Sheila H. Hughes, Department Chairperson
Andrew Slade, Graduate Program Director

The English graduate program leading to the Master of Arts degree allows students to concentrate in one of the following track options:

1. English and American literature
2. Writing
3. Teaching

The program accommodates both full-time and part-time students, allows them to achieve different goals, and prepares them for a wide variety of careers. The English and American literature track serves prospective Ph.D. students in literature and students generally seeking greater literary understanding or research skills; the writing track prepares students who go on to doctoral programs in rhetoric, composition, and writing as well as those seeking careers in professional, business, technical, or creative writing; the teaching track provides students with advanced work in the content area for teachers of English.

Assistantships

Graduate teaching assistantships are offered to qualified students in the M.A. program. The assistantship is an apprenticeship in teaching first-year composition as part of the undergraduate writing program. Assistants receive pedagogical and curricular instruction in all aspects of the writing process, preparing them to teach expository, argumentative, and researched essays.  Students making satisfactory progress toward their degree may renew their contract for a second year.

Teaching assistants can also choose to work in computer-mediated environments or participate in special programs such as the Building Communities for Social Justice Cohort. Occasionally, opportunities arise for writing internships with the Department of Public Relations. Awards provide tuition remission for the 30-hour program, a stipend, and benefits. Applications for assistantships are part of the online admission form.

Master of Arts in English (eng)

Normally 30 semester hours are required. Every student both in the literary track and in the teaching track who has attained a grade point average of at least 3.00, after completing 12 hours of graduate work, will take a Diagnostic Examination. This examination will be reviewed by a faculty committee consisting of the candidate's advisor, the graduate program director, and another member of the graduate faculty or staff.

Every student in the writing track who has attained a grade point average of 3.00, after completing 12 hours of graduate work, will begin a Diagnostic Writing Assignment with the approval of the student's advisor. This assignment will ordinarily be completed during the same term in which it is approved by the advisor, and the finished assignment will be assessed by a faculty committee consisting of the advisor, the graduate program director, and a third member of the graduate faculty or staff. On the basis of the Diagnostic Examination or the completed Diagnostic Writing Assignment as well as other materials pertaining to the student's graduate performance, the evaluating committee will make recommendations to the department chair about the candidate's graduate program. Among these recommendations will be the total number of hours that the candidate needs to complete the degree. Exceptionally well-prepared students may earn the master's degree in fewer than 30 hours; students with deficiencies may be required to take up to 36 semester hours of graduate study.

ENG 601 Grad Studies in ENG is required of applicants for the degree. ENG 588 Studies in Criticism is required of each student in the literature track who has not taken a satisfactory undergraduate course in literary criticism and theory. ENG 596 Composition Theory is required of each applicant in the writing track. Students in the teaching track may select either course to fulfill their theory requirement. In addition, EDT 500 Models of Teaching and EDT 609 Iss,Trnds&Res in Rdg are required of each student in the teaching track.

All students must take at least 12 hours of 600-level courses (including ENG 601 Grad Studies in ENG and EDT 609 Iss,Trnds&Res in Rdg for teachers). Students in the teaching track are required to take two of these 600-level courses in literature or composition pedagogy (ENG 621 St:Teaching of Lit, ENG 625 St:Teach of Compostn or the equivalent). Graduate assistants are required to take the one-credit course, ENG 590 Teaching College Eng during each year of their assistantship.

Teaching Track

The Teaching Track is one of three emphases available to students pursuing a Master of Arts in English. Implemented in 2002, the track is designed for licensed secondary teachers who wish to pursue graduate in English. It provides teachers with advanced study in English as a content area to enrich their academic lives and enhance their classroom teaching. Unlike tracks in Literature and Writing, however, the Teaching Track also includes two EDT course requirements- EDT 500 Models of Teaching and EDT 608 The Writing Classrm.