Graduate Programs in English at Ohio University
The study of English in the 21 st century continues to undergo profound changes precipitated by diverse currents both inside and outside the academy. Consequently, the study of English today includes numerous areas of professional focus. The graduate program at Ohio University recognizes this diversity and offers three distinct areas of concentration at the master's level and doctoral levels. At the same time, the English Department wants to ensure that all graduate students share a common core of courses and that they take courses outside their specific concentrations.
A primary aim and strength of the program is the fruitful dialogue between students and faculty with differing but related professional interests. Professional and apprentice creative writers, critics, theorists, and composition specialists sit together in the same classrooms and interact at the same informal gatherings, learning from one another and discovering the common concerns that unite artists, scholars, and teachers of literature and writing.
To stimulate this dialogue, OHIO has consciously kept the program small but diverse. Graduate students in English at Ohio University study in an atmosphere where they are taken seriously as individuals and are encouraged to think and create freely, within a framework of demanding goals and standards.
The spirit of dialogue and community also is fostered by the university's location in the informal and tranquil setting of rural Appalachian Ohio. The sense of collegiality—the common pursuit of shared goals from different perspectives—produces an atmosphere of intellectual challenge and personal consideration that distinguishes this program from others in both public and private institutions.
The English program at Ohio University is strongly committed to advancing its candidates' critical and professional skills. Teaching and employment opportunities, along with the promotion of candidates' scholarship, contribute to the high level of job placement for graduates of the M.A. and Ph.D. program.