New Doctoral Program

1. New Doctoral Program Optional for Ph.D. candidates entering Fall 2010

2. Choosing a Track of Specialization Examples: Medieval Literature; 19C American Literature; Rhetoric & Composition Dr. Ruth Evans Medieval Literature Dr. Hal Bush 19th Century American Literature Dr. Paul Lynch Rhetoric & Composition

3. DoctoralTrack Reading Lists • For each track, 50 required texts (primary & secondary) • In consultation with faculty, students select additional 20 texts reflecting their individual research agenda and methodological interests • Ideally, the student’s reading list is finalized by the beginning of the second year.

4. Year1: Seeking a Doctoral Advisor • Begin coursework • First-year doctoral candidates are assigned interim faculty advisors based on students’ intended track or areas of specialization (advisors will be designated after initial conferences between students and the graduate director) • If their research interests or track of specialization shifts, students may seek to change advisors as they proceed through the program

5. Year 2: Preparing for Competency Exam & drafting Prospectus • Read and research texts in your track in preparation for doctoral competency exam • Continue coursework; optional declaration of a minor field, with three courses in designated area of study • Formulate preliminary dissertation prospectus proposal, in consultation with advisor and two other faculty members (dissertation committee)

6. Year 3: Advancing to Candidacy • Complete coursework. Finish work on and receive provisional approval for dissertation prospectus by dissertation committee • After passing a written competency essay, take two-hour oral exam on track of specialization; examiners include dissertation committee and two other faculty members • Within one week of passing oral exam, conduct prospectus review (AKA “scrutiny”) with three-member dissertation committee and receive approval to begin writing dissertation

7. Years 4-5: Completing your degree • Complete and defend dissertation; see your name in lights on SLU Newslink. • Announcements | SLU Graduate Education • June schedule of dissertation defenses set: Kathyrn Mathews, a Ph.D. candidate in English, will defend her dissertation, "Challenging the Discourse, Retelling the Story: Identity, Belonging, and Politically Engaged Muslim Women's Conversion Narratives," on Thursday, June 10 at 10 a.m. Please contact the major field at 314.977.3010  for location information.

8. Recent Graduate Seminars: Summer 2010 Faulkner Chaucer: Canterbury Tales Spring 2010 Beowulf Rhetoric & Writing Theory Renaissance Drama: Revenge Tragedy Politics & Literature of the 17th Century Fin de siècle Ireland: aestheticism and decadence in Irish writing 19th Century American Literature: Mark Twain at the Centennial Contemporary African-American Literature & Expressive Culture Fall 2009 Introduction to Old English History of the English Language Medieval Women Writers Age of Elizabeth Romanticism: Place & Displacement 19th Century American Literature: Rhetoric of American Empire 20th Century American Poetry: Black Mountain Disability Studies Summer 2009 Studies in Contemporary Culture: Film Theory Rhetoric & Theory: the problem of Argument Chaucer: Canterbury Tales Minor Fields: Some Possibilities

9. Spring 2009 Rhetoric & Humor Problems in Rhetoric: History from the Classical Period to the Renaissance Special Topics in American Literature: War & the American Century Shakespeare Realism & Surrealism in late 19th Century British Fiction Virginia Woolf 20th Century Drama Fall 2008 Postcolonial Literature Introduction to Old Norse Aural-Oral and Literate Culture in Early Modern England Sounding Victorian 20th Century Poetry: Modern Poetry & the Senses African-American Literature Special Topics: Middle Scots

10. Based on these offerings, possible minor fields might include: • Rhetoric and Composition (Rhetoric & Writing Theory; Rhetoric & the Problem of Argument; Rhetoric & Humor; History of Rhetoric; + ENGL 501, “Teaching Writing,” offered every fall) • Medieval Lit(HEL; OE; ON; Beowulf; Medieval Women Writers; Chaucer) • Early Modern Lit (16C-17C): Renaissance Drama; Shakespeare; Age of Elizabeth; 17C Lit; Oral-Aural Literature in Early Modern England; {Middle Scots?} • 19C British Lit (Sounding Victorian; Realism & Surrealism; Romanticism) • 19C American Lit (offered Spring 2010, Fall 2009, + as undergraduate courses) • 20C American Lit (Black Mountain; War and the American Century; Contemporary African-American Lit [x2]; 20C Drama; Faulkner) • British Modernism (Fin de siècle Ireland; Virginia Woolf; + undergraduate courses) • Critical Theory (ENGL 511, “Literary Theory” [offered every spring]; Film Theory; Disability studies)