Rhetoric, Writing and Culture
| Program and Application Information | |
|---|---|
| Department Chair: | Dr. Elizabeth Birmingham |
| Graduate Coordinator: | Dr. Verena Theile |
| Email: | verena.theile@ndsu.edu |
| Department Location: | 318 Minard Hall |
| Department Phone: | (701) 231-7143 |
| Department Web Site: | www.ndsu.edu/english/phd_degree/ |
| Application Deadline: | February 1 |
| Degrees Offered: | Ph.D. |
| Test Requirement: | GRE is not required. |
| English Proficiency Requirements: | TOEFL ibT 100; IELTS 7 |
Doctor of Philosophy
The Rhetoric, Writing and Culture Ph.D. degree program is open to all qualified graduates of universities and colleges of recognized standing. The Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing and Culture provides students with employable skills in the area of professional and technical communication. This innovative and regionally unique program invites students to work at the intersection of rhetorical, textual, and cultural studies. The number of positions available in technical communication significantly surpasses the number of new Ph.D.s produced each year by a sizable margin. Graduates from NDSU's program may pursue careers as:
- professors in universities or colleges;
- training and development specialists, user-experience experts, and human-computer interaction specialists in industry;
- technical, scientific, or professional writers and editors in research and development organizations, high-tech companies, non-profit organizations, or government agencies.
Hands-on experience is essential to our program. The Rhetoric, Writing and Culture Ph.D. requires six credits of experiential learning. Students can work with professors or mentors in disciplinary writing. Others opt to intern for non-profits or local industries.
NDSU offers opportunities for students in the Ph.D. program to teach discipline-specific writing, such as writing in the sciences, writing for engineers and writing in business and finance. Ph.D. students are eligible for Presidential Doctoral Graduate Fellowships.
To be admitted with full status to the program, the applicant must fulfill all of the requirements set out below.
Admission Requirements
- In most cases, applicants are expected to have completed a Master of Arts or Science, but exceptional candidates may be admitted directly out of the Bachelor's degree
- Have completed a BA, BS, MA, or MS from an accredited educational institution.
- Have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0.
Conditional admission may be granted to students who do not meet all requirements for admission or have deficiencies in prerequisite course work, but demonstrate potential for graduate study. Such students may be required to take additional courses to address deficiencies in prerequisite course work.
In addition to the Graduate School required materials, applications must include:
- an academic writing sample, not to exceed 20 pages, that reflects the student's academic or professional interests and that demonstrates the student's critical and analytical abilities
- A statement of purpose that includes the following:
- coursework you plan to complete in the program
- faculty members with whom you wish to study
- scholarship you plan to pursue
- a sense of what you hope to do once you have completed a Ph.D. degree in English
- how your education and/or life experience have prepared you for graduate work
- official transcripts from all previous undergraduate and graduate records
- when applicable, a letter stating your interest in and qualifications for a teaching assistantship.
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. The annual stipend is $14,000. 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 ($1,220) and the Madeline S. Gittings Scholarship ($1,000) to deserving graduate students.
The Ph.D. program requires 90 credits beyond the baccalaureate degree and a minimum of 60 graduate credits taken beyond the M.A. and at NDSU.
- Students must take a minimum of 30 credits at the 700- or 800-level.
- English 764: Teaching Strategies is required of all Graduate Teaching Assistants who have not taken a similar class elsewhere.
- Students must take 48 of 60 credits at NDSU from within the Department of English.
- Students with a master’s degree in another discipline may be required to complete additional graduate course work in specific areas of English, as specified by their adviser and supervisory committee.
- No more than 10 credits may be transferred into the program
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Plan of Study | ||
| Core Courses | 12 | |
| Composition Theory | ||
| Composition Research | ||
| Graduate Scholarship | ||
| Critical Theory | ||
| Other Research Methods | 3 | |
| Students select, in consultation with their adviser, at least one of the following methods courses. | ||
| Qualitative Research Methods in Communication | ||
| Rhetorical Criticism | ||
| Methods of Historical Research | ||
| Qualitative Methods | ||
| Quantitative Methods | ||
| Pedagogy | 3 | |
| Students select, in consultation with their adviser, at least one of the following pedagogy courses. | ||
| Qualitative Research Methods in Communication | ||
| Classroom Strategies For TA'S | ||
| Upper Division Writing: Pedagogy, Practice, and Technology | ||
| Teaching Literature | ||
| Additional Courses | 21-51 | |
| Students must take English courses that match their research goals and deepen their understanding of the field. Three additional methods, theory, or pedagogy courses may be taken from outside the English department, as approved by adviser and graduate director. Courses in the category may be at the 600-,700-, or 800-level. | ||
| Usability and User Experience | ||
| International Technical Writing | ||
| Literacy, Culture and Identity | ||
| Researching and Writing Grants and Proposal | ||
| Rhetorics, Poetics Of New Media | ||
| Rhetorics of Science and Technology | ||
| Topics in Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture | ||
| History of Writing Instruction | ||
| Writing: Invention to Innovation | ||
| Research Methods in Communication | ||
| Quantitative Research Methods in Communication | ||
| Theories of Persuasion | ||
| Additional English options: Students with no background in English studies must include courses in literature and linguistics in their plan of study and that topics/studies courses may be repeated. | ||
| History of the English Language | ||
| Social and Regional Varieties of English | ||
| Language Bias | ||
| American Realistic Literature | ||
| 20th Century American Writers | ||
| Native American Literature | ||
| Topics in American Literature | ||
| Medieval Literature | ||
| Renaissance Literature | ||
| Topics in British Literature | ||
| 18th Century Literature | ||
| Romantic Literature | ||
| Studies in American Literature | ||
| Studies in British Literature | ||
| Experiential Learning | 6 | |
| Flexible credits for English 795: Experiential Learning may be earned in the following ways: | ||
| 1) Teaching Mentorship (0-6 credits), may be taken twice. Students work with faculty to read theory and co-teach 200-, 300-, or 400-level class. | ||
| 2) Internship (0-6 credits), may be taken twice. Students work outside or inside academia in administrative, editing, or consulting roles. | ||
| 3) Life-Experience Credit (0-3 credits). Students submit, in consultation with their advisor and the graduate director, a portfolio that reflects their professional experience prior to enrolling in the program. | ||
| Comprehensive Exams | ||
| Comprehensive exams are taken after the successful completion of 72 credits (grade B or higher) and are administered by the student’s supervisory committee, which is comprised of a committee chair and two readers from within the depart¬¬ment. The exams consist of two timed, written exams and conclude with the defense of the dissertation proposal. | ||
| Language Requirement | ||
| Students are required to demonstrate foreign language competency by the time they begin to write the dissertation. | ||
| ENGL 899 | Doctoral Dissertation (The dissertation proposal concludes the comprehensive exams and precedes formal work on the dissertation. The supervisory committee is comprised of the three members of the exam committee, plus a Graduate School Representative (GSR) from outside the department. ) | 15 |
| Total: 90 credits | ||
Anastassiya Andrianova, Ph.D.
City University of New York, 2011
Field: British Romantic and Victorian Literature, Drama, Translation, Pedagogy, Postcolonial Literature, Slavic Literature, Animal Studies
Lisa R. Arnold, Ph.D.
University of Louisville, 2011
Field: Rhetoric and Composition, Writing Program Administration, History of Writing Instruction
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., Emerita
University of Nebraska, 1971
Field: Medieval Literature, Modern Drama, Women's Studies
Sean Burt, Ph.D.
Duke University, 2009
Field: Ancient Jewish Literature, Genre Theory, Ancient Hebrew Poetry, Poetics, Horror Literature & Theory
Gordon Fraser, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut, 2015
Field: Nineteenth-Century and Early American Literature; American Studies; Nationalism and Revolution
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, Literature of the Southern United States, Women's Literature, Contemporary Ethnic and Postcolonial Literature
Linda L. Helstern, Ph.D., Emerita
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, 2001
Field: Native American Literature, Modernism, Contemporary Poetry, Literature and the Environment
R.S. Krishnan, Ph.D., Emeritus
University of Nebraska, 1981
Field: Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature, Postmodern Theories, British Novel, Postcolonial Literature
Bruce Maylath, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, 1994
Field: International Technical Communication, Rhetoric and Composition, Linguistics
Robert O'Connor, Ph.D., Emeritus
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
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
