Graduate

The Department of English at the University of Maryland offers a PhD program in English Language and Literature, an MA Program with concentrations in literature as well as in Rhetoric and Writing, and an MFA program in poetry and fiction. We also offer a PhD in Comparative Literature. In addition, graduate students are able to earn certifications in Critical Theory and Women’s Studies. With a large and distinguished graduate faculty of over sixty members, the Department is able to provide its graduate students with an extraordinary depth and range of expertise as well as with highly individualized professional and pedagogical mentorship. Each area group, in collaboration with the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies and the Graduate English Organization (GEO), contributes to the Department’s vibrant, diverse, and inclusive intellectual life. Particular strengths of the department include early British literature, especially Medieval and Renaissance; American literature; literature of the African diaspora; postcolonial and transnational literary studies; digital humanities; feminist theory and gender studies; and composition and rhetoric. Most students enrolled in graduate programs in English Language and Literature seek employment in higher education, but many also seek non-academic employment in publishing, business and technical writing, administration, and personnel management. In order to maintain its excellent record in professionalization and job placement, the department has a Placement Director and offers publication and dissertation writing workshops every academic year, in addition to a rich choice of graduate courses.