Department of English, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Introduction
Our innovative 2-year MA program in English offers an advanced path in Literary Studies, including opportunities to focus on Rhetoric & Writing and/or Film Studies. Our program also provides considerable experience and training in teaching and research in the humanities. Interdisciplinary in its scope, global in its reach, and creative in its approach, our program meets the goals and needs of a variety of graduate students.
The English department offers an exciting and diverse range of graduate seminars each year, with topics in national and global literatures, creative writing, rhetoric and composition, cultural studies, film, critical theory, and pedagogy. Most of our students — as well as our faculty — work synergistically at the intersections of these topics and approaches. Additionally, for those interested in becoming college-level teachers, our program offers in-depth teacher training, which continues during the entirety of the program as our graduate students learn to develop and teach several of their own college writing classes.
The program’s culminating MA Capstone Project offers the opportunity to conceive of and create a project that excites students, whose form best aligns with future goals and grows organically from the research and mentoring process. These projects may include scholarly articles, curricular design/ teaching portfolios, public humanities projects, creative-critical investigations, experimental essays, translations, and multimodal productions (film production, audio recording, performance, etc.). The program’s combination of exploration in the seminars and directed purpose with the Capstone Projects empowers students with intellectual purpose, autonomy, and flexibility; provides time and space to engage in meaningful research, production, and revising practices; and nurtures meaningful faculty-student mentoring and student collaboration in a small and supportive intellectual cohort.
Our graduate students may also gain significant editing and publishing experience through work on the editorial staff of the nationally recognized journal, the Bellingham Review.
Graduate Faculty
Anderson, Katherine, PhD, British literature, empire/postcolonial studies, gender and sexuality studies, critical terrorism studies.
Araki-Kawaguchi, Kiik, MFA, long form fiction, speculative fiction.
Brown, Nicole, PhD, rhetoric and composition, technical writing, visual rhetoric, service learning and cybercultural studies.
Celaya, Anthony, PhD, English education, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and young adult literature.
Cosey, Felicia, PhD, critical race studies and queer/quare theory, American popular culture in film and television.
Cushman, Jeremy, PhD, rhetoric and composition, workplace writing, public rhetorics, digital humanities and postmodern research methodologies.
Dietrich, Dawn, PhD, cinema studies, literature and technology, cyberculture, critical theory.
Dorr, Noam, PhD, creative writing (hybrid genres), visual and performance art, global literature, and translation.
Forsythe, Jenny, PhD, Latin American literature and culture, literary history and translation studies.
Geisler, Marc, PhD, Renaissance literature and culture, literary theory, politics and literature.
Giffen, Allison, PhD, American literature, women’s literature.
Golden, Sean, PhD, Fugitive pedagogies, childrens and young adult literature and media, Black queer storytelling, ecoliteracy.
Guadrón, Melissa, PhD, Rhetoric of heath and medicine, technical and professional communication, critical disability studies, writing studies, research methods, community engagement.
Guess, Carol, MFA, creative writing (creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry), gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender literature and theory.
Heim, Stefania, PhD, modern and contemporary poetry and poetics, American literature, experimental writing, creative writing, and translation.
Laffrado, Laura, PhD, American literature, gender studies.
Loar, Christopher, PhD, British literature, early American literature, eighteenth-century culture, critical theory, literature and science.
Lucchesi, Andrew, PhD, rhetoric and composition, professional and technical writing, disability studies.
Lyne, William, PhD, American literature, African-American literature, cultural studies.
Magee, Kelly, MFA, creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, multi-genre).
Odabasi, Eren, PhD, film studies, global cinema, screen industries, auteur theory.
Rivera, Lysa, PhD, American literatures and culture, Chicana/o and African-American literature, cultural studies, critical theory.
Roach Orduña, José, MFA, creative writing (nonfiction), visual autobiography, and essay film.
Rogers, Jamie, PhD, Black and feminist film and literature, geography and documentary film, media and social justice.
Shipley, Ely, PhD, creative writing (multi-genre, poetry).
Trueblood, Kathryn, MFA, creative writing (fiction), publishing and editing.
VanderStaay, Steven, PhD, English education, creative writing (nonfiction), and linguistics.
Vulić, Kathryn, PhD, medieval British and Continental literatures and culture, manuscript studies.
Warburton, Theresa, PhD, feminist theory, women’s literature, Native literature, transnational and multiethnic literature, and memoir.
Winrock, Cori, PhD, creative writing and literature, poetry and poetics, interactive and multi-genre forms.
Wise, Christopher, PhD, comparative literature and critical theory.
Wong, Jane, PhD, creative writing (poetry).
Youmans, Greg, PhD, experimental film and media, queer and trans cinemas, narratology.
Contact Information
Director of Graduate Studies & Program Advisor: Stefania Heim, Humanities 371, 360-650-3227, Stefania.Heim@wwu.edu
Goals
The MA program in English is designed for those who desire to prepare for:
- PhD and MFA programs, as well as other advanced degrees
- Teaching at two-year colleges
- Public or private teaching (elementary, middle, secondary)
- Careers in editing and publishing
- Careers in nonprofit and other business organizations
- Careers in technical writing and communication
- Life as a serious researcher and writer, with an understanding of the library marketplace and publication
Depending on the chosen area of concentration, students will attain the following skills:
- Preparation in national and global literatures and cultures, creative writing, critical and cultural theory, film and media, pedagogy, composition and rhetoric, technical writing, professional writing, editing and publishing, and linguistics
- Teaching experience and pedagogical training
- Professional editing with scholarly and creative writing journals, such as the Bellingham Review
- Professional communication, oral and written
- Competency in the use of classroom and communications technologies
- Awareness of diversity, educational equity, and social justice issues
- Awareness of ethical and reflective pedagogical practices
Prerequisites
Undergraduate major in English or departmental permission. Candidates with an insufficient background in English are normally requested to acquire 30 upper-division credits in literature and criticism with a grade of B or better in each course. The department reserves the right to approve a course of study.
Admission
Enrollment is limited to program capacity.
Application Information
Deadlines: Applications for the following academic year must be complete — all materials on file — by January 15 for priority consideration. Applications completed after that date may be considered on a space-available basis. Applications completed after June 1 will not be considered. Admission into the program is for fall quarter.
Teacher Assistantship Deadlines: Same as above.
The materials submitted for admission must include:
- A statement of purpose: this statement should explain intellectual and/or creative interests, and professional goals. If you are interested in being considered for a funded Teaching Assistantship, please include relevant experience and information that will aid the department in making funding decisions.
- Candidates must provide a 750-word personal statement of background and intention and a writing sample: for admission to English, 7 to 12 pages of written work in literary study.
- Appropriate admissions forms.
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