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Detailed Information

Programs of Study

The Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in English at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) prepares graduates for careers in the field of higher education as scholars and educators, with course work, qualifying examinations, and dissertations in the full range of literary areas, including critical theory, cultural studies, and rhetoric and composition.

Students benefit from a wide range of specializations, including medieval and Renaissance literature, British literature (eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries), American literature (nineteenth century and modern), literary theory, cultural studies, gender studies, writing studies, and popular culture.

The Department of English also maintains a highly regarded Irish and Irish immigration studies program that is complemented by Morris Library’s special collections of internationally recognized manuscript and archival holdings and that affords graduate students the opportunity for study abroad at the University College, Galway.

The Ph.D. program is designed as a four- to five-year program for full-time students. Its residency requirement is satisfied by completion of 24 semester hours of graduate credit before the qualifying examinations followed by 24 semester hours of dissertation credit. The doctoral program maintains a research-tool requirement consisting of two foreign languages or one foreign language and course work in a field of study directly related to the dissertation. The doctoral student’s course work is developed in consultation with an advisory committee to suit his or her particular needs. Qualifying examinations cover one major and two minor areas of study as chosen by the student in consultation with the committee. Upon successful completion of the examinations, the student is advanced to candidacy and proceeds directly to the dissertation prospectus and writing the dissertation. Once the dissertation is completed, the student presents an oral defense of the dissertation before the committee, including any designated outside readers. A successful defense means that the student has completed all requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

Research Facilities

SIUC’s Morris Library contains more than 2.5 million volumes, 3 million microfilms, and more than 12,000 current serial subscriptions. Library users have electronic access to a statewide automated catalog system and nearly 600 electronic data files and CD-ROM products via workstations located throughout the building. The library’s special collections are extensive in areas pertinent to graduate students and research and include papers, manuscripts, letters, and research materials in American and British expatriate literature; twentieth-century philosophy, especially John Dewey and the Open Court press; the Irish literary renaissance; literary modernism, with an especially strong collection of James Joyce materials; and proletariat theater. The Humanities Library is particularly rich in both traditional and contemporary monographs and periodicals.

Financial Aid

SIUC offers a number of competitive fellowships to full-time graduate students. Awards are made by the Graduate School on the recommendation of the Graduate Studies Committee. For further information, students should contact the Graduate School. The deadline for applicants for fellowships is usually one month earlier than the deadline for graduate assistantships. Almost all M.F.A. students hold graduate assistantships that provide stipends for the academic year and full remission of tuition. The application deadline for admission with assistantship support is early February, with student notification before April 1.

Cost of Study

In-state graduate tuition is $328 per credit hour in 2009–10. Out-of-state tuition is 2.5 times the in-state tuition rate ($820 per credit hour). Graduate students with at least a 25 percent appointment as a graduate assistant receive a tuition scholarship. Fees vary from $589.03 (1 credit hour) to $1557.50 (12 credit hours). Students with a graduate assistantship receive a 50 percent reduction in the Primary Care Medical Fee. New graduate students from Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee qualify for the alternate tuition rate, which is equivalent to the in-state graduate tuition rate.

Living and Housing Costs

For married couples, students with families, and single graduate students, the University has 690 efficiency and one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments that rent for $499 to $720 per month in 2009–10. Residence halls for single graduate students are also available, as are accessible residence hall rooms and apartments for students with disabilities.

Student Group

The University’s total enrollment exceeds 21,000, including more than 4,000 graduate students. Men and women come from all 50 states and more than 100 other countries. About 53 percent of the graduate students are women, 23 percent are international, and 13 percent are members of American minority groups.

Location

SIUC is 350 miles south of Chicago and 100 miles southeast of St. Louis. Nestled in rolling hills bordered by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and enhanced by a mild climate, the area has state parks, national forests and wildlife refuges, and large lakes for outdoor recreation. Cultural offerings include theater, opera, concerts, art exhibits, and cinema. Educational facilities for the families of students are excellent.

The University

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a comprehensive public university with a variety of general and professional education programs. The University offers bachelor’s, associate, master’s, and doctoral degrees; the J.D. degree; and the M.D. degree. The University is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The Graduate School has an essential role in the development and coordination of graduate instruction and research programs. The Graduate Council has academic responsibility for determining graduate standards, recommending new graduate programs and research centers, and establishing policies to facilitate the research effort. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a state-funded university founded in 1869.

Applying

Applicants to the Ph.D. program must complete all forms in the application package, including a separate application for admission to the Graduate School, a nonrefundable processing fee of $40, three letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and a writing sample. International students must submit TOEFL scores and a statement showing sufficient financial support at the time of application. The minimum GPA required for admission to SIUC’s Graduate School is 2.7, out of 4.0.

Application materials for admission, including graduate assistantship support, are available from the Department of English. Application material is also available online at the Departmental Web site. Separate application forms for fellowships are available from the Graduate School.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Michael L. Humphries, Associate Professor and Chair; Ph.D., Claremont, 1990. Classical literature, mythology and folklore, biblical literature.
• Mark Addison Amos, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Duke, 1994. Middle English literature and culture, continental medieval literature, issues of representation, gender studies.
• David J. Anthony, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Michigan, 1998. Nineteenth-century American literature; studies of emotion, race, and mass culture.
• Mary L. Bogumil, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., South Florida, 1988. Modern and contemporary British and American drama and fiction, multiculturalism.
• George Boulukos, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Texas at Austin, 1998. Eighteenth-century British literature.
• Edward J. Brunner, Professor; Ph.D., Iowa, 1974. Modern American literature, twentieth-century poetry.
• Anne Chandler, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Duke, 1995. Eighteenth-century English literature, the novel.
• Jane N. Cogie, Associate Professor and Director, Writing Center; Ph.D., Iowa, 1984. Rhetoric and composition.
• K. K. Collins, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Vanderbilt, 1976. Nineteenth-century English literature.
• Kevin J. H. Dettmar, Professor; Ph.D., UCLA, 1990. Twentieth-century English literature.
• Ronda L. Dively, Associate Professor and Director, Undergraduate Studies; D.A., Illinois State, 1994. Rhetoric and composition, English education.
• Jane Dougherty, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Tufts, 2001. Irish studies.
• Charles F. Fanning, Professor and Director, Irish and Irish Immigration Studies; Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1972. Twentieth-century poetry, Irish literature, immigration and ethnicity studies.
• Robert Elliott Fox, Professor; Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo, 1976. American literature, African and African American literature, science fiction.
• Rodney Jones, Professor; M.F.A., North Carolina at Greensboro, 1973. Poetry writing.
• Judy Jordan, Assistant Professor; M.F.A., Utah, 2000; M.F.A., Virginia, 1995. Creative writing, poetry.
• Allison E. Joseph, Associate Professor; M.F.A., Indiana, 1992. Poetry writing.
• Elizabeth Klaver, Professor; Ph.D., California, Riverside, 1990. Modern American literature, postmodernism, drama, literary theory.
• Mary E. Lamb, Professor; Ph.D., Columbia, 1975. Renaissance literature, feminist and gender studies.
• E. Beth Lordan, Professor and Assistant to the Chair; M.F.A., Cornell, 1987. Fiction writing.
• Michael Magnuson, Associate Professor and Director, Creative Writing; M.F.A., Florida, 1997. Fiction writing.
• Lisa J. McClure, Associate Professor; D.A., Michigan, 1988. Rhetoric and composition.
• Scott J. McEathron, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Duke, 1993. Nineteenth-century English literature.
• Michael R. Molino, Associate Professor and Director, Graduate Studies; Ph.D., 1986. Twentieth-century British and Irish literature.
• R. Gerald Nelms, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Ohio State, 1990. Rhetoric and composition, linguistics, oral history.
• Ryan Netzley, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Penn State, 2002. Milton, seventeenth-century British literature.
• Anita R. Riedlinger, Associate Professor; Ph.D., NYU, 1985. Old and middle English literature.
• Jeremy Wells, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Michigan, 2000. Nineteenth-century American literature, Southern literature.
• Clarisse Zimra, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 1974. Literary theory, continental and Caribbean literature.

Correspondence and Information

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Michael R. Molino, Director of Graduate Studies
Graduate Studies in English
Department of English
Carbondale, Illinois 62901-4503
Telephone: 618-453-6894
Email: gradengl@siu.edu