FIELD AND COURSE OFFERINGS

The department offers specialized study in the traditional fields of graduate study in English. In the Ph.D., students not only may specialize in one of these fields, but on the basis of available Graduate Faculty and curriculum may also design a special field. The Graduate Faculty demonstrates strong research, publication, and teaching credentials in both the traditional as well as the more innovative fields of contemporary literary studies. The faculty’s areas of expertise are listed in Section XII of this handbook. Students are welcome to discuss the nature of study in these fields with any of the faculty.

To support these fields, the Graduate Faculty has approved a variety of 500-level courses and 600-level seminars in each area. A regular rotation of all these courses has been established by the Director of Graduate Studies and area faculty, and students can expect that all but a very few courses will be repeated over any two-year period. When the department announces the offerings of graduate courses for the next semester, it also publishes the tentative list of courses for the following semester to assist students in planning their schedules. Under a number of special topics (ENGL 504, ENGL 507, ENGL 607), the department regularly offers courses in developing areas of research and teaching. These courses may be repeated as the topic changes.

All students in the graduate program, at whatever level of classification, may take any 500-level course, and with prior course work OR with the approval of the instructor and the Director of Graduate Studies, 600-level courses. No undergraduate courses in English carry graduate course credit, though graduate students may take undergraduate course work in English or any other department for the experience of the course. Graduate students in English may also take graduate courses in other departments, but they must have approval to include them in a master’s or doctoral program of study. If a graduate English course is designated as a permit course, that permit is obtained from the Graduate Secretary with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.