Lehigh University’s graduate program in English is designed to prepare scholar-teachers for positions in institutions where both teaching and research are important elements of a successful academic career. Our English department has developed a program of study and teaching that should provide our graduates with
- a broad knowledge of British and American literature in its historical context, including recent expansions of the canon;
- a concentration of work in a major field, which is also the principal area of research;
- an understanding of one or more recent theoretical approaches and the ability to use those theories to investigate literary, cultural, or pedagogical issues;
- an ability to conduct sustained research and to produce insightful scholarship;
- sufficient background in composition and rhetoric to have a theoretical basis for teaching courses in writing;
- experience in teaching composition and literature to undergraduates.
Lehigh’s English department places emphasis on Literature and Social Justice, and we offer ENGL 481: Theories of LIterature and Social Justice each spring. (Recent syllabi can be found here.)
The majority of our graduate students are fully funded, primarily as Teaching Assistants. Our Teaching Assistants and Graduate Assistants receive full tuition remission as well as a stipend of between $21,000 and $22,000 per year. Teaching Assistants are granted the opportunity to design and teach a first-year writing course each semester.
We encourage our graduate students to become active professionally, and most of them participate in conferences or publish articles in scholarly journals. Because our program is small and selective, graduate students receive individual attention and supervision at all stages in their programs of study.