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English

Program and Application Information
Department Chair:Dr. Gary Totten
Graduate Coordinator:Dr. Miriam Mara
Email:miriam.mara@ndsu.edu
Department Location:318 Minard Hall
Department Phone:(701) 231-7143
Department Web Site:www.ndsu.edu/english/
Application Deadline:To be considered for admission and a teaching assistantship, applications must be completed by February 1 for fall semester.
Degrees Offered:M.A., Ph.D.
English Proficiency Requirements:TOEFL ibT 100; IELTS 7

Master of Arts

The Department of English, through its master's program, offers students the opportunity for intellectual growth and personal development; careers in diverse fields such as education, government, technical communication, law, public relations, theology, business; and studies leading to advanced degrees in such fields as English, law, creative writing, religious studies, and education.The program requires ENGL 760 Graduate Scholarship, normally taken during the student's first or second semester in residence. The department emphasizes critical thinking as an essential approach to the writing of papers, the making of oral reports, and the study of language and literature.

Admissions Requirements

The Department of English graduate program is open to all qualified graduates of universities and colleges of recognized standing. To be admitted with full status to the program, the applicant must have completed a major in English at the undergraduate level.

Financial Assistance

Teaching assistantships are available and are based on the applicant's scholastic record and letters of recommendation. However, the student must first make application to the Graduate School and be accepted for admission before she/he is eligible for an assistantship in the Department of English. Letters of application for teaching assistantships should be submitted at the same time as the application to the program is submitted to the graduate school and should specify experience and qualifications.

Graduate students are awarded teaching assistantships for the academic year only. As of the 2014-15 academic year, the annual stipend is $8,500. University graduate tuition charges (not fees) are waived for all TAs. Teaching Fellowships are available to selected TAs after completing course work. Moreover, the Department of English annually awards the Rooney Scholarship and the Madeline S. Giddings Scholarship ($1,000) to deserving graduate students.

The Master of Arts program offers the option of completing 27 credit hours of letter-graded course work with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better, and a 3-credit master's paper. A thesis-oriented plan of study is also available with variable credit hours of letter-graded course work.

Completion of intermediate competency in one foreign language is required.

Within the first semester of graduate work, each student is assigned an academic adviser who helps in overseeing the student's course work and paper committee. Students who plan to pursue a Ph.D. after completing their M.A. degrees are encouraged to work closely with their respective advisers in choosing the courses which best prepare them for doctoral work.

A graduate student in English should enroll in no more than 3 credits of ENGL 793 Indiv Study/Tutorial, during his/her master's career. Exceptions are provided for through a graduate form signed by the chair of the department and the adviser.

Literature Option

Students must complete:

  • ENGL 760Graduate Scholarship *3
    ENGL 762Critical Theory *3
    Six Credits British Literature **6
    Six Credits American Literature **6
    One course in Composition or Linguistics ***3
    Two Elective Courses (Literature recommended)6
    ENGL 797Master's Paper1-10
    or ENGL 798 Master's Thesis
*

Graduate students in any of the options are strongly advised to take ENGL 760 Graduate Scholarship and, as appropriate, ENGL 762 Critical Theory in their first year in the program. Students in the Composition Track planning to complete their course work in two years must take ENGL 755 Composition Theory and ENGL 756 Composition Research when they are offered, as those two core courses alternate.

**

ENGL 764 Classroom Strategies For TA'S for TAs may be used to satisfy one Composition requirement.

***

At least three credits must be in pre-1900 American or pre-1660 British and at least three credits must be in post-1900 American or post-1660 British. Three credits in multicultural or post colonial literature is recommended.


Composition Option

  • Students must complete:

  • ENGL 760Graduate Scholarship *3
    ENGL 755Composition Theory *3
    ENGL 756Composition Research *3
    Three Elective Courses in Composition **
    One course in Literature
    One course in Linguistics
    One Elective Course
    ENGL 797Master's Paper1-10
    or ENGL 798 Master's Thesis
*

Graduate students in any of the options are strongly advised to take ENGL 760 Graduate Scholarship and, as appropriate, ENGL 762 Critical Theory in their first year in the program. Students in the Composition Track planning to complete their course work in two years must take ENGL 755 Composition Theory and ENGL 756 Composition Research when they are offered, as those two  core courses alternate.

**

ENGL 764 Classroom Strategies For TA'S may be used to satisfy one Composition requirement.

Elizabeth Birmingham, Ph.D.
Iowa State University, 2000
Field: Rhetoric and Professional Communication, Gender Studies, Architectural History, Theory, and Criticism

Kevin Brooks, Ph.D.
Iowa State University, 1997
Field: Rhetoric and Professional Communication, Computers and Composition, Writing Program Administration

Muriel Brown, Ph.D., Emeritus
University of Nebraska, 1971
Field: Medieval Literature, Modern Drama, Women's Studies

Adam Goldwyn, Ph.D.
City University of New York, 2010
Field: Medieval Studies, Medieval Greek World, Influence of Ancient Greek Culture in the Middle Ages

Alison Graham Bertolini, Ph.D.
Louisiana State University, 2009
Field: Contemporary American Literature, Gender Studies, Ethnic Literature, Postcolonial Literature

Linda L. Helstern, Ph.D.
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, 2001
Field: Native American Literature, Modernism, Contemporary Poetry, Literature and the Environment

R.S. Krishnan, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska, 1981
Field: Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature, Postmodern Theories, British Novel, Postcolonial Literature

Andrew Flood Mara, Ph.D.
University of New Mexico, 2003
Field: Technical and Professional Communication, New Media, Rhetoric and Composition

Miriam O'Kane Mara, Ph.D.
University of New Mexico, 2003
Field: Irish Modern and Contemporary Literature, Postcolonial Literature, Rhetorics of Medicine and Embodiment

Bruce Maylath, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, 1994
Field: International Technical Communication, Rhetoric and Composition, Linguistics

Robert O'Connor, Ph.D.
Bowling Green State University, 1979
Field: Romantic Literature, Science Fiction and Fantasy

Kelly Sassi, Ph.D.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2008
Field: English Education, Composition and Rhetoric, Native American Literatures, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Dale Sullivan, Ph.D.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1988
Field: Rhetoric Theory and History, Rhetoric of Science, Rhetoric of Religion, Technical Communication

Amy Rupiper Taggart, Ph.D.
Texas Christian University, 2002
Field: Writing and Rhetoric, Pedagogy, Literacy Studies

Verena Theile, Ph.D.
Washington State University, Pullman, 2006
Field: 16th-/17th-Century Literature, Early Modern Drama, European Literature, Cultural Theory

Gary Totten, Ph.D.
Ball State University, 1998
Field: Late 19th-/Early 20th-Century American Literature, Travel Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature

Emily D. Wicktor, Ph.D. 
Kansas, 2010
Field: 19th Century British Literature and Culture, particularly Victorian Sexuality and Sexual History; Rhetoric, Composition, and Pedagogy; Literary Theory; Modern British and American Drama; Research Methods and Methodology