Our M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees
Our programs promote innovative approaches to the study of literature, culture, and film that cut across traditional periods and national and disciplinary boundaries. Comprised of a diverse faculty who publish in literary, cultural, visual, and ethnic studies, the Department of English fosters rigorous intellectual exchange in and out of the classroom, as well as with scholars from other universities through our Research Workshops.
Our Graduate Programs Offer:
- A critical understanding of the various methods and theoretical approaches to the field, as well as thorough knowledge of literary canons and traditions
- Opportunities to interpret and analyze texts, genres, and media
- Training in research and writing for expert audiences
- Training in the teaching of college literature and critical thinking
- Training in the Digital Humanities
Current Research
Cultural BiFocals
Sheng-mei Ma, professor of English, investigates the “subtle art of propaganda” in Cultural Bifocals on Chinese TV Series and Diaspora Fiction (Routledge, 2025) and China Pop! Pop Culture, Propaganda, Pacific Pop-Ups (Ohio State, 2024).
Leading Generously
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, University Distinguished Professor of English and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Arts and Letters, proposes a university leadership from below in Leading Generously: Tools for Transformation (Johns Hopkins, 2024).
Global Film Color
Joshua Yumibe, Research Foundation Professor of Film Studies, explores the “double valence” of film color technologies in Global Film Color: The Monopack Revolution at Midcentury (coedited with Sarah Street; Rutgers, 2024).
Gift and Grit
Joseph Darda, professor of English, takes on the American sports obsession in Gift and Grit: Race, Sports, and the Construction of Social Debt (Cambridge, 2025).
Queer Kinship after Wilde
Kristin Mahoney, professor of English, explores the queer Victorianism of modern art and literature in Queer Kinship after Wilde: Transnational Decadence and the Family (Cambridge, 2022).
Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran
Kaveh Askari, professor and director of Film Studies, traces the “object life of cinema” in Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran: Material Cultures in Transit (California, 2022).
OUr Grad students
Doctoral Placements
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE & COMPUTATIONAL CRITIQUE
In the fall of 2018, Dr. Laura McGrath (PhD 2018) was appointed Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, and Assistant Director of the Literary Lab. Next fall, she will begin her new job as Assistant Professor of English at Temple University
ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES AND POSTCOLONIAL ECOCRITICISM
In the fall of 2019, Dr. Cajetan Iheka (PhD 2015) was appointed Associate Professor at Yale University, moving from his prior position as Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama.
VIDEO GAMES, NARRATIVE, & SEXUALITY
In the fall of 2019, Dr. Cody Mejeur (PhD 2019) was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Game Studies in the Department of Media Study at the University of Buffalo.
Early modern literature and sexuality studies
In the fall of 2018, Dr. Abdulhamit Arvas was appointed Assistant Professor of Theater in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is also affiliated with the English Department.
Certifications & Specializations
Certifications & Specializations
- New in 2019: Certificate in Film Studies
- Certificate in College Teaching
- Certificate in the Digital Humanities
- Certificate in Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Specialization in Women and Gender
- Specialization in Animal Studies: Social Science and Humanities Perspectives
In-House Journals
CR: The New Centennial Review is devoted to comparative studies of the Americas that suggest possibilities for a different future.
The Journal of Popular Culture continues to break down the barriers between so-called “low” and “high” culture and focuses on filling in the gaps that a neglect of popular culture has left in our understanding of the workings of society.
Contagion is the journal of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R), an international association of scholars founded in 1990 and dedicated to the exploration, criticism, and development of René Girard’s mimetic model of the relationship between violence and religion in the genesis and maintenance of culture.