Graduate Programs

Trent University Cultural Studies PhD Program
This intensive four-year program has a strong commitment to theory and its bearing in the study of arts, media, and technology. Successful applicants will have an MA in a cognate discipline completed by July 2008 and a defined dissertation project in mind, evidence of a capacity to work independently in a context of ongoing discussions with a range of faculty and peers, and an interest in the innovative nature of our dissertation.

For more details about the structure of the program please consult the website (http://www.trentu.ca/culturalstudiesphd/) including the Year One link. Please direct inquiries, including a brief description of the project, to the program at culturalstudies-phd@trentu.ca.

Bowling Green State University
Now that the academic year is fully underway, many second year MA students across the country are looking ahead and exploring doctoral programs. From inquiries I get each fall, I know that a fair number of them (students in literature, rhetoric and composition, technical communication, and other areas) aspire to faculty positions in which undergraduate writing classes will be an important part of their teaching careers. You may know of such students in your MA program. If so, perhaps you would share this note with them. For, in a very real sense, the Bowling Green’s doctoral program in rhetoric and composition is designed for MA graduates with that aspiration.

The Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program seeks to prepare women and men to be scholar-teachers who understand the professional synergy of mastering knowledge, advancing it through their own inquiry, and sharing knowledge and habits of inquiry with students in the writing courses they teach and administer. In pursuing this broad goal, students and faculty in the program utilize a range of the intellectual approaches (rhetorical, cultural, empirical, political) that characterize the field of rhetoric and composition. Our website, http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/english/rcweb/rchome.htm, has lots of information about the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program (though, like most websites, it is in a constant state of revision and updating). So I will just mention here that the program requires seven core courses -- Rhetorical Theory, Rhetorical History (2 seminars), Research, Computer-Mediated Writing, Scholarly Publication, and a Special-Topic Seminar--as well as a number of additional Rhetoric & Writing electives (or for those with an MA in rhetoric and composition, an optional cognate in an area like administration, literature, technical writing, or women's studies).

I would be glad to hear from students in your MA program. And I would be delighted to find well-qualified students from your department among our applicants for 2007.

Richard Gebhardt
Professor of English
Bowling Green State University
Director, Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/english/rcweb/rchome.htm

The University of Texas at San Antonio
Our Ph.D., now in its fourth year, is unique in its focus, preparing students as well as specialists in cross-cultural, transnational approaches to English language and literature, as well as in the theory and practice of teaching composition. Students are required to take courses in Latino/a literature and cultural studies, and are offered options in a wide array of other courses such as rhetoric, linguistics, and literary theory. Our faculty have been awarded Fulbright Fellowships, NEH Fellowships, Ford Foundation Fellowships, Rockefeller Foundation grants, and many other awards. We are very proud that our students have been selected for prestigious Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships, as well as American Association of University Women awards.

Our program has grown in the last four years, as our university has grown: we currently have 27 students enrolled in the doctoral program, and 90 students in our masters program. We offer a number of fellowships each year, which include tuition, fees, and benefits, along with a stipend. We have much to offer your students, and invite them to visit our web site (http://colfa.utsa.edu/ecpc/), where they can obtain further information, including an online application. We encourage students to begin the application process soon, since the application deadline for 2006 admissions is February 1.

English Graduate Program Michigan State University PhD Program
The PhD program is flexible and responsive to students' research interests. Students have the freedom to organize a course of study oriented toward completing the degree requirements efficiently and maximizing their professional training. To assist students, the department of English has established several doctoral emphasis areas: Literatures of the Americas, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Narrative Theory, Postcolonial and Diaspora Studies, and Transatlantic Modernities.

More info: http://www.english.msu.edu

Graduate Study at the University of Tennessee
We believe that the Ph.D. in English and the Ph.D. with Creative Dissertation offer outstanding training in the many facets of our discipline. In addition to breadth of faculty expertise, we have been cultivating particular areas of strength in Medieval and Renaissance studies, Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture, and Rhetoric and Composition, as well as other nexus points of research. Our nationally recognized faculty work closely with graduate students, providing excellent instruction, mentoring relationships, and research opportunities that develop the intellectual and professional potential of our students.

Our Website explains more about who we are and how we support our students, financially and intellectually, in all of our M.A. and Ph.D. programs.

Graduate Study at the University of Tulsa
Please let me take a moment to introduce the possibilities for graduate study in English at the University of Tulsa. By design, our program is small and intensive, offering qualified students the chance to pursue MA and PhD degrees. In addition, we have now created a combined MA/PhD program which can be completed in five years. We seek to provide generous support for graduate students in the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and editorial internships at the James Joyce Quarterly, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, and the Modernist Journals Project. Although the faculty teach and work in almost all areas, we have particular expertise in British, Irish, and American literatures from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries.

For more detailed information on our program and on research opportunities and support, please consult our webpage: http://www.cas.utulsa.edu/english.

Sean Latham
Editor, James Joyce Quarterly
Director, Modernist Journals Project
Chair, Graduate Committee