Welcome to the page of the M.A. Programs in English at the University of Arkansas. Here you’ll find news about academic opportunities, department events, graduate course offerings, and student and faculty achievements. ABOUT US
Our M.A. programs are designed for students who want rigorous academic standards as well as flexibility in choosing and pursuing their areas of specialization. St
udents can develop individual courses of study in both traditional and emerging areas of academic interest, and they receive hands-on advising from the moment they enroll to the time they complete their degrees. Just as importantly, students also receive systematic guidance in becoming professionally active and in navigating the academic and nonacademic job markets. As a result, our students regularly present original research at national and international conferences and in significant refereed journals, and they have a very strong, and increasingly diverse, job placement record, securing positions as tenure-track faculty members, high school English teachers, college administrators, government employees, and editors. ADMISSIONS INFORMATION
We typically admit three to five Ph.D. students and ten to fifteen M.A. students each year. This year, five students started the Ph.D. program; all of them were offered teaching assistantships with full tuition waivers, and most were offered doctoral fellowships as well. Eleven students started the M.A. program this year; all of them received teaching assistantships with full tuition waivers. TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
The teaching assistants in our department are trained thoroughly in the teaching of composition and literature through workshops, graduate courses, and peer and faculty mentoring programs. Our TAs teach a variety of undergraduate courses, including courses in basic through advanced composition, technical writing, creative nonfiction, and world literature. With approval from the Director of Rhetoric and Composition, TAs can also design and teach original courses based on their own evolving areas of expertise. DEGREE PROGRAMS
In its current form, the M.A. in English is a generalist degree in literature, although students in the M.A. program can choose to concentrate in rhetoric, composition, and literacy. Starting in the fall of 2015, we hope to offer two tracks within the M.A. program—a generalist track as well as a specialist track—and through this second option, M.A. students will be able to concentrate not only in rhetoric, composition, and literacy but also in cultural studies, ethnic and regional literatures, gender and sexuality, medieval literature, or modern American literature. Students in the Ph.D. program can currently specialize in these and many other areas, and our Ph.D. students are encouraged to customize their courses of study according to their individual interests and areas of expertise. students select their classes with guidance from the Director of Graduate Studies and develop their candidacy-exam reading lists, dissertation topics, and research agendas with guidance from the graduate faculty. PROFESSIONALIZATION
While consistently rigorous in terms of the level of research and scholarship they require, our M.A. programs also emphasize professionalization. To prepare students for entering the academic job market, we offer professionalization sessions and graduate courses that cover activities such as presenting conference papers, publishing articles, writing application materials, and interviewing. To prepare students for entering the nonacademic job market, we offer sessions and courses on career options outside of the conventional path of teaching and have recently started offering internships and other types of work opportunities in areas such as grant writing, editing, and nonacademic publishing. Last year our Graduate Students in English organization also sponsored a workshop that featured speakers in advertising, human resources, and the nonprofit sector. If you would like more information about the M.A. Program in English at the University of Arkansas, you can message us through Facebook or contact us at [email protected]. Apply online at http://english.uark.edu/Graduate/MA_PhD/Application_and_Admission.php.
