Graduate HandbookGraduate Student Handbook
PREFACE
This Handbook is a guide for current and entering graduate students in the English Department at UIC. It provides useful information on degree requirements, course offerings, financial aid, teaching opportunities, and awards; it also serves as a guide for students preparing for the MA thesis, the PhD qualifying examination, the PhD dissertation, and the PhD dissertation defense. Our requirements and guidelines are designed to make the progress to degree as rewarding and productive as possible; students should study the following sections carefully, while also arranging regular meetings with their assigned advisors. All students should also feel free to seek advice from the Director of Graduate Studies. BACK TO TOP
All graduate students have mailboxes located on the 20th floor of University Hall; they are also provided with university email addresses. In order to receive up-to-date announcements on courses, lectures, and job opportunities, students should check their mailboxes and email on a regular basis.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Graduate Program in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. With faculty and students engaged with the most vital intellectual issues facing English Studies today and inspired by the challenges of teaching in a large and diverse public university, UIC English offers a truly unique opportunity for graduate study. We are located in Chicago's West Loop, and our urban setting provides a stimulating atmosphere for scholarly debates, research initiatives, and pedagogical investigations.
The program’s structure encourages students to take advantage of the department’s commitment to sustained discussion across academic specializations. Combining strengths in the study of creative writing, literature, rhetoric, literacy, linguistics, and the teaching of English, the graduate program provides the ideal arena for exploring relations among different disciplines of English. Together, our scholars, teachers, and writers foster a vibrant community that interrogates the prevailing conventions of intellectual work both within and beyond the academy. This environment helps our students stand out among their peers; they consistently demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, success in publication, and depth of pedagogical experience. Their superior professional training makes them thrive even in a highly competitive job market.
The graduate curriculum for both MA and PhD degrees was revised in 2005. It is designed to suit the broad range of interests represented by our faculty, and to encourage students to shape innovative courses of study. While featuring a set of “Bridge” courses that provides comprehensive exposure to genres or historical periods, the curriculum also allows PhD candidates to take seminars with more focus on specific historical periods, topics, and theoretical concerns that are central to their dissertations and other research interests. By freely constructing courses of study that that support their particular intellectual concerns and professional goals, students are prepared to complete MA theses and PhD dissertations that make lively interventions in creative and scholarly fields. BACK TO TOP
ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE
For all administrative contacts on this page, please consult the list of administrators, with their phone numbers and email addresses, on the department website.
The Office of Graduate Studies for the Department of English is in 2002 University Hall. The Director’s office is in 2000 University Hall. The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) is responsible for all time-to-degree concerns. S/he usually has office hours posted on the website and is available for appointments on those days. The DGS is available by telephone at 312.413.2238. Students should see the DGS at least once a year to ensure that they are meeting all of the necessary requirements in a timely fashion. In the event that the DGS is unavailable, students and faculty should feel free to consult the Associate Head of the Department for immediate questions and concerns. The Assistant to the DGS may be reached by telephone at 312.413.2239. For admissions information, please consult the departmental website (http://www.uic.edu/depts/engl/index.html).
All students in the Program for Writers seeking information and time-to degree assistance should see the Director of the Program for Writers, who can be reached at 312.413.2229. Master’s students working toward a certification in the Teaching of English should consult the Director of the English Education Program, who can be reached at 312.413.2220. Master’s students interested in the Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESOL) should contact the current director of this program.
The Graduate Office administration also includes an Associate Director of Graduate Studies, responsible for recruitment, internal fellowships and awards and Second Year PhD Students on the 8th floor Annex. The Associate Director, often with the assistance of a placement officer, assists students who are seeking employment in universities, colleges, or junior colleges. Those students can learn how to arrange for credentials to be sent to prospective employers on request and prepare for other aspects of the academic job market.
Because most academic hiring is done during the fall, and because assembling credentials takes considerable time, students should consult with the placement officer during the spring semester of the year before they intend to seek employment. The department uses InterFolio (http://www.interfolio.com), an on-line service that prepares and distributes student dossiers. All students on the academic market must attend an orientation session at the beginning of the semester in order to become acquainted with this system.
During the year in which they are seeking academic employment, students may wish to subscribe to (or share a subscription to) the Modern Language Association's Job Information List (JIL), published in October, December, February and April. The April issue includes junior and community college job openings. The JIL provides a list of job openings and detailed descriptions of those openings at specific institutions. The JIL is available online; the username and password can be obtained through the Office of Graduate Studies. Please examine it before writing letters; most schools indicate that they do not wish to receive letters of application unless they have listed openings. Students in the Program for Writers should also consult the AWP list.
Students seeking non-academic jobs may consult the University's Office of Career Services, 3050 Student Services Building, or by phone 312.996.2300. BACK TO TOP
ADVISING
Advisor Assignments
The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) assigns all new students to faculty advisors early in their first term. With the agreement of the faculty member, a student may choose a new advisor. Ph.D. students initiate the choice of directors of the preliminary examinations and dissertation. This person then serves as their primary advisor and (usually, but not always) the chair of the dissertation. Students can request a change in advisor at any time.
The Role of the Advisor
Advisors should report to the DGS on all their students' progress each year on a form distributed to them from the Graduate Office. Degree Requirement charts for both MA and Ph.D. programs are available in the graduate office and distributed to students during orientation. In addition, students' files are available to advisors in the Graduate Studies office (UH2002). Students may view their files at any time, with the consent of the Director of Graduate Studies; however, they may not view their admissions materials.
For students who do not meet the guidelines for progress to degree, advisors and students should meet to discuss problems impeding progress and ways of helping students to advance. Those students who exceed the guidelines by a year or more without extenuating circumstances (such circumstances might include new parenthood, illness, or departure of an advisor) will have their cases addressed by the Graduate Committee and the DGS. The DGS will report the Committee's recommendations to the advisors and students concerned.
If, according to the advisor's report the following year, the student's progress has not improved, the Graduate Committee will review the case and consider advising dismissal from the program, even if the student has not exceeded the Graduate College time to degree limit
