The School of Theatre and Dance participates with the faculties in art, music, and philosophy in an interdisciplinary program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Fine Arts. Students engage a core curriculum of 15 hours that emphasizes interdisciplinarity among the arts: four required courses include a colloquium that explores disciplinary formation and types of interdisciplinary engagement, arts histories, arts in a contemporary context, and philosophical aesthetics. An additional approved topics or aesthetics course completes a student's core program. Work within the disciplinary track of theatre ordinarily involves required coursework along with an individualized curriculum that allows the candidate to pursue a professional goal relating to personal interests and competencies. (This degree is detailed in the catalog section that introduces the Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts.) The residence requirement for the doctoral program with major in Fine Arts is fulfilled by satisfactory completion of 18 semester hours of graduate coursework during one 12-month period.