English - Master's and Doctorate
Study English across Fields: Creative, Critical, and Composition
The English Graduate program in the School of Humanities offers both MA and Ph.D. degrees, with emphasis in literature or creative writing. Both provide engaged course and workshop experiences, making for a lively and dynamic intellectual environment. We offer competitive assistantships up to $18,000 for PhD students. Our programs facilitate unique possibilities for scholarly and creative growth, offering classes and public forums on craft and criticism while highlighting the advantages of literary scholars and creative writers studying alongside one another.
Literary Study or Creative Writing, or Both
With dedicated Graduate Faculty across primary fields of literary studies, the programs allow graduate students to either specialize in one of these fields or pursue broad preparation as a generalist. Our graduate programs pay particular attention to professional development, including scholarly and creative publishing. With its dual emphases in literature and creative writing, we offer students a uniquely hybrid experience where emerging writers and critics study alongside one another and work with specialist in either fields, preparing student for creative, academic, and professional careers.
The graduate program houses the Center for Writers, wherein students pursue emphases in either fiction or poetry. Our distinguished faculty offers workshops in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, along with courses in craft, literary forms, and teaching creative writing. The program is also home to the Mississippi Review, a nationally recognized literary magazine. We also offer advanced studies in children’s literature, with an array of faculty with teaching and research interests in children’s literature. Our graduate students also enjoy research access to the internationally recognized de Grummond Collection of Children’s Literature.
In addition, the program hosts a Visiting Writers Series, which hosts nationally recognized and award-winning writers to campus for public readings and student-workshops.
The School of Humanities’ English Program houses several university, regional, and national journals that focus on creative and scholarly publication. Southern Quarterly, Mississippi Review, the Robert Frost Review, Coastlines, and Product are literary and critical journals housed in our programs in which students have an opportunity to work as assistant editors and staff.
The English program offers study abroad courses every summer through USM’s British Studies Program, a one-month, six-credit program in London, England. These courses are open to graduate students. Courses in frequent rotation include British Children’s Literature and Victorian Gothic Literature. All courses include an exciting slate of activities and site visits inside London, as well as multiple day-trips outside of London.
English graduate student news and accomplishments
Availability
| Degree Plan | Availability |
|---|---|
| English (Creative Writing) PhD | Hattiesburg |
| English (Literature) PhD | Hattiesburg |
| English (Accelerated BA to MA) MA | Hattiesburg |
| English (Creative Writing) MA | Hattiesburg |
| English (Literature) MA | Hattiesburg |
- Educator: University to Secondary School
- Academic and University Press Publishing
- Professional Creative Writer
- Higher Education Administrator
- Creative & Professional Journal Editor
- Technical or Professional Writer
- Sara Lewis, 2017,
Associate Editor, the Oxford American - Andrea Spofford, 2013,
Associate Professor of English, Austin Peay State University
- Susan Elliott, 2016,
Marketing Manager, New Capital Partners - Sarah Wynn, 2013,
Director of McNair Program, University of Wisconsin-Stout
- Laura Hakala, 2015,
Assistant Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Pembroke - Michael Farris Smith, 2002,
Author of The Fighter, Desperation Road, and Rivers