Department of English & Philosophy

GRADUATE STUDY IN ENGLISH
Graduate Study in English Masters of Arts and Master of Science in Education

The M.A. in English requires 30 semester hours of course work without a thesis or, optionally, 24 hours plus a thesis. The M.S.E. requires 30 hours with no thesis. Both programs are designed to give students the opportunity to broaden their academic background and to develop expertise in specialized areas.

A limited graduate enrollment assures a student-professor ration conducive to a mutual exchange of ideas outside as well as within the classroom. The department assigns an advisor to each entering graduate student and makes every effort to draw the student into the scholarly community. When former students were polled, most cited the close working relationship with the teachers as the department's greatest asset.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Graduate assistantships are available for qualified students on both a nine month and summer term basis. Graduate assistants begin either by working in a faculty-directed writing center where they work with undergraduates who have writing problems or by directing writing tutorials under faculty supervision. Advanced graduate assistants may be assigned to teach their own sections of freshman English.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Undergraduate G.P.A. of 2.50 or 2.75 G.P.A. over the last 60 hours or 3.00 in the major.

STIPEND: The assistantships provide a nine-month stipend of either $4,800 or $6,000 and are available to support students who are seeking a M.A. or an M.S.E. degree.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Graduate assistants are expected to work 15 to 20 hours per week for the department. New graduate assistants normally will be assigned to cover sections of the two-hour writing tutorial required of remedial students. Students on the $4,800 assistantship will teach two two-hour sections of the tutorial. Students on the $6,000 assistantship will teach three two-hour sections of the tutorial. The Director of the Writing Center will work closely with graduate assistants.

TO APPLY: Applications for admission to the graduate program and applications for assistantships may be picked up in the Department Office, Wilson Hall 313, or in the Graduate School Office in the International Programs Building. Completed forms should be returned to Wilson 313.

CAREER PLACEMENT

The English Department aids in placing its graduates in teaching positions or doctoral programs. Members of the department assist by writing recommendations, providing contacts, and securing job interviews. To date the Department record has been outstanding: ASU graduates have been employed throughout the country in business, industry, and education. Though we recognize that one of our important tasks is to prepare high school and community college teachers, some of our students have been accepted in Ph.D. programs at such universities as Iowa, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas Christian, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Graduate Study for the Master of Arts Degree with a Major in English

Admission Requirements:
Students seeking admission into the Master of Arts in English must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School and the specific program requirements.

Applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited four-year institution with the appropriate undergraduate background in the field of the proposed academic emphasis and a grade point average of 3.00 on the last 60 hours of undergraduate work, or a 2.75 average on all undergraduate work (A-4, B-3, 0-2, 0-1, F-a). The appropriate undergraduate background must include a minimum of 18 semester hours of coursework, exclusive of any basic education courses, in the proposed field of the graduate major. All courses attempted, including any repeated courses, are considered in the computation of the grade point average.

Students who do not meet the requirements as stated above may be granted admission at the master’s degree level provided they have a grade point average of 2.50 overall or a 2.75 average on the last 60 hours.

1. Applicants for admission to the master’s degree program who have not completed the appropriate undergraduate background will be assessed undergraduate course deficiencies.
2. Applicants from an unaccredited college, who have satisfactory grades and a satisfactory undergraduate program, may be admitted with an entrance condition of 12 semester hours.

All newly admitted students must take a preliminary examination during their first semester of graduate study. (In unusual circumstances, and with the written permission of the graduate adviser, this preliminary examination may be deferred until the student’s second semester of graduate study.) The preliminary examination in English is a proctored, impromptu written explication of a relatively brief poem, the text of which will be presented to the student at the time of the examination. Students will have two hours to write this explication.

Students failing the preliminary examination the first time must retake it in the next consecutive full semester. The examination may be taken no more than twice. Failure to pass the preliminary examination the second time terminates the student’s enrollment in the program.

Courses required of all general candidates:

ENG 6133, Methods of World Literature Study; OR
ENG 6153, Methods of British Literature Study; OR
ENG 6173, Methods of American Literature Study
Twenty-seven hours of English electives (three hours may be chosen from a related
discipline) to be selected in consultation with the faculty adviser.

A knowledge of one foreign language is a requirement for the Master of Arts degree in English. The language requirement may be met by completing the intermediate level of a foreign language with a grade of “0” or above, by achieving a score of 500 or more on the Educational Testing Services examination, by passing an examination administered by the language faculty, or by completing the reading courses FR 3023 or GER 3023 with a grade of “B” or better.

The foreign language requirement must be met before the comprehensive examination can be taken.

Minimum hours required for this program: 30
Graduate Study for the Master of Science in Education with a Major in English
Students seeking admission into the Master of Science in Education degree program in English Education must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School and the specific program requirements. In addition, applicants must have completed a minimum of 18 hours of professional education courses including the requirements for a valid teaching certificate based on a four-year teacher education program. Applicants who do not meet the requirements for a valid teaching certificate based on a four-year teacher education program will be required to complete the undergraduate courses required for such a certificate. These courses may be completed concurrently with the graduate work, but must be completed before the student is admitted to candidacy for the degree.

For unconditional admission, academic proficiency must be established through satisfaction of either of the following admission selection criteria:

1. A minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.00 (or 3.25 on the last 60 hours) and a raw score of at least 30 on the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) or a minimum score of 790 on the combined verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
2. A minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 2.75 (or 3.00 on the last 60 hours) and a raw score of at least 35 on the MAT or a minimum score of 820 on the combined verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE.

For conditional admission, academic proficiency must be established through satisfaction of either of the following admission selection criteria:

1. The total undergraduate GPA is 2.50 AND when the undergraduate GPA is multiplied by 10 and then multiplied by the MAT score the total is at least 600.
2. The total undergraduate GPA is 2.50 AND when the undergraduate GPA is multiplied by the GRE score the total is at least 1850.

All newly admitted students must take a preliminary examination during their first semester of graduate study. (In unusual circumstances, and with the written permission of the graduate adviser, this preliminary examination may be deferred until the student's second semester of graduate study.) The preliminary examination may be deferred until the student's second written explication of a relatively brief poem, the test of which will be presented to the student at the time of examination. Students will have two hours to write the explication.

Students failing the preliminary examination the first time must retake it in the next consecutive full semester. The examination may be taken no more than twice. Failure to pass the preliminary examination the second time terminates the student's enrollment in the program.

Courses required of all candidates:

Core of Professional Education Courses:

Nine hours of Professional Education for Secondary Teaching Fields as listed on page
91 of the Graduate Bulletin.

Courses in the Major Field:

Three hours from the following courses:
ENG 5023, Advanced Creative Writing
ENG 5083, Introduction to Linguistics
ENG 6013, Seminar: Composition Theory
ENG 6533, Teaching Writing in the Schools

Three hours from the following courses:
ENG 6133, Methods of World Literature Study
ENG 6153, Methods of British Literature Study
ENG 6173, Methods of American Literature Study
Fifteen hours of English electives
Minimum hours required for this program: 30
 

For Information Write:

Director of Graduate Studies
English
Box 1890
State University, AR 72467

The Graduate Faculty in English

Jerry Ball (Ph.D. Tennessee)
Medieval Literature, Linguistics

Catherine Calloway (Ph.D. South Florida)
Director of Graduate Studies
Vietnam War Literature, American Literature

Deborah Chappel (Ph.D., Duke)
Southern Literature, Gender Studies

William Clements (Ph. D., Indiana)
Mythology, Folklore, Native American Literature

Janelle Collins (Ph.D., Washington State University)
Minority Literature

Jeane Harris (Ph.D., Texas Christian University)
Composition Theory, Feminist Studies

Cyndy Hendershot (Ph.D., Texas Tech University)
Gender Studies, Popular Literature, Critical Theory

Jeffrey Hoeper (Ph.D., Michigan State)
Modern Drama, Romantic Literature

George Horneker (Ph.D., Mississippi)
Victorian Literature, Restoration Literature

Robert Lamm (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma)
Composition, Secondary Education

Rick Lott (Ph.D., Florida State)
Creative Writing

Frances Malpezzi (Ph.D., Nebraska)
Renaissance Literature, Feminist Studies

Bryan Moore (Ph.D., Texas Christian University)
Composition

Wayne Narey (Ph.D., CUNY)
Shakespeare

Robert Schichler (Ph.D., SUNY)
Medieval Literature

Victoria Spaniol (Ph.D., Southwestern Louisiana)
Victorian Literature, English Education

Michael Spikes (Ph.D., Indiana)
Critical Theory, Comparative Literature

Norman Stafford (Ph.D., Chicago)
Early American Literature, Composition Theory

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Professor Catherine Calloway Wilson Hall, Room 320 972-3043