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.