Archaia Certificate

The Archaia certificate provides intellectual opportunities to graduate students with wide-ranging interests in the ancient and premodern worlds, extending their studies beyond departmental lines and incorporating methods from the social sciences and the humanities. Students fulfill the requirements of their home department, with a course of study individually tailored to allow for rigorous interdisciplinary work via seminars and independent study. The certification is open to graduate students at Yale. For details, see the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Programs and Policies.

2026/2027
Requirements for Archaia Certification

1)    Participation in one Archaia Core Seminar

2)    Attendance at the Ancient Studies Workshop associated with Archaia Core Seminar (if available)

3)    Three additional courses, of which at least two must be seminar or seminar-type courses, that offer pre-modern interdisciplinary study and training outside the student’s field of expertise; these courses can be chosen in consultation with anArchaia coordinator and the DGS of the student’s home department from courses offered across the University. These can be courses that also fill requirements for the student’s home department, and must be at a level that would normally be accepted for graduate study in that department. These courses should expand students’ global understanding of antiquity, and expand exposure to regional diversity.

Submit your application for the Archaia Graduate Certificate at this link.

Capstone Project Guidelines

• The capstone project may take the form of a research paper (approximately 10,000 words), an exhibition, a documentary, an annotated syllabus, or something else of the student’s choosing. The project may evolve from work accomplished in a related seminar.
• The project should demonstrate the student’s ability to conduct interdisciplinary research on antiquity from an interregional, global, and/or interdisciplinary perspective.
• The committee welcomes explicit reflection, in the abstract and in the project itself, of how a project that is interdisciplinary and/or interregional may challenge scholarly consensus or notions entrenched in institutionally separate fields or departments.
   

Schedule

Capstones are evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Advising team members are responsible for responding to student queries or drafts within 10 business days.

• For the capstone project, the student should initially submit to Archaia’s PostDoctoral Fellow and Co-Chairs a written abstract (up to 400 words), summarizing the project and describing its interregional, global, and/or interdisciplinary aspects.
• The co-chairs will respond and/or forward the abstract to the Steering Committee, and give the student permission to
  proceed.
• The Steering Committee will make constructive suggestions to the abstract.
• The Steering Committee will select a team of two readers depending on topic and availability; normally, one of these readers will be the Archaia postdoc. Students may suggest possible advising team members, which should normally be from two departments. Students may propose an advisor outside of the Archaia SC.
• The student will draft the project.
• An interim meeting may occur with the Archaia PostDoc and/or co-chairs, in order to make sure the project is on
  course to a successful completion, and offer suggestions and address questions.
• The student will submit the completed project to the Archaia PostDoc, Co-Chairs, and Keith Mazzadra.
• The Steering Committee will select a team of two readers depending on topic and availability; normally, one of
  these readers will be the Archaia PostDoc. Students may suggest possible advising team members, which
  should normally be from two departments. Students may propose an advisor outside of the Archaia SC.
• The student will receive written feedback from their advising and assessment team and, if the project is deemed thoroughly
  successful, the Archaia certificate will be awarded.

The Core Seminar

List of previous core seminars