 Department of EnglishLanguage and Literature |
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PhDThe Ph.D. is the highest research degree in American education, designed primarily for those pursuing careers in college or university teaching or in related professions requiring expertise in research, writing, critical interpretation, and scholarship. Basic requirements for Ph.D.s are to master a specific subject completely and to extend the body of knowledge about that subject. Applicants should already possess a Master’s degree in English or a related discipline. Ph.D. students are required to complete 54 total credit hours (24 of which might be transferable from a Master’s degree); pass a three-area comprehensive exam; complete the program’s foreign language requirement; and complete a doctoral dissertation. The requirements are for all doctoral students in British and American literature and those in rhetoric and writing. The Ph.D. program offers coursework distributed over a range of American and English literatures; language, rhetoric, and pedagogy studies; and theory, criticism, and composition. Guided by the director of their committee on studies, Ph.D. students tailor their coursework to fit their particular interests within the program’s general degree requirements. American literary studies, British and Irish literatures, and rhetoric and writing distinguish the Ph.D. program, which also offers an interdisciplinary concentration in Medieval Studies. American Literary Studies: American literary studies provides instruction in the major areas of nineteenth-century American literature, Chicana/o literary and cultural studies, and Native American literature and rhetoric to generate dynamic, interdisciplinary approaches to areas such as: romanticism and realism; Western, Southwestern, and regional literature; early American Indian Writings; Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage texts; nineteenth-century American women writers and major authors; Native American rhetoric and philosophies; law and literature; film studies and critical theory; and American, Chicana/o, and Native American literary and cultural production in the age of empires and globalization. More information can be found on the American Literary Studies page. British and Irish Literature: British and Irish literature is central to the study of the western cultural heritage and the history of the English language. British/Irish literature covers such great intellectual and historical movements as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism, and such major writers as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Austen, Byron, the Brontës, Joyce, Woolf. Students who study this literature learn the early and later development of such genres as poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfiction prose. Its texts, ranging over fifteen hundred years, inform other literatures in English and in other languages. They also help students appreciate interactions that exist among history, social criticism, and literature. UNM’s English Department offers a comprehensive set of graduate courses and advanced seminars in British and Irish literatures, from Anglo-Saxon to postmodernism and postcolonialism. The British/Irish literature group also sponsors special programs, such as an ongoing Irish lecture series and a Medieval Studies lecture series now in its nineteenth year. Rhetoric and Writing: A PhD in English with a focus in Rhetoric and Writing prepares students for academic careers in teaching and research and for consulting positions in industry and publishing. Doctoral students take courses in classical and contemporary theory, histories of rhetoric and language, prose stylistics, visual rhetoric, editing, publishing, documentation, web writing, grants and proposals, theories of teaching writing, cultural and civil rights rhetorics, public discourse, and science and medical writing. PhD students frequently supplement their rhetoric coursework with a literary specialization, and many serve as assistant directors to the Program, working with classroom teachers on pedagogy and curriculum and on outreach initiatives. Concentration in Medieval Studies: This is an interdisciplinary degree designed by UNM’s Institute for Medieval Studies as a PhD in English with a special concentration. Students encounter faculty from diverse departments such as Art History, English, History, Philosophy, Music, Spanish, and University Honors. This concentration has special pre-requisites which PhD candidates should be aware of. Students interested in this field of study will find more information on the Medieval Studies page. The information on these pages is also available in the Graduate Studies Policies and Procedures manual online as a pdf, or contact: Ezra Meier |
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