2 – Graduate Programs in English

The graduate program in English at Washington State University supports students working toward advanced degrees at both the MA and PhD levels. Students may elect to concentrate either in Literary Studies or Rhetoric and Composition. The English Department also offers graduate certificates in TESOL, Digital Humanities and Culture, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The department also participates in WSU’s interdisciplinary American Studies Program. Along with courses in English, students are able, with DGS approval, to take specialized seminars in related disciplines.

Students are expected to earn the MA degree in two years and the PhD in five, though individual exceptions can be made for part-time students not funded by TAships.

2.1 – Diversity and Inclusion

Washington State University is committed to providing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace, one where all employees and volunteers, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability, feel valued and respected. 

In the English Department, we are committed to a nondiscriminatory approach to education and scholarship, and provide equal opportunity for employment and advancement in all of our programs. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and believe that all voices should be valued and heard.

We are committed to modeling inclusion for the entire College of Arts and Sciences and to maintaining an environment that demonstrates equitable treatment for all faculty, staff, and students.

To provide informed, authentic leadership that promotes cultural equity, the English Department strives to:

• See diversity, inclusion, and equity as connected to our mission and critical to ensure the well-being of our faculty, staff, and the students we serve.
• Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and continually update and report any factors (institutional and personnel) that impede our mission to foster a diverse and inclusive culture.
• Explore potential underlying, unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness.
• Advocate for and support broad-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our department and work, and how best to address them in a way that is consistent with our mission.
• Help work to challenge unquestioned assumptions about what it takes to be effective within and outside of the department and classroom and about who is well-positioned to provide leadership.
• Practice and encourage transparent communication in all interactions regardless of rank or position in the department.
• Commit time and resources to encourage diverse leadership within our department: staff, committee, and advisory bodies.
• Lead with respect and acceptance.  We expect all department members to embrace anti-oppressive standpoints, challenge implicit biases, and address all forms of injustice through everyday practices.

---

2.2 – Student Learning Outcomes

The following are the Student Learning Outcomes for graduate programs in English (MA or PhD):

1. Demonstrate a broad and critical understanding of English Studies and its associated fields, including an intersectional engagement with diversity, equity, and oppression.
2. Develop and employ knowledge of diverse and specialized areas within English Studies in order to compose substantial academic projects.
3. Locate and synthesize primary and secondary texts in order to conduct original research under the guidance of faculty members with expertise in chosen fields of specialization.
4. Create academic and public texts and/or works that present new claims and original research.
5. Circulate original research findings in appropriate presentation venues, such as regional conferences, departmental colloquia, community engagement, and/or outreach.
6. Teach various courses that include writing, are informed by pedagogies of inclusion, and attend to social justice commitments in education.

---

2.3 – General Program Requirements

Responsible Research Training

The WSU Graduate School requires all graduate students to complete the Responsible Conduct of Research online training, which takes about 20 minutes. Students awarded an assistantship must take the training before their appointment paperwork can be processed. International Students awarded an assistantship will have a grace period of one semester to complete the training.

English 501

Unless specifically exempted, all entering graduate students who hold Teaching Assistantships will enroll in ENGLISH 501 (Seminar in the Teaching of Writing). Exceptions to this rule must be approved by the Director of Composition. For descriptions of this course, see the seminar brochure prepared each semester.

English 598

Students with teaching assistantships are required to take three credits of ENGLISH 598 (Teaching Apprenticeship); usually these credits are acquired during a student’s first three semesters in the program. Each 598 is worth 1 credit.

First Semester:

Preparation for English 101 teaching: providing critical and compassionate feedback to student writing, developing lessons and activities to support WSU’s English 101 curriculum, and application of English 501 scholarship to your teaching.

Second Semester:

Weekly colloquium on Freshman Composition, to be attended by all first-time Teaching Assistants. This is held on Mondays from 12-1.

Third or Fourth Semester:

Mentored Teaching arranged between student and faculty member or “Practical Elements of Teaching in Social Justice Contexts” course (this course is not offered every year).

Guidelines for Mentored Teaching:

• The TA should not be required or expected to teach any class sections or lead discussion groups for the class.
• The TA should not be required or expected to advise students or hold office hours outside of class.
• The TA should not be required or expected to grade any work for the course.

The instructor and student should agree at the beginning of the semester what the expectations for the 598 credit will be. At the very least, this should involve the student attending the course when possible and having regular discussions with the instructor about syllabus construction, lesson planning, pedagogical strategies, and any other questions about teaching.

A list of expectations for a particular 598 should be written up and signed by the instructor and the student and submitted to the DGS no later than the end of the second week of the semester. As a reminder, this is a one-credit, pass/fail course, and it is not intended to add a significant burden to a TAs existing academic or teaching load.

Should the TA request to give a lecture, lead a class, or respond to student work as a part of the shadowing experience, this is fine as long as it is included in the course agreement and signed by both parties. The instructor may not pressure a student to undertake any of the labor for teaching the course, or make the satisfactory earning of course credit contingent upon such labor.

While the 598 sequence should be completed by your fourth semester, PhD students can complete this in the fifth semester with approval from the DGS. For MA students, this requirement does need to be completed by your fourth (and final) semester.

English 600

All graduate students on a Teaching Assistantship who teach a writing course (100, 101, 105) or are preparing to do so must take one credit of ENGLISH 600, which consists of attendance at the weekly Professional Development in Composition (PDC) meetings on Wednesdays from 12-1pm.

English 700, 702, and 800

Full-time candidates for all graduate degrees must enroll in at least one credit hour per semester of ENGLISH 700 (MA thesis), ENGLISH 702 (MA non-thesis), or ENGLISH 800 (doctoral research).

Students may always enroll in more than one credit hour of these courses if they wish, but the minimum per semester is one hour.

If you have a committee chair, you will choose the section associated with his or her name. If not, the Director of Graduate Studies will serve as your instructor of record.

Annual Review

Every graduate student is required to complete an annual review survey at the end of each Spring Semester (this will be sent as a Qualtrics link no later than May 1).

The purpose of this survey is to allow the DGS to assemble an annual report concerning graduate student progress and accomplishment. The survey will collect the following information:

• any conference papers presented up through April 30 of the current year;
• all courses taught at WSU or elsewhere during the current academic year;
• any books, essays, articles, book chapters, or book reviews published by the student, with dates of publication;
• any books, essays, articles, book chapters, or book reviews accepted for publication (but still forthcoming);
• any books, essays, articles, book chapters, or book reviews submitted for publication;
• any grants or fellowships received by the student, with titles and dates;
• any prizes or awards received by the students, with titles and dates; and any other academic accomplishments.

---

2.4 – General Program Policies

Auditing Courses

Graduate students who elect to audit a course must have prior approval from the instructor of the course and from their thesis or dissertation chair. Audited courses may not be used to fulfill program requirements (i.e., they cannot be used on a program of study).

Official recording of an audit on a transcript requires the instructor’s signature and a discussion with the instructor regarding any specific expectations or requirements to fulfill the audit.

Minimum requirements may include attendance at select or all classes and course readings for participation in class discussions. This agreement between the student and the instructor should be through written documentation sent to the thesis chair so that student and faculty are mutually clear regarding expectations. Please visit the Registrar’s Office Academic Regulations page for more information.

Minimum GPA

Graduate students must earn a cumulative 3.00 grade point average (GPA) for all course work (including all courses listed on the Program of Study and other graduate upper- and lower-division courses). No work of “B-” grade or lower may be dropped from a program, nor can a course be repeated for a higher grade if the final grade is “C” or higher.

Any course listed on the Program of Study in which a grade of “C-,” “D,” or “F” is earned must be repeated. A graduate student who fails to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher for all course work will be dropped from the University. See Chapter Six, Part C of the WSU Graduate School Policies and Procedures Manual for more information.

Applying to Graduate

Along with completing program requirements, which this manual will outline in more detail, graduate students are required to submit their Application for Degree to the Graduate School. Visit the Application for Graduation with a Graduate Degree page for more information. All students pay a graduation processing fee.

The MA Residence Requirement

The MA residence requirement is one academic year (two semesters); three summer sessions are regarded as the equivalent of one academic year. Practical experience indicates that only highly qualified persons with broad backgrounds in undergraduate study and strong foreign language preparation can expect to complete study and examinations in exactly two semesters.

Students holding Teaching Assistantships are expected to enroll in 10-18 credits per semester. This figure includes 6-9 hours of graded coursework (two to three seminars), internships, independent study, and examination or thesis preparation hours. Between 30 and 34 graded credit hours are expected (depending on the specific program requirements) over the course of the program; a maximum of 6 graduate credits may be transferred from another institution, with approval from the Director of Graduate Studies.

The PhD Residence Requirement

The PhD residence requirement is three years beyond the granting of the baccalaureate degree, of which at least two years must be spent pursuing coursework at Washington State University. Again, the fulfillment of individual program requirements may demand additional time.

Students holding Teaching Assistantships are expected to enroll in 10-18 credit hours per semester. Summer study may shorten the time span, but the full-time student will normally need two and a half or three years to complete coursework and examinations, following by another two years to write the dissertation. Most students will complete the degree in five years of post-MA study.

Washington State Residency

All MA and PhD students who hold Teaching Assistantships must establish residency in the state of Washington and maintain such residency for the full duration of their TA appointments. Failure to do so may mean that their tuition waivers will be suspended by the WSU Graduate School. The in-state tuition waiver will apply for the first year if the student applies for residency right away. The Graduate Coordinator can explain the process more fully.

Incomplete Grades

An incomplete grade (“I”) is a grade that has been temporarily deferred. It is given to a student who, for reasons beyond the instructor’s control, is unable to complete the assigned coursework on time.

Graduate students who have received an “I” must complete the work for that course during the following semester or summer session if they intend to maintain their graduate employment.

Dropping and Withdrawals

Generally speaking, a student may drop a course without record up to the end of the fourth week of instruction during a semester. After the fourth week, students may withdraw from individual courses (with some restrictions) up to the end of the ninth week of instruction. Withdrawals after the end of the ninth week are possible, but transcripts will permanently show a “W.” [For more details, see the Office of the Registrar’s web page, particularly the section on “Cancellation of Enrollment.”]

Continuous Enrollment

Graduate students must abide by WSU’s “continuous enrollment” policy. If a student is not taking classes during a particular semester (e.g., if s/he is finishing a thesis or dissertation while temporarily teaching elsewhere), this student must nonetheless enroll in a minimum of two credits at WSU to provide evidence of continuing progress toward the eventual degree. Doctoral students may apply for “Continuous Doctoral Status” and pay $50 per semester instead of registering for two credits.