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The PhD Program
The PhD program, established in 1963, primarily prepares students to become teachers and scholars in a college or university setting. It also seeks to prepare students for careers in business, industry, and other fields requiring advanced skills in writing, communication, independent research, and the analysis and interpretation of complex information. All students completing the program should have developed deep and broad understanding of English Studies, together with expertise in formulating, conducting, justifying, and explaining a program of research in one or more of its subdisciplines. All students completing the program should be qualified to find tenure-eligible faculty positions at colleges or universities.
Since the principal goal is to train scholars and teachers, students entering the program are expected to form a coherent program of research and philosophy of teaching that will allow them to make a contribution to the discipline and to the institutions in which they hope to be employed after earning the degree.