Overview
Wayne State University is ranked among the top 100 Carnegie research universities. The University has an urban commitment as well as a significant number of minority group faculty members and students. The English Department is the largest department in the College of Liberal Arts and is responsible for a substantial number of the required courses for all University students.

Five to 7 students complete the Ph.D. annually. The successful placement rate in tenure-track positions is aided by extensive professional training, including generous financial support for delivery of papers at conferences, job and placement workshops, and computer and teaching experience. In the past two years, students have obtained positions at Purdue, James Madison, Oakland University, the College of New Jersey, Columbia College, Houston-Downtown, and University of Toledo. Other graduates have attained full-time community college positions locally and nationally.

The Community
Wayne State University is centrally located in the city of Detroit. Its immediate environment is the Cultural Center, which is made up of the University, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of African-American History, a number of other institutions of higher education, and museums. The Medical Center, which is composed of a number of hospitals, nationally ranked research centers, the University Medical School, and other medical facilities, is nearby.

Food and entertainment options include ethnic restaurants surrounding the campus; the offerings at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Art Institute; fine restaurants in the downtown area; the Detroit Symphony; performances at the Fisher Theatre, the restored Fox Theatre, and other downtown venues, including casinos; the Michigan Opera Theatre; and Wayne State's Hilberry Theatre repertory and student productions.

There is a diverse graduate student population in the English Department at Wayne State. Approximately 30 teaching assistants, along with those who are on full fellowships, make up the core of graduate students. There are 175 other full- and part-time students. Women slightly outnumber men, and various ethnic groups are well represented. Many graduate students come from the Detroit metropolitan area, but about half of the students supported by assistantships and fellowships come from outside the metropolitan area.

Programs of study and degree requirements
The Graduate Program in English at Wayne State University is committed to redefining English studies as the field is being transformed by complex movements and events. The latter include intellectual movements, such as critical theory, cultural studies, and new historicism; social and political changes that have altered the literary canon; the emergence of new areas of study, such as digital culture and postcolonialism; alterations in the demographics of the academy; and the impact of globalization, urbanization, and technological advances as they alter the world in which students live and the texts they study.

The department seeks intellectually adventurous students who wish to participate in redefining English, students who commit themselves to knowing texts and the world as they were, are, and will be. The faculty members' scholarship is matched by their intensive advising and mentoring of graduate students. The placement rate for the Ph.D. graduates is significantly higher than the national average.

The English Department offers doctoral study in all fields of English and American literature and in composition theory. Students working toward the M.A. and Ph.D. in literature may also concentrate in African-American literature, comparative literature, creative writing (M.A. only), cultural studies, film, folklore, postcolonial literature, and women's studies. Students specializing in composition research take a series of core courses, after which they may tailor their course work to fit their professional objectives. Students with an interest in anthropological, feminist, historical, linguistic, material, and rhetorical approaches to literature or film, popular culture, or urban art and culture are encouraged to apply.

Facilities & Resources
The University libraries system has a collection of more than 2.6 million volumes, 25,000 journals, and a large government document depository collection. It was recently ranked the forty-fifth research library of the 108 members of the Association of Research Libraries. The Urban Folklore Archive, the Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, and neighboring institutions, such as the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Historical Museum, the Museum of African-American History, and the Detroit Institute of Arts provide additional research opportunities.

Expenses and Aid
Costs: The cost of graduate study at Wayne State is $207.70 per credit hour for Michigan residents and $458.80 for nonresidents. There is a $80.40 registration fee per semester and an omnibus fee of $17.50 per credit hour. For 8 credit hours per semester (the standard graduate course load), tuition expenses for an academic year are $1882 for Michigan residents and $3890.80 for nonresidents. The cost of books averages about $450 per academic year.

Financial Aid: University graduate fellowships, graduate-professional scholarships, and teaching assistantships are available to qualified graduate students. Fellowships and teaching assistantships are available only to students who plan to pursue the Ph.D. degree; scholarships are available to all students. In 2001–02, fellowships provided an average stipend of $10,500 plus tuition, health benefits, and a partial housing allowance; scholarships covered tuition. Teaching assistantships averaged $10,675 plus tuition and health benefits.

Housing/Living Expenses: University and off-campus housing for single and married students ranges from $300 to $600 per month. Students are able to live in the area surrounding Wayne State for $8000 to $10,000 per year. This includes housing, food, supplies, and modest entertainment.

How to Apply
Applicants are required to submit official transcripts of all previous academic work, a statement of purpose, two academic letters of recommendation, a writing sample, and scores from the GRE General Test. Ph.D. and teaching assistantship applicants must take the appropriate GRE Subject Test.

For the fall semester, the deadlines for applicants seeking fellowships or teaching assistantships is February 1. The deadline for other Ph.D. applicants is March 1. However, M.A. applicants are considered for the fall semester if their applications are received by July 17. For the winter semester, the deadline for M.A. and Ph.D. applicants is November 9.

Robert Aguirre, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Harvard, 1990. Victorian literature and Victorian studies.

Anthony Aristar, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Texas at Austin, 1984. Linguistics.

Ellen L. Barton, Professor; Ph.D., Northwestern, 1985. Linguistics, composition.

Leslie Brill, Professor; Ph.D., Rutgers, 1971. Film studies.

Robert Burgoyne, Associate Professor; Ph.D., NYU, 1986. Film theory.

Laval Todd Duncan, Lecturer; Ph.D., Harvard, 1973. American and African-American literature.

Walter F. Edwards, Professor; Ph.D., York (England), 1975. Sociolinguistics.

Laurie Evans, Lecturer; Ph.D., Virginia, 1995. Twentieth-century American literature, professional and technical writing.

Cynthia Erb, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Indiana, 1991. Film and cultural studies.

Henry Golemba, Professor; Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 1971. American literature.

Gwen Gorzelsky, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Pittsburgh, 1998. Literacy.

Richard Grusin, Professor and Chair; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1983. American studies, digital culture.

Bill Harris, Professor; M.A., Wayne State, 1977. Creative writing, African-American literature.

Carla Harryman, Senior Lecturer; M.A., San Francisco State, 1978. Creative writing, women's innovative writing.

Jerry Herron, Professor; Ph.D., Indiana, 1980. Contemporary American culture.

Dorothy Huson, Lecturer; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1972. Seventeenth-century British literature.

Kenneth Jackson, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Loyola Chicago, 1997. Shakespeare, critical theory.

Margaret Jordan, Lecturer; M.A., Michigan, 1990. Film, African-American literature, nineteenth-century British literature.

Donna Landry, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia, 1983. Eighteenth-century British literature, post-colonial theory.

Janet L. Langlois, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Indiana, 1977. Urban folklore, gender studies.

Christopher T. Leland, Professor; Ph.D., California, San Diego, 1982. Creative writing, South American literature.

Bernard Levine, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Brown, 1965. Twentieth-century British literature.

M. L. Liebler, Senior Lecturer; M.A.T., Oakland, 1980. Creative writing.

Kathryn Victoria Lindberg, Professor; Ph.D., UCLA, 1983. American literature, cultural studies.

Sheila Lloyd, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. Cornell, 1997. African-American studies.

Gerald MacLean, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia, 1981. Seventeenth-century British poetry and history, feminist theory.

Phoebe Mainster, Lecturer; Ph.D., Wayne State, 1983. Composition.

Richard Marback, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Illinois at Chicago, 1992. Composition, rhetoric.

Arthur F. Marotti, Professor; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1965. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British literature and culture, historical bibliography.

Bruce Morgan, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo, 1983. Applied linguistics, second-language acquisition, English as a second language.

Ljiljana Progovac, Associate Professor; Ph.D., USC, 1988. Linguistics, syntax, semantics.

Ross J. Pudaloff, Associate Professor; Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo, 1977. Early American literature, cultural studies.

Frances Ranney, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Miami (Ohio), 1997. Technical writing.

Martha Ratliff, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Chicago, 1986. Linguistics, phonology, historical linguistics.

Ruth Ray, Professor; D.A., Michigan, 1987. Composition, gender studies.

John R. Reed, Distinguished Professor; Ph.D., Rochester, 1963. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature.

Michael Scrivener, Professor; Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo, 1976. Nineteenth-century British literature.

Elizabeth S. Sklar, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1969. Old and Middle English.

Kirstin Thompson, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., NYU, 1998. Cinema studies, cultural studies, psychoanalysis.

Chris Tysh, Lecturer; M.A., Paris IV (Sorbonne), 1971. Creative writing, women's studies.

Anca Vlasopolos, Professor; Ph.D., Michigan, 1977. Comparative drama, feminist theory.

Renata Wasserman, Professor; Ph.D., Brandeis, 1973. Novel, comparative literature.

Barrett Watten, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1995. Cultural studies, modernism.

Go To Profile Index Page

Go To Top Of Page