Graduate Studies in English at Rice

English Department brochure for admission in 2010 (pdf.)

Rice’s Ph.D. program in English offers students the opportunity to fashion innovative and interdisciplinary research projects through close interaction with faculty involved in a variety of areas of study. The program offers strong preparation in British and American literatures and cultures ranging from the early modern era to the present, with strengths across literary periods in historicist criticism, literary and social theory, race and ethnicity studies, feminist and gender studies, queer theory and the history of sexuality, print and visual culture, and global, hemispheric, and postcolonial studies.

All students entering the Rice Graduate Program in English receive fellowships and tuition waivers. Fellowships of $15,900 were awarded for the 2009-10 year. Fellowship support continues for five years, contingent upon satisfactory progress in the program. Students also have a variety of opportunities for competitive sixth-year funding, based on teaching and research interests. Additionally, funding is available for travel to conferences and for summer travel to research collections.

The small and selective nature of the graduate program allows students to work closely with faculty in seminars that range from four to ten students. Graduate students in English enjoy a vibrant intellectual community at Rice that spans the humanities and social sciences. Students take courses in other departments, participate in interdisciplinary research groups and workshops sponsored by the Humanities Research Center and the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, found their own departmental reading groups and workshops, and participate in departmental Works in Progress talks. For many years, graduate students have organized their own annual Colloquium,choosing a topic of critical import and a distinguished keynote speaker. Students also have access to a rich array of visiting speakers of national and international prominence; recent and upcoming speakers include Bruno Latour, Frances Ferguson, David Simpson, Mary Jacobus, Walter Mignolo, Felicity Nussbaum, Donald Pease, Rachel Adams, Laurie Shannon, Herbert Tucker, Sharon Marcus, Leah Price, Doris Sommer, James Longenbach, Wendy Brown, Barbara Fuchs, and Srinivas Aravamudan among others.

As a result of substantial fellowship support, close interaction with faculty, participation in a rich intellectual life, and rigorous preparation for the job market, students have placed articles in an impressive array of scholarly journals, including American Literature, European Romantic Review, Novel, ELH, Children’s Literature Quarterly, Early American Literature, African American Review, Victorian Poetry, and Victorian Literature and Culture. Graduate students in English have performed strongly on the job market, and in recent years, for example, have secured tenure-track positions at institutions such as the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Utah, Syracuse University, Loyola University of Chicago, Macalaster College, University of Vermont, University of South Carolina, Texas Tech University, Indiana State University, and Bridgewater State University.

English Department brochure for admission in 2010 (pdf.)

Graduate Student Virtual Tour of Rice