English (ENGL)

English (ENGL)

JEFFREY NEALON, Director of Graduate Studies
107 Burrowes Building
814-863-3069; Fax: 814-863-7285

Degrees Conferred: Ph.D., M.A., M.F.A.

The Graduate Faculty

Michael Anesko, Ph.D. (Harvard) Associate Professor of English and American Studies
Robin Becker, M.A. (Boston) Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Michael H. Begnal, Ph.D. (Washington) Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Bernard W. Bell, Ph.D. (Massachusetts) Professor of English
Kevin J. H. Berland, Ph.D. (McMaster) Associate Professor of English
Michael Berube, Ph.D. (Virginia) Paterno Family Professor of Literature
Robert E. Burkholder, Ph.D. (South Carolina) Associate Professor of English
Barbara Cantalupo, A.B. (Rochester) Associate Professor of English
Charles Cantalupo, Ph.D. (Rutgers) Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and African Studies
Robert L. Caserio, Ph.D. (Yale) Professor of English
Patrick G. Cheney, Ph.D. (Toronto) Professor of English
Margaret Christian, Ph.D. (California, Los Angeles) Associate Professor of English
Deborah Clarke, Ph.D. (Yale) Associate Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Christopher Clausen, Ph.D. (Queen’s University, Canada) Professor of English
William J. Cobb, Ph.D. (Houston) Associate Professor of English
Phyllis B. Cole, Ph.D. (Harvard) Professor of English
Mary G. DeJong, Ph.D. (South Carolina) Associate Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Richard M. Doyle, Ph.D. (California, Berkeley) Associate Professor of English
Caroline D. Eckhardt, Ph.D. (Michigan) Professor of English and Comparative Literature; Head, Comparative Literature
Robert R. Edwards, Ph.D. (California, Riverside) Distinguished Professor of English
William Ellis, Ph.D. (Ohio State) Associate Professor of English
Richard C. Frushell, Ph.D. (Duquesne) Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Keith Gilyard, Ph.D. (NYU) Professor of English
Cecil L. Giscombe, M.F.A. (Cornell) Professor of English
Cheryl Glenn, Ph.D. (Ohio State) Associate Professor of English
Stephen R. Grecco, M.F.A. (Yale) Associate Professor of English
Caroline K. B. Hall, Ph.D. (Brown) Associate Professor of English and American Studies
John T. Harwood, Ph.D. (Nebraska) Associate Professor of English; Senior Director of Teaching and Learning with Technology, Information Technology Services
Clement Hawes, Ph.D. (Yale) Associate Professor of English
T. Scott Herring, Ph.D. (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) Assistant Professor of English
Charlotte Holmes, M.F.A. (Columbia) Associate Professor of English
Evelyn Hovanec, Ph.D. (Pittsburgh) Associate Professor of English
Kathryn Hume, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania) Distinguished Professor of English
Robert D. Hume, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania) Evan Pugh Professor of English
Nicholas A. Joukovsky, D.Phil. (Oxford) Professor of English
Jane Juffer, Ph.D. (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) Assistant Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Julia Kasdorf, Ph.D. (NYU) Associate Professor of English
Michael Kiernan, Ph.D. (Harvard) Associate Professor of English
Laura L. Knoppers, Ph.D. (Harvard) Professor of English
Jeanne E. Krochalis, Ph.D. (Harvard) Associate Professor of English
Amitava Kumar, Ph.D. (Minnesota) Professor of English
Vincent Lankewish, Ph.D. (Rutgers) Assistant Professor of English
Robert E. Lougy, Ph.D. (California, Davis) Associate Professor of English
Margaret Lyday, Ph.D. (Catholic University of America) Associate Professor of English
Janet Lyon, Ph.D. (Virginia) Associate Professor of English
Ian Marshall, Ph.D. (Delaware) Associate Professor of English
James E. May, Ph.D. (Maryland) Associate Professor of English
William B. McCarthy, Ph.D. (Indiana) Professor of English
Linda Patterson Miller, Ph.D. (Delaware) Professor of English
Dinty Moore, M.F.A. (Louisiana State) Associate Professor of English
John W. Moore, Jr., Ph.D. (Stanford) Associate Professor of English
Mark Morrisson, Ph.D. (Chicago) Associate Professor of English
J. Philip Mosley, Ph.D. (East Anglia) Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Carla J. Mulford, Ph.D. (Delaware) Associate Professor of English
Leonard Mustazza, Ph.D. (SUNY) Professor of English
Jeffrey Nealon, Ph.D. (Loyola) Professor of English
Aldon Nielsen, Ph.D. (George Washington) George and Barbara Kelly Professor of English
Josip Novakovich, M.A. (Texas at Austin) Associate Professor of English
Jon Olson, Ph.D. (USC) Assistant Professor of Writing
Paul Orlov, Ph.D. (Toronto) Associate Professor of English
Iyunolu F. Osagie, Ph.D. (Cornell) Associate Professor of English
Beverly Peterson, Ph.D. (William and Mary) Assistant Professor of English
R. Alan Price, Ph.D. (Rochester) Associate Professor of English
Steven D. Putzel, Ph.D. (Toronto) Associate Professor of English
Elaine Richardson, Ph.D. (Michigan State) Associate Professor of English
Mike Riley, Ph.D. (Ohio) Associate Professor of English
Ralph Rodriguez, Ph.D. (Texas at Austin) Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Peter H. Schneeman, Ph.D. (Minnesota) Associate Professor of English
Robin G. Schulze, Ph.D. (Michigan) Professor of English
Sanford Schwartz, Ph.D. (Princeton) Associate Professor of English
Marie J. Secor, Ph.D. (Brown) Associate Professor Emerita of English
Robert A. Secor, Ph.D. (Brown) Professor Emeritus of English and American Studies
Stuart Selber, Ph.D. (Michigan Tech U) Associate Professor of English
John L. Selzer, Ph.D. (Miami) Professor of English
Alice Sheppard, Ph.D. (Cornell) Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Gayle L. Smith, Ph.D. (Massachusetts) Associate Professor of English
James F. Smith, Ph.D. (Penn State) Professor of English
Thomas Smith, Ph.D. (Rutgers) Assistant Professor of English
Adam J. Sorkin, Ph.D. (North Carolina) Distinguished Professor of English
Sandra Spanier, Ph.D. (Penn State) Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Susan Squier, Ph.D. (Stanford) Julia Gregg Brill Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Suzanne Stutman, Ph.D. (Temple) Professor of English
Garrett Sullivan, Ph.D. (Brown) Associate Professor of English
Toby Thompson, M.A. (Virginia) Associate Professor of English
Tramble Turner, Ph.D. (North Carolina) Associate Professor of English
Anthony Vallone, M.F.A. (Indiana) Associate Professor of English
James L. W. West III, Ph.D. (South Carolina) Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English
Linda Woodbridge, Ph.D. (UCLA) Distinguished Professor of English
Paul Youngquist, Ph.D. (Virginia) Professor of English

Candidates for the M.A. and Ph.D. in English may choose from a variety of courses in literature in the English language, rhetoric and composition, and theory/cultural studies. The M.F.A. in English helps prepare candidates for professional careers as writers of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction.

The department offers a strong college-level teacher-training program, and most graduate students in English have the opportunity to serve as teaching assistants. Students usually begin by teaching basic composition courses, but there are opportunities for advanced students to teach courses in business writing, technical writing, fiction writing, poetry writing, literature, and humanities, and to serve as tutors in the Writing Center.

Admission Requirements

Requirements listed in this section are in addition to general Graduate School requirements stated in the GENERAL INFORMATION section of the Graduate Bulletin.

Applicants should have a junior/senior grade-point average of 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale), although exceptions may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests. Scores from the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Tests (verbal and quantitative) are required for admission. Applicants must also submit three letters of recommendation, a writing sample indicating their ability to do analytical or original work, and a personal statement of their goals.

For admission, M.A. students should have strong backgrounds in English courses: 18 credits beyond freshman composition are a minimum, but the department prefers at least 24 credits.

For admission into the M.F.A. program, students must have a baccalaureate degree (with substantial work in English), a portfolio of publishable student writing, and the intention to pursue a career as a professional writer.

To be considered for the doctoral program, students must have completed an M.A. in English or its equivalent. The records of potential students should indicate promise of superior work in doctoral study.

Master's Degree Requirements

Candidates for the M.A. take at least 30 credits of course work. M.A. candidates must fulfill the language requirement in one foreign language. All master's candidates are required to take ENGL 501, one course in literary or rhetorical theory, two courses in periods prior to 1800, and two courses in periods after 1800. Students are also required to complete a Writing Project that will demonstrate mastery of the field.

M.F.A. candidates are required to take 48 credits, distributed as follows:

15 credits in ENGL 512, ENGL 513, or ENGL 515, at least 12 of which must be in the student's area of specialization
6-12 credits in ENGL 596 for the final project
6-12 credits in electives (400- and 500-level courses)
15 credits in literature at the 500 level
Candidates will complete a book-length manuscript of publishable quality in their area of specialization. All manuscripts will be introduced by a critical essay demonstrating the candidates' engagement with the tradition of and contemporary literature in their area of specialization.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

The Ph.D. degree does not require a specific number of credits although all candidates are required to have completed English 501 (or the equivalent), one course in rhetoric or theory, two courses in periods before 1800, and two in periods after 1800. With the help of departmental graduate advisers, students select a program of small seminars or reading courses. To complete their programs, students must show reading proficiency in one foreign language, pass written comprehensive examinations, and write and defend a doctoral dissertation.

Student Aid

In addition to the fellowships, traineeships, graduate assistantships, and other forms of financial aid described in the STUDENT AID section of the Graduate Bulletin, the following awards typically have been available to graduate students in this program:

EDWIN ERLE SPARKS FELLOWSHIPS IN THE HUMANITIES (8)
Available to beginning and continuing graduate students in one of the following graduate programs: Comparative Literature, English, French, German, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Spanish, and Speech Communication; stipend $12,560 plus waiver of tuition. Apply to department before February 1.

KATEY LEHMAN FELLOWSHIP
Provides approximately $13,000 plus tuition for a year's study in poetry or fiction writing leading toward an M.F.A. in English. The Lehman Fellow will teach one course during the fellowship year. Fellowship holders are eligible for graduate assistantships with a similar stipend and tuition grant during the second year of study.

WILMA EBBITT AWARD
Funding to support research in rhetoric. Number and amount of awards to be determined.

BEN EUWEMA MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Travel funding for graduate degree candidates; consideration will be given to all currently enrolled graduate students in English. Preference will be given to students at the Ph.D. thesis stage, particularly those who need to travel to complete their research; number of awards and amount of each will be determined each year.

FOLGER INSTITUTE FELLOWSHIPS
Penn State is a member of the Folger Institute of Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Studies. Graduate students in English are eligible for Folger Institute Fellowship to study in seminars and workshops at the Folger Library, Washington, D.C.

PHILIP YOUNG MEMORIAL AWARD
Funding to support research in American Literature. Number and amount of awards will be determined.

Graduate courses carry numbers from 500 to 599. Advanced undergraduate courses numbered between 400 and 499 may be used to meet some graduate degree requirements when taken by graduate students. Courses below the 400 level may not. A graduate student may register for or audit these courses in order to make up deficiencies or to fill in gaps in previous education but not to meet requirements for an advanced degree.

ENGLISH (ENGL) course list

The University reserves the right to change the requirements and regulations listed here and to determine whether a student has satisfactorily met its requirements for admission or graduation, and to reject any applicant for any reason the University determines to be material to the applicant's qualifications to pursue higher education. Nothing in this material should be considered a guarantee that completion of a program and graduation from the University will result in employment.

This electronic Graduate Bulletin is a version of the official bulletin of The Pennsylvania State University. It is suggested that users refer to this electronic bulletin when seeking the latest information about the University's academic programs and courses. Printed versions of the Bulletin are also official copies of the programs, courses, and policies in effect at the time of printing.

Last Revised by the Department: Fall Semester 2005

Blue Sheet Item #: 33-07-104

Review Date: 06/14/05

Date last reviewed by Publications: 7/9/07 (link check)