Our English graduate program offers three degree programs: an online master’s degree, a residential master’s degree, and a Ph.D. degree.
A primary aim and strength of our programs is the fruitful dialogue between students and faculty with differing but related professional interests. Professional and apprentice creative writers, critics, theorists, and composition specialists interact, learning from one another and discovering the common concerns that unite artists, scholars, readers, and teachers of literature and writing.
The sense of collegiality—the common pursuit of shared goals from different perspectives—produces an atmosphere of intellectual challenge and personal consideration that distinguishes our graduate English program from others.
One of the first universities in the country to offer a Ph.D. in Creative Writing, µÛÍõ»áËù is home to a thriving, widely respected graduate program with concentrations in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
In addition to workshops in these genres, this concentration offers students frequent interaction with award-winning faculty and nationally recognized visiting writers.
Our graduating creative writing Ph.D. students have landed tenure-track jobs, post-doctorates, or prestigious visiting writer posts. Our M.A. graduates go on to study in the top MFA and Ph.D. programs.
Candidates for a literature degree have the opportunity to study with accomplished specialists in a diverse array of literary periods, genres and topics.
Students studying literature have the opportunity to work with scholar-teachers who model meaningful engagement with meaning, history, theory and empathy in their research and classrooms.
Many Ph.D. graduates have taken teaching and research positions at a variety of regional institutions. Others have gone into careers in development, instructional design, and administration.
The master’s and doctoral degrees in Rhetoric & Composition emphasize rhetoric and composition theory, history, and research, and the ways these inform the teaching of writing.
Our students work with experts in first-year composition pedagogy, second language writing, lifespan writing, and AI and digital media in composition studies.
Many alumni of the M.A. concentration have gone on to earn Ph.D.s in the field at other universities. Doctoral alumni have an outstanding placement record in tenure-track positions.
The English graduate programs rose in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report rankings to crack the top 100, rising 18 spots to 90. OHIO's English graduate programs also were named second best in the state of µÛÍõ»áËù out of public institutions.
The study of English in the 21st 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 µÛÍõ»áËù 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.
The spirit of dialogue and community also is fostered by the university's location in the informal and tranquil setting of rural Appalachian µÛÍõ»áËù. 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 µÛÍõ»áËù 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.
The Ph.D. in English is designated primarily as professional preparation for scholars and teachers of Creative Writing, Literature, and Rhetoric/Composition. The program at µÛÍõ»áËù offers students the opportunity to concentrate in one of these three areas of English studies. However, while our program requires students to focus on a particular area, it also enables them to explore other areas, to investigate the intersections of subfields, and even to pursue a hybrid degree. Accordingly, the program includes general and cross-disciplinary requirements as well as specific requirements within each of the concentrations. In all concentrations student work culminates with a dissertation.
ompletion of the program generally requires five academic years, but full-time students who are not teaching assistants may complete the program in less time.