Graduate Certificate in Data Science in the Humanities (DASH)

Requirements and Application

Data Science in the Humanities (DASH) Graduate Certificate

In response to increasing graduate involvement in the Humanities Digital Workshop (HDW) and its associated faculty-led projects, we offer a graduate certificate combining traditional humanities inquiry with computational methods and analysis. All graduate students in the humanities, regardless of home PhD program, are welcome to pursue this certificate. A data-driven approach can complement and enrich any humanities field, and the certificate features appreciable cross-disciplinary engagement. Recent projects have been supervised by faculty in fields as diverse as History, Music, German, East Asian Languages and Cultures, American Studies, Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, Women Gender and Sexuality Studies, and English. Our goal is to enrich the analytic skills that students can bring to bear on research in their home disciplines, and to enable them to contribute thoughtfully and resourcefully in other disciplines of the humanities.

The curriculum addresses data management, statistics, text analysis, geospatial analysis, digital prosopography, data visualization and information design. This curriculum will acquaint any PhD student with new methodologies and techniques, and will foster an awareness of the theoretical implications of using them.

This certificate program emphasizes both collaborative research and pedagogical training. You will work on a faculty project in the HDW, a requirement most often filled through participation in the HDW summer workshop, an 8-week program that pairs faculty with a small group of graduate and undergraduate fellows. The collaborative work environment, combined with weekly project meetings and skills workshops, make these immersive summer programs an unusual counterpoint to traditional graduate work. The DASH Certificate also requires the 3 unit course L93 IPH 590 "Digital Humanities in the Classroom", ensuring that pedagogical training accompanies more traditional coursework. See "Requirements" below for additional details.

Requirements: Graduate Certificate in DASH

15 units are required to complete the DASH Graduate Certificate. Most but not all graduate students are able to count 6 units dually between the requirements of the certificate and the doctoral degree requirements. Students should consult with their doctoral advisor and the DASH Certificate advisor to determine which courses may be applied to both degrees.

Certificate Program Requirements (15 Units)

Required Course (3 units)

L93 IPH 590 "Digital Humanities in the Classroom" (3 units)
- This includes assisting in a course from the DASH core (see "Course Descriptions") or in L93 IPH 3123 "Introduction to Digital Humanities"
- Note: this is NOT an MTE. Graduate Students taking this course must contact IPH staff to be added to the Canvas and course pages.

DASH Core: (at least 3 units and up to 7 units)

L93 IPH 530 "Data Manipulation for the Humanities" (1 unit)
L93 IPH 531 "Statistics for Humanities" (3 units)
L93 IPH 532 "Programming for Text Analysis" (3 units)

DASH Pedagogy (at least 2 units or up to 6 units)

L93 IPH 599 "Internship in Digital Humanities" (1-6 units)
- This course may be repeated for up to 6 credits. Students intern on a faculty Digital Humanities research project either during the academic year or in summer through the Humanities Digital Workshop

Electives: Remaining units selected from Elective Courses (more to be added to this list as they present themselves)
*Please note: As of Fall 2023: Graduate students must use the 500+ designation of each course to count for program credit per Office of Graduate Studies (OGS) requirements. See DASH Program Director for details.

See "Course Descriptions" on the Minor in DASH page for the updated list and the following:

E81 CSE 501N "Introduction to Computer Science"
E81 CSE 502N "Data Structures and Algorithms"
L15 Drama 453* "Experiential Design for Immersive Media"
L15 Drama 506 "Topics in Contemporary Arts Research: Famous Stories, Digital Technology, and Critical Making"
L81 EALC 530 (L53 Film 5430) "Topics in Chinese Media Culture: Charting Identity in the Digital Age"
L14 E Lit 5110 (L16 Comp Lit 520B) "Topics in English and American Literature: Predicting a Bestseller: Computational Approaches to Publishing Trends"
L14 E Lit 523 (L98 ACS 5233) "The 20th Century: Critical Making"
L53 Film 5425 "Seminar in Video Games, Gender, and Sexuality"
L22 History 5887 "Advanced Seminar: Digital Frontiers in History"
L93 IPH 525 "Humanities By the Numbers: Essential Readings in Digital Humanities"
L93 IPH 598W "The Spenser Lab"
L87 SDS 5111 "Experimental Design"

Application Process: Graduate Certificate in DASH

Students interested in pursuing the DASH Graduate Certificate should contact the program director. Ph.D. students in good standing a should apply before the end of their second year. M.A. students are not eligible. See Certificate Program information from OGS for further details.

Applicants should write a letter detailing their interest in data science or digital humanities as well as any relevant background; their letter should be supplemented by a letter of support from the DGS of the home doctoral program.
In addition, applicants must complete the "Application Certificate Program" form, which includes projected date of completion of major degree, and student, home department chair and DASH certificate program director signatures.

Once all materials are in hand, applicants should submit their paperwork to the DASH certificate program coordinator.

Upon review, the the DASH program director will make recommendations for admission to the Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies (OGS) for final approval: the DASH certificate program coordinator will submit this to OGS on behalf of applicants.

In order to receive the DASH Graduate Certificate, students must fulfill all the Ph.D. requirements of their home department. The Certificate is granted to the student upon completion of the Ph.D.