Whom should I contact with further questions?

Evelyn I. Funda
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of English, Utah State University
3200 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-3200
435-797-3653

What would it be like to live in Cache Valley?

Utah State University is located in a valley in the Rocky Mountains, a few miles from the Idaho and Wyoming borders. The valley floor lies at 4,600 ft., while the mountains surrounding it rise to over 9,000 ft. Logan and the small towns of Cache Valley have a total population of about 75,000. The local economy is based on agriculture and a number of small, high-tech industries.

We enjoy a moderate, four-season climate, with hot summers, cold winters, and mild spring and fall seasons. Humidity is very low, and most of the annual precipitation falls as snow in the winter. Although the area is naturally very dry, the valley floor, through irrigation, is green, fertile farmland.

The university campus sits on a raised plateau. Behind it, to the east, the mountains rise steeply. To the west, the campus looks over the city of Logan and the farmland beyond to the Wellsville Mountains, 15 miles away on the far side of the valley, as the campus webcam suggests. Views are spectacular in all directions and wilderness can be found just a few minutes away, up one of several canyons off the main valley. For students who enjoy complementing their studies with such activities as hiking, bicycling (both mountain and road), rock climbing, horseback riding, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, or snowmobiling, the opportunities are unparalleled.

The campus and the city of Logan also offer a remarkable selection of cultural activities, including opera, plays, and concerts that bring international artists to the valley. The cost of living is relatively low and Cache Valley offers a safe environment for families with young children. The Salt Lake City airport is an hour and a half away by car or shuttle van. Most major airlines serve the airport, which is a hub for Delta. More information about the surrounding area can be found here.


Student housing is plentiful and cheap. Living costs in Cache Valley are generally lower than in many other parts of the country—the official estimate is 12% lower than the national average. Logan lies in Cache Valley, surrounded by mountains. It’s a quiet, rural valley with a few small, high-tech industries. Salt Lake City is an hour and a half away by car. USU is the largest employer in Cache Valley, followed by ICON, a home fitness manufacturer that owns NordicTrack. The population in Logan and outlying communities in the valley is about 100,000. There is almost no crime. 

Please click here for information about student housing provided by our School of Graduate Studies.You’ll find links from that page to details about on-campus graduate housing in Aggie Village. There are a number of students live there, either in married or single arrangements. The campus of Utah State University sits on an area of flat ground a couple of hundred feet above the main part of Logan. Aggie Village is on the north edge of this plateau. Our department is on the south edge, but there is a shuttle bus system for getting around, and many students ride bicycles. Here’s a map of the campus: http://www.usu.edu/map/.

How would you characterize your department?

The faculty includes about 30 tenure-line professors recruited from universities all over the U.S. In addition to teaching courses and helping with the administration of the department, they pursue research and scholarship in a variety of areas and are involved with the local community (see individual faculty profiles on the directory for lists of their scholarly interests and publications). The department is home to the journal Western American Literature.

With a lively, productive, and diverse faculty, the department is an excellent place for a graduate student to enter his or her chosen academic field through one of the four master’s level specializations. We are also a friendly, congenial, informal department where faculty and students mingle at readings, presentations, and social functions during the year.

There are about 100 graduate students in the department actively pursuing master’s degrees. Of these, about 70 take classes on campus, where most of them also teach as Graduate Instructors. For students selected as GIs, we offer an excellent training in the theory and practice of teaching college-level composition courses.

The other 30 or so graduate students are in the Technical Writing program. The majority of them live outside the area and take their courses online. One of the distinctive features of this department is its commitment to the exploration of online education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Graduate students in any of our specializations have opportunities to participate in this technological exploration through research projects, by taking some online classes, or by learning to teach online.

What will the Master’s degree cost?

Tuition and fees for the 2011-2012 academic year are shown in this tuition and fees table (which requires Adobe Acrobat to read). 

 

For students who have not established official residency in Utah, non-resident tuition is charged unless the student is employed as a Graduate Instructor, in which case he or she is charged tuition and fees at the resident rate.

See also the page on Tuition and Financial Aid.

How long will it take me to graduate?

Students typically complete the 30-33 credits required to graduate with the master’s degree in two or three years. A few exceptionally good students who were financially able to devote all their time to their studies have managed to finish in one and a half years, but we recommend that students take at least two years in order to have sufficient time to discover and develop a thesis project.

Do I have to take the GRE or MAT?

  Yes. Applicants sometimes ask us whether the requirement for GRE or MAT scores can be waived if they took the test more than five years ago (ETS will only report GRE scores for five years after the test is taken), or if they have already completed a graduate degree elsewhere. We consider all the application materials to assess applicants’ current abilities and to help compare them against each other when making decisions about scholarships and Graduate Instructorships. The more assessment tools available to us, the better we are able to do this. Our policy, therefore, is to require all applicants to submit recent GRE scores, rather than petitioning the Graduate School to waive the requirement for current GRE/MAT scores for individuals. Although we accept scores from the MAT in lieu of those from the GRE, we encourage applicants, especially those with aspirations for a future PhD, to take the GRE General Test (which has Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical sections). The GRE Subject Test in English is not required.

How much do testing scores weigh in the admission decisions?
Although the English Department considers testing scores as only one of several factors in admission decisions, it is important that you aim for the best scores possible. Whether you take the GRE or MAT, USU’s Office of the School of Graduate Studies (which governs all the campus graduate programs) has a blanket requirement that the test scores for students in any graduate program be at or above the 40th percentile in all areas (For GREs, this includes Quantitative). However, if students fall below the 40th percentile in one or more of the areas (for instance, in the Quantitative section), there is still possibility for admission through a petition process. If other factors, such as your GPA, letters of recommendation, letter of intent, and writing samples are strong, the department’s admission committee may request an admission petition be submitted by the DGS to the School of Graduate Studies. If the admission committee chooses to accept in such cases, this process is initiated by English Dept DGS, and she will inform you of the results. In such cases, applicants need do nothing, although be aware that this may delay your admission decision.

What materials should I send to the English Department?

While you are assembling the materials listed above to send to the School of Graduate Studies, you also need to gather and send ten or more pages of your academic writing directly to  

Evelyn I. Funda
Associate Professor, American Lit. & American Studies
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of English, Utah State University
3200 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-3200
435-797-3653

This material, which may include more than one sample, will be read by the faculty assessing your application to help them decide whether you are ready to write at the level expected for scholarly assignments in a graduate seminar. The samples you submit should therefore be chosen and presented with that purpose in mind. As far as possible, choose examples of your best academic writing relevant to the program to which you are applying. Preface each sample with a paragraph explaining the context in which it was written. We accept samples of creative writing (poetry, fiction, non-fiction essays, etc.) in addition to--but not in place of--academic writing samples.

What materials should I send to the Graduate School?

When you receive the application packet from the School of Graduate Studies, gather and send back the following materials:  

1) A completed application form, which you submit electronically through the Graduate School website. In the essay section of the application form, please indicate the program and specialization for which you are applying: "English (Literature & Writing)," "English (Technical Writing)," "American Studies (Standard)," or "American Studies (Folklore)," or "PhD in Theory & Practice of Professional Communication."

2) A $55 application fee.

3) All official undergraduate transcripts, and graduate transcripts if you have any, showing GPA (the minimum requirement is 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for the last 60 credits taken).

4) Three letters of recommendation (two of which must be from former teachers if you have been enrolled in school during the last five years). These letters should be sent directly to the Graduate School by the letter writers, using the forms you downloaded from the Graduate School website.

5) Test scores from either the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) or the MAT(Miller Analogies Test). If you choose the GRE, scores must be submitted in all three sections of the General test (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical). For the GRE, the minimum acceptable score by the Office of the School of Graduate Studies is at or above the 40th percentile in the three areas. However, if students fall below the 40th percentile in one or more of the areas (for instance, in the Quantitative section), there is still possibility for admission through a petition process.  This process is initiated by English Dept DGS, if the admission committee chooses to accept; applicants don’t need to do anything in this regard. If applicants take the MAT instead of the GRE, their scores must also be at or above the 40th percentile.
Note: The GRE Subject test is not required for any of our graduate programs.

International applicants from non-English-speaking countries must also take the following two tests (unless their undergraduate degree is from a university in an English-speaking country):

6) Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum score for the paper-based TOEFL is 550; for the computer-based TOEFL, 213; and for the Internet based TOEFL, 80.

International students must also submit an I-20 application form and a financial guarantee. Please visit the Graduate School web page describing international application procedures and the Utah State web page providing information for international students.

The School of Graduate Studies keeps the application fee, reviews the other items, and passes them on to the English Department for evaluation.

What are the application deadlines?

For the online Technical Writing master's specialization, there are two deadlines: March 1 (for admission in Summer or Fall) and November 1 (for admission in Spring). See the Master'sTechnical Writing web page for further information. 

For the other specializations (Literature & Writing, American Studies, and Folklore), the main deadline is January 15. By this date, the following materials should have arrived at Utah State:

• All application materials to the Graduate School
• Writing samples to the English Department
• Graduate Instructorship application to the English Department (if you are interested in teaching for us)

Meeting this deadline will allow us to give you a timely decision about your application, and it will give you the best chance for a Graduate Instructorship. Most Graduate Instructors for the next year are selected in February/March.

June 1: We have a published final deadline of June 1 for applications for fall semester. However, since applications are reviewed by faculty members and very few of them are on contract during the summer, the chances of application materials being reviewed in time for fall semester drop sharply after the end of the spring semester (the beginning of May). Most, if not all, Graduate Instructorships are awarded in February or March.

Spring admission: Applicants who would like to be considered for admission to the American Studies, Folklore, or Literature & Writing programs in the spring semester should have all their application materials delivered to us no later than the end of November (for Technical Writing the deadline is November 1). Since training for new Graduate Instructors is conducted in August and through the fall semester, students who are admitted in spring semester will not be eligible to work as GIs that semester. They should, however, submit their application for a Graduate Instructorship by January 15 to be considered for a position starting in fall of the same year.

How do I apply?

You will need an application form and forms for letters of recommendation. The simplest way to acquire these is through the Utah State School of Graduate Studies website. This page will describe the application procedure and allows you to submit your application form and download the other necessary forms.

Here are some other ways to contact the Graduate School:

School of Graduate Studies

Utah State University

0900 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-0900

Phone: (435) 797-1189

FAX: (435) 797-1192

USU Grad Contact Page

If you are applying for the online Technical Writing master's specialization, you will need the same application form and forms for letters of recommendation, but you should visit the Master's Technical Writing site and follow the application process described there, since the deadlines and required materials are not the same as in the process described below.

If you are applying to the PhD program in Theory and Practice of Professional Communication, please see the PhD application process page.

What does a Graduate Instructor do?

Your Responsibilities: Teaching, Research, and Service

Graduate Instructors in the Writing Program have three areas of responsibility: teaching, research, and service. Success in these three areas helps you build a resume that will make you a competitive applicant to a Ph.D. program or a successful job candidate. Furthermore, positive reviews of your accomplishments in the areas of teaching, research, and service will assure you continued employment by the English Department as a graduate instructor. Regardless of what your career goals are, we train you in your roles and responsibilities as academics, assuming that you may one day want to enter a Ph.D. program.

Teaching

You will teach two classes of English 1010 (Introduction to Academic Writing) each semester of your first year. During your second year, you will teach two classes of English 2010 (Research Writing in a Persuasive Mode).


As a GI you will tutor 1 hour a week, you will be required to attend a 1-hour staff meeting each month (you are excused if you're teaching or if you're attending a grad class, but you are required to read the meeting notes). In spring, GIs are invited to stay on as tutors for hourly pay.

TEACHING

Writing Center 1 hour;
Two Classes of English 1010 6 hours
Office Hours 4 hours
Preparation for Teaching 8 hours
Total 20 hours per week teaching

How your teaching will be evaluated:

1. The Director and Assistant Directors of the Writing Program will observe you at least once each semester and meet with you to discuss your teaching.
2. Your students will evaluate your teaching using a University-prepared form. You will be rated on a 6 point scale for a wide variety of descriptors of good teaching in addition to extended written comments by students. The Writing Program also uses student comments to evaluate your teaching.
3. You will be observed several times by other G.I.s in English 6820.
4. You will write a self-assessment of your teaching for your teaching portfolio. (We'll show you how to assemble a teaching portfolio during the semester.)


Because you are a graduate student, the rest of your time might be considered research.


Research

Excellent research and writing are crucial for those wishing to continue with an academic career. A good research record is also required for jobs in many different fields. Your research will be conducted in conjunction with your graduate classes. You will write many papers based on your research, all leading either to your master's thesis or to a series of papers which will demonstrate your mastery of your field.

You will share your research through the following venues: presentations in class, presentations at local and national conferences, and publication of your papers in appropriate journals. Graduate schools and two-year colleges look especially at a graduate student's record of research and publication. The best predictor of future success in academic research is a candidate's past accomplishments.


Research

English 6820 5 hours
Second Graduate Class 3 hours
Preparation for Classes 12 hours
Total 20 hours per week researching

Service

Service is an often over-looked area by graduate students. However, the types and kinds of academic service you perform are very important to future employers and graduate schools as they consider your candidacy. In our profession, to be an outstanding teacher and an excellent researcher is still not enough.


As academics, you will be expected to devote another few hours a week to service, as do all faculty members. It's just part of the job, and it makes the academic community work in a way that is unique to all other organizations which are not self-governed. Service includes your membership on committees but can include other academically-related work as well.

Employers, whether in academics or not, want employees who have demonstrated their ability to volunteer, take on extra responsibilities, and who are clearly "team players" in the sense that they are willing to work for the good of the whole organization. In the academic profession, the future success of an individual is often evaluated on the basis of past accomplishments. That is why in academics we submit a Curriculum Vitae ("my life in academic pursuits") as opposed to a two-page business resume.

To encourage your curriculum vitae development, you will have many opportunities to participate in service activities in the Writing Program and the English Department. You will serve either as a chair, co-chair, or a member of various committees. You will also have the opportunity to volunteer for special projects and participate in the larger university graduate student organizations.

What follows is a list of typical activities enjoyed by graduate instructors in the past few years. Be thinking about which committees you will take part in. Every graduate instructor and instructor is expected to participate in at least three committees-- the same expectations that are held for tenure-track faculty.

Committees for which you should volunteer depending on your interest and expertise:

• Handbook Revision Committee: revises the handbook for English 1010 each semester.

• Social Committee: organizes parties and recreation.

• Web Site Development Committee: writes, edits, and keeps up on the Writing Program Web Site.

• Special Projects Committee: these vary from year to year; last year we participated in the Diversity
Fair with a presentation on authors from different cultures and ethnicities.

• Computer Liaison Committee: accesses and evaluates the state of the G.I. computers and makes recommendations to the Department Computer Committee.

• English Department Committees: many English Department committees require that a G.I. be a member; there will be a number of openings this fall.

• Graduate Student Council as Senators: English graduate students elected to this committee represent the concerns of the graduate students in English to the University.

• Helicon West: Helicon West is an open readings/ featured readers series; event locations will be announced.  Graduate students are invited to read at the open mike, serve on the planning committee, and help produce community broadsides. See Star Coulbrooke for details.

• Conversation Socials: a forum with guided topics for ESL/NNS/International students to hone their English-speaking  skills and become better writers in the process. 

The Directors of the Writing Program are ex officio members of most of these committees, but the committees are usually chaired by G.I.s and usually have two to three G.I.s as members.

How Your Work Hours Relate to Your Pay

The University considers you a half-time employee who works 20 hours per week. (Graduate students are not allowed to be employed for more than half time on campus.) Here is how we figure the 20 hours per week for which you are paid:

What is teaching 1010?

Teaching 1010

English 1010 is a reading/writing course designed specifically to teach students how to read and write for an academic audience. As you can see from course goals and objectives as well as the text, the course focuses on learning how to read and write academic essays and to think critically and discuss objectively the assigned and self-selected topics. For a majority of 1010 students, this class is their first experience in a college classroom. They still have lingering ideas of what school should be based on their recent high school experiences. English 1010 is designed to immediately challenge their conceptions of education while giving them the tools to succeed in their college experience.  

The goal of English 1010 is to help students understand the difference between thinking and writing in their home discourse community and the ways of thinking and writing within an academic community. This is not to say that the home discourse community is not valid. It is to make the point that different cultures (such as the academic community of the University) require different ways of dealing with information. Upon learning a secondary discourse (college) many 1010 students find acculturation very difficult. By utilizing their primary discourse to understand their secondary discourse, you as a teacher can better help them transition while learning a lot about how amazing these students are. 

Your Teaching Schedule 

You will not receive your teaching schedule until the week of August 22nd. All English 1010 classes are taught throughout the day on MWF. We randomly assign new GIs to these classes and then encourage the GIs to trade classes among themselves so each person can make a workable schedule. Graduate classes are usually offered in the evenings on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday or online.  

Your Students

Most of your students are typical first-year college students: 18 years old and fresh from high school. For many, this is their first time away from home, with all the freedoms and problems this entails. Few of your students will have written or read academic essays in high school, so your job is to teach them how to do this. However, most students have written quite a bit in high school, but typically in English classes and typically more creative and poetic types of writing. We work hard to help students understand the differences between essays and "stories." We also help students to develop their creative side by giving them liberty on certain writing assignments. The job of English 1010 is not only to differentiate between creative and academic writing but to show how both can be used to come to a greater understanding of writing as a craft.  

We spend little time directly teaching "grammar" in English 1010. However, if students cannot demonstrate standard written English, we need to help them out through a combination of individual instruction, trips to the Writing Center, and work on online modules.  

Students who earned a 3 or higher on the AP exam or who scored a 29 or higher on the ACT are automatically given credit for English 1010 and are not required to take it. Some students may have taken English 1010 as seniors in high school through concurrent enrollment courses. So the students you'll be teaching are (for the most part) average just-out-of-high-school kids who have little experience with academic writing and the kinds of critical thinking it requires. But they are generally delightful students who are interested in learning and being successful. You will enjoy working with them very much and be amazed at the progress they make during the semester. The average USU first year student has a composite score of 24 or higher on the ACT, so they are truly ready for an intense, intellectually challenging experience. 

 If you successfully teach your students to read and write academic essays, they will be eternally grateful to you, bless your name, and call you their best teacher in all the world. They will be like goslings: they will imprint upon you, and you will have the opportunity to help them become successful college students for which they will always thank you.  

Here are the kinds of comments from students we want to see on your teaching evaluations:

 The teacher's teaching methodology was A+. She performed the incredible feat of making English fun! In junior high and high school, this was unheard of. But she used many diverse tools to bring me a meaningful and exciting English experience. The teacher showed personal interest in each of us, had a great sense of humor, and knew the course content seemingly flawlessly. The teacher gave excellent writing examples, debates, activities, and discussions. I'll give her a 4.1 GPA for this course!  

I was overly impressed at the way the teacher was willing to help us after class with any thing that we needed. I went to the teacher's office countless times for help revising my papers. The teacher would go over my paper with me so I understood why something needed to be changed, or if I did well in a certain aspect of writing.

 I really enjoyed having this teacher. He has always been approachable, and gives me confidence as a writer. He never makes anyone feel dumb because of the questions that they asked. He wasn't necessarily a hard teacher, but he challenged everyone on his or her individual skill level. He always made me feel welcome when I came to talk to him in his office.

The Universal Vampire

Call for Contributors: "The Universal Vampire."
We are seeking contributions for an edited collection of essays on the subject of universal vampire studies.  The book will be intended for an informed popular audience interested in literature, film, folklore and cultural studies. The collection of approximately fifteen original essays will examine the vampire phenomenon from a variety of angles, accounting for both its popularity and the reactions it has provoked.

We envision the book divided into three parts:
(1) introductory and cultural-historical analyses, defining the legend, its origins and manifestations around the world, current trends and future possibilities; (2) critical essays on the vampire genre and its influence; and (3) unique individual perspectives, either literary, film, or folklore.
We expect the completed work to provide a detailed contemporary portrait of a vibrant cultural phenomenon.

If you are interested in contributing to this project, please respond by JANUARY 1, 2012 with a brief description of your proposed essay.  For further information, feel free to contact us.

Barbara Brodman
Professor
Department of Humanities
Nova Southeastern University
brodman@nova.edu

James Doan
Professor
Department of Humanities
Nova Southeastern University
doan@nova.edu

Woodress Visiting Scholar

Woodress Visiting Scholar

Deadline is: October 20, 2012.

Successful applicants will be informed by December 19, 2012.

The Cather Project, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, announces the availability of two awards for Woodress Visiting Scholars. These awards, $3,000 each, will provide for travel and residence in Lincoln, Nebraska, to conduct research on Willa Cather, drawing on materials and resources at UNL, Lincoln and Red Cloud, NE. These awards are enabled by the Roberta and James Woodress Fund.

Applications are invited from: early career scholars, advanced graduate students, recently completed PhDs, and faculty not yet tenured. The scholar is expected to be in residence in Lincoln for four consecutive weeks between January 1 - August 31, 2012. The Cather Project will assist with advice about travel and lodging arrangements. We will also help scholars make arrangements to travel to the Willa Cather Foundation in Red Cloud, NE, (150 miles from Lincoln) to conduct research using Cather materials.

The Cather Project produces the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition and Cather Studies, published by the University of Nebraska Press. The Archives and Special Collections, UNL Libraries, holds the largest collection of Cather letters of any library, letters to Cather, edited typescripts, multiple editions of her works, and many Cather-associated

materials. (Finding aids available on (http://libraries.unl.edu/spec.) The Willa Cather Archive, (cather.unl.edu) is another important resource located at UNL for the study of Cather’s life and writings.

Please send a C.V., a statement up to 3 pages describing the proposed research project and the importance of materials and resources at UNL to the project, a sample of scholarly writing (20-25pp focusing on Cather, though not necessarily exclusively), and 2 letters of recommendation. These letters should be specific to the Woodress Scholar award and proposed project rather than general letters of recommendation from your job placement dossier.

Please send these materials to:

eburke3@unl.edu (please place “Woodress Scholar” in the subject line) or mail them to:

Beth Burke, Cather Project

309 Andrews Hall, Lincoln,

NE 68588-0396.