Program Requirements

D.A. Entrance Requirements

  1. Applicants must present verification of their completion of a bachelor's degree, with a minimum of 24 credits in English or American literature.
  2. Applicants must possess at least a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.0 and a 3.5 in English courses.
  3. Applicants must submit acceptable scores for the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test. The subject GRE Test is not required.
  4. Applicants with an M.A. or M.F.A. in English will receive advanced standing, as determined by the Department's Admissions Committee and the Dean.
  5. Applicants must submit three letters of recommendation, two of which need to be academic letters attesting to the applicant's work as a student. Applicants must also submit a recent sample of written work, as well as a personal statement detailing the student's professional goals.

D.A. Program Requirements

  1. The D.A. degree entails 48 credits of coursework, 6 credits of Teaching Internship and 6 credits for writing the dissertation (Doctor of Arts Research). Applicants who apply with an M.A. or M.F.A. in English can receive up to 24 credits of advanced standing, as determined by the Department's Admissions Committee and the Dean. Applicants with prior teaching experience can also have the Teaching Internship waived. Students in the program must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0; courses for which the student receives a grade lower than a "B" will not count towards the degree.
  2. Students must take ENG 100: Modern Critical Theories, ENG 110 : Introduction to the Profession and ENG 120: Composition Theory and the Teaching of Writing. The student determines all remaining courses.
  3. All students must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language through one of the following: obtaining a grade of "B" or higher in an advanced college-level language course; satisfactory scores in ETS or other University-approved language exams; or completing a two-semester reading course offered by the Department of Languages and Literatures.
  4. A student will be evaluated at the completion of 24 credit hours of graduate work to determine whether or not he or she is qualified to continue in the program.
  5. Doctoral students will satisfy the University Residency Requirement by completing 24 credits in two years.
  6. Upon successful completion of coursework, students must pass the comprehensive examination. The student selects three graduate faculty to serve on his or her exam committee, who then work closely with the student to design three individualized exams centered around three areas of specialization determined by the student. The student, in consultation with on his or her committee, assembles a reading list of approximately twenty-five books and critical essays for each of the three exam areas. In addition to serving as an opportunity for the student to demonstrate her mastery in these exam areas, the comprehensive exam serves as a means by which the student can begin preliminary research for the dissertation.
  7. After successfully completing the comprehensive examination, the student will undertake the dissertation for a minimum of six credits (ENG 975) each semester until the dissertation is successfully defended. Students select a topic that will enable them to apply their learning to an original problem in contemporary scholarship, criticism, pedagogy or the profession in general. An academic mentor and a committee of readers are selected by the student to guide his or her research and review the progress of the dissertation. The completed dissertation must be defended in an oral examination before the committee and must be approved by the Dean.

Credit Transfer

Students who enroll in the D.A. Program may transfer up to 12 graduate English credits from another program, pending approval by the English Chair. 

Coursework and Teaching Credit (54 credits)

D.A. Students must take 3 foundational courses

  • ENG 100: Modern Critical Theories
  • ENG 110: Introduction to the Profession
  • ENG 120: Composition Theory and the Teaching of Writing, OR ENG 130: Theories of Literacy, OR ENG 13: Critical Issues in the Teaching of Writing

In addition, students must qualify for 6 credits teaching experience. This credit can be earned with a two-semester teaching internship offered through the program. Students with two or more years' full-time teaching experience may have all or part of this requirement waived by the Chair.