knowledge of a modern language, demonstrated by examination or by a course (not to be counted among the 18 hours) appropriate to the student’s field of concentration.

Course List:

ENGL 5300 - Medieval Literature Credits: 3 hours
(monastic emphasis)
ENGL 5550 - Studies in Major Writers Credits: 3 hours
(Topic: Medieval Women Writers)
HIST 5500 - Topics in Medieval History Credits: 3 hours
(Topic: Life in a Medieval Monastery)
HIST 6120 - Readings in Medieval History Credits: 3 hours
(Topic: Carolingian Monasticism)
(Topic: Early Monastic Movements)
(Topic: Monastic Reform in the High Middle Ages)
(Topic: Women in Medieval Religion: Nuns and Others)
HIST 6820 - Research Seminar in Medieval History Credits: 3 hours
(Topic: Aspects of the Cistercian Reform)
(Topic: Cistercian Writers of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries)
(Topic: Mendicants and their World)
(Topic: Military and Ransoming Orders and the Crusades)
(Topic: Monastic Hagiography)
(Topic: Monastic Historians and Their Histories, ca. 900-1200)
(Topic: The Spirituality of Medieval Monasticism)
LAT 5500 - Independent Study in Latin Credits: 1 to 3 hours
(Topic: Readings in Latin Literature (monastic emphasis))
SPAN 5600 - Studies in Spanish Literatures Credits: 3 hours
(Topic: El camino de Compostella)