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Degree, Minors and Certificates Offered

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Undergraduate Programs

Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Professional Programs

Departments

English

College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature
Kuykendall 402
1733 Donaghho Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-7619
Fax: (808) 956-3083
Email: See list of contacts on webpage
Web: www.english.hawaii.edu

Faculty

*Graduate Faculty

*F. R. Ardolino, PhD—Renaissance literature, drama
*C. Bacchilega, PhD—folklore and literature, gender and fairy tales, narrative, folkloristics and colonialism, feminist criticism, translation studies
*S. Canham, PhD—Victorian and juvenile literature, the novel
*J. Caron, PhD—19th-century American literature, Mark Twain, comic art and literature, popular culture
*J. Carroll, PhD—rhetoric and composition, American novel, fiction
*E. Clayton, PhD—composition and rhetoric
*S. Curry, PhD—American literature, children’s literature, comparative literature, critical theory, creative non-fiction and autobiographical writing
*R. W. Dasenbrock, PhD—modernist literature, literary theory
*D. Desser, PhD—20th-century rhetorics, writing and difference, composition studies
*C. Franklin, PhD—contemporary ethnic U.S. literatures, cultural theory, life writing, disability studies, feminist studies
*M. Fuchs, PhD—modern American literature, autobiography, women writers
*C. Fujikane, PhD—literatures of Hawai‘i, Asian American literatures, feminist/nationalist critical theory and practice
*S. Goldsberry, PhD—creative writing
*M. Heberle, PhD—Renaissance literature, American Vietnam literature
*J. Henry, PhD—composition studies, technical writing, professional writing, auto-ethnography
*K. Ho‘omanawanui, PhD—Hawaiian literature
*C. Howes, PhD—life writing, literary theory, research methods, 19th-century literature
*R. Hsu, PhD—Asian American and Asian diaspora literature, U.S. ethnic literatures, cultural studies
*F. Jussawalla, PhD—postcolonial literature, Indian literature in English
*J. Kellogg, PhD—medieval English and French literature, comparative literature, medieval women writers
*A. Kennedy, MA—creative writing
*U. Khan, MFA—creative writing
S. Kosanke, MA—composition and literature instruction
*J. Lew, PhD—late 18th-century literature, English and European romanticism, Gothic
*L. Lyons, PhD—post-colonial literatures and theory, Irish literature, cultural studies
*P. Lyons, PhD—19th and 20th Century U.S. literatures, settler and Pacific region literatures, literary and cultural theory
*G. Man, PhD—film, narrative, 19th-century British literature
*K. McAndrews, PhD—American literatures, folklore and oral narrative, cultural studies
*R. W. McHenry Jr., PhD—Restoration and 18th-century literature, Shakespeare, literature and art
*L. Middleton, PhD—19th-century literature by women, feminist theory, psychology and literature
*R. Morales, MA—creative writing, literature of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, American ethnic literature, film noir/roman noir
*J. Morse, PhD—American literature, literary history
* R. Westbury Nettell, PhD—composition and literature instruction
*P. Nicholson, PhD—Old English, Chaucer, medieval literature, English language
*J. H. O’Mealy, PhD—modern drama, Victorian literature
*G. Pak, PhD—creative writing, literature of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, Asian American literature, American ethnic literature
*D. Payne, PhD—composition and rhetoric, computer-mediated writing, new media, globalization
*J. Peters, PhD—modern British and American literature, narratology, the British novel (1700-1945)
*K. Phillips, PhD—gender studies, literature of war, postcolonial literature, creative writing
*P. Quigley, PhD—American literature, eco-criticism
*J. Rieder, PhD—literary and cultural theory, science fiction, British Romanticism
*T. Sammons, PhD—Renaissance and 17th-century literature, Milton, science fiction, rhetoric
*S. Schultz, PhD—20th-century poetry in English, American literature, creative writing
*S. Shankar, PhD—postcolonial literature and theory, South Asian literatures, translation and translation studies
*G. Sibley, PhD—British and American novel, Victorian literature, satire
*C. Sinavaiana, PhD—oceanic literatures, folklore, and film, comparative ethnic and post colonial literatures, creative writing (poetry and creative nonfiction)
*F. Stewart, MA—creative writing, poetry and poetics, American nature writing, biocultural essays and criticism, internationalism, Asian and Pacific literature, translation
*R. Sullivan, MA, Dip.Libr.—creative writing, folklore, Pacific literature, modern and contemporary poetry and poetics
*C. Ward, PhD—critical theory, post-colonial literature, popular culture, oral and performance theory, the novel
*J. Zuern, PhD—fiction, comparative literature, literature and philosophy

Degrees Offered: Undergraduate Certificate in Professional Writing, BA (including minor) in English, MA in English, PhD in English

The Academic Program

The Department of English encourages students to develop their critical reading, writing, and creative skills through study of a variety of literatures in English, composition and rhetoric, and creative writing. The department recognizes the unique diversity of cultures in Hawai‘i and employs a variety of approaches, including multicultural and Asia Pacific perspectives, to address this uniqueness. Students work directly with faculty in relatively small classes. The department participates actively in UH Mânoa’s Honors Program and its Study Abroad Semester and offers professional internships for interested students in the senior year.

The goals of the undergraduate English program are (a) to offer a comprehensive range of courses in literary and cultural studies, composition, rhetoric, and creative writing; (b) to develop students’ critical thinking and reading skills; (c) to develop students’ interests and abilities in rhetoric and writing across a variety of genres. Many of our courses recognize Hawai‘i’s geographical and cultural location in the Pacific.

The graduate program enriches students’ knowledge of literature, composition and rhetoric, creative writing, and cultural studies. MA students are asked to take approximately half of their course work in a specific concentration so that they begin to develop an area of expertise while broadening their understanding of other areas of study. The MA thesis or final project at the end of the program gives them the opportunity to do extended research and writing on a topic of their own choosing.

The doctoral program prepares students to become professionals in the field. Required courses are not its focus; rather, it offers students considerable latitude in course selection and requires disciplined, independent work on examinations and the dissertation. Candidates completing the program should have the skills and experience to function as critics, scholars, and writers in an area associated with the profession of English.

Undergraduate Study

Bachelor’s Degree

The Department of English offers the BA degree with informal emphases in American, British, and Pacific literatures; composition and rhetoric; and creative writing.

Requirements

For Arts and Sciences students, one FW and one ENG DL course are prerequisites for the English major and minor. Students enrolled in colleges other than Arts and Sciences may elect ENG DL courses (as per current policy). Students must complete 33 credit hours of upper-division courses, as follows:

Level Requirements

  • at the 300 level

    A. ENG 320, Introduction to English Studies; this course is foundational and should be taken in the student’s first or second semester of upper-division English work; 3 credits
    B. 5 courses in addition to ENG 320; 15 credits. Several of these courses should be in areas prerequisite to/preparatory for specific courses at the 400 level

  • at the 400 level (ENG 320 and one 300-level course are prerequisite to Studies courses):

    C. Single Author (440 Alpha Single Author; 442 Chaucer; 445 Shakespeare; or 447 Milton); 3 credits
    D. 2 additional elective courses; 6 credits. At least one 400-level course must be a designated Studies course

  • No more than two upper-division English large enrollment courses may be counted toward the major

    Total: 33 credits

Breadth Requirements

Breadth of Field: the five 300-level courses in addition to Introduction to English Studies must come from at least three different categories:

  • Composition/Language/Rhetoric (300-308, 311)
  • Creative Writing (313)
  • Literary History (321-56)
  • Genre (360-65)
  • Literature and Culture (370-85)

Historical Breadth: of the nine courses in addition to Introduction to English Studies and Single Author, one must be pre-1700, one 1700-1900, and one after 1900.

Only courses in which a student receives a C or better may be counted toward the major.

Non-English Department Course

With the consent of the student’s advisor or the director of the undergraduate program, one appropriate three-credit upper-division course from outside English may be counted as a major elective.

Minor

English offers a fifteen-credit minor for students who wish to emphasize a specific aspect of English studies without completing the actual major. Beyond the two required courses, the minor may focus on literary studies, creative writing, cultural studies, or rhetoric and composition. The student may also take electives from any of these areas.

For Arts and Sciences students, one FW and one ENG DL course are prerequisites for the English major and minor. Students enrolled in colleges other than Arts and Sciences may elect ENG DL courses (as per current policy). All UH Mânoa courses applied to the English minor will come from the Department of English or cross-listed courses. Appropriate upper-division transfer credits may apply toward the minor.

The minor consists of:

  1. ENG 320, Introduction to English Studies. This course is foundational and should be taken in the student’s first or second semester of upper-division English work; 3 credits
  2. Single author course (440 Alpha Single Author; 442 Chaucer; 445 Shakespeare; or 447 Milton); 3 credits
  3. 300-level ENG elective; 3 credits
  4. 400-level ENG elective; 3 credits
  5. 300- or 400-level ENG elective; 3 credits

Only courses in which a student receives a C or better may be counted toward the minor.

Advising is mandatory for majors; new majors will be assigned an advisor when they meet with the director of the undergraduate programs for their required orientation session. Call (808) 956-7619 for an appointment.

Certificate in Professional Writing

The English Department’s Certificate in Professional Writing offers students professional marketability by formally recognizing the technical, rhetorical, and collaborative abilities they have developed through completing key courses. 15 credits, total. Please see the undergraduate director in Kuykendall 429 for further information.

Requirements (9 credits)

  • ENG 308 Technical Writing
  • Either ENG 307 Rhetoric, Composition, and Computers or ENG 407 Writing for Electronic Media
  • ENG 408 Professional Editing

Electives (6 credits)

  • ENG 300 Introduction to Rhetoric
  • ENG 306 Argumentative Writing I
  • ENG 307 Rhetoric, Composition, and Computers if not chosen as a required course
  • ENG 364 Non-fiction Prose
  • ENG 406 Argumentative Writing II
  • ENG 407 Writing for Electronic Media if not chosen as a required course
  • ENG 495 Internship

Graduate Study

The department offers the MA in English with four concentrations: literary studies in English, composition and rhetoric, creative writing, and cultural studies in Asia/Pacific. It offers the PhD in these and other areas, for the doctoral program is sufficiently flexible to allow students to develop individualized courses of study. Students applying for the MA are expected to have acquired between 24 and 30 upper division undergraduate credit hours in English or closely related subjects. PhD applicants normally will have completed the MA in English, although exceptionally well-qualified students may petition to transfer into the PhD program after completing 18 credit hours in the MA program in English. In addition to the application and transcripts required by the Graduate Division, all applicants must submit directly to the department three letters of recommendation and the GRE General Test scores. Applicants must also submit a comprehensive statement of professional goals and objectives; PhD students must submit a representative sample of their writing (scholarly paper or MA thesis); those interested in a dissertation with a creative emphasis must also submit examples of their creative work. Residents of O‘ahu applying to the PhD program may arrange for an interview with the graduate director. The completed application should be sent to the Graduate Division by January 1 for the PhD program and February 1 for the MA program, but the GPC may consider, during the fall semester, unusually strong applications to the PhD program from students currently enrolled in other UH Mânoa graduate programs at the PhD level. Complete information on the graduate program is provided in a graduate student manual, available from the department on request.

Courses for the MA and PhD are to be selected from the list of English (ENG) courses, although advanced courses in other disciplines may be substituted with the prior approval of the graduate director. The consent of the instructor is required for ENG 691, 699, 700, and 800; the consent of the graduate director is required for all graduate courses. The following courses may be repeated for credit, since content differs from semester to semester: ENG 613, 625, 691, 699, 705, 709, 727, 730, 735, 740, 760, 780, and 790.

Master’s Degree

Graduates of the MA program in English have taught in secondary schools, junior and community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. Some have pursued doctoral work; others have combined their work in English with another professional field (e.g., business, law, library studies). Still others have found employment in writing, editing, or research-related fields.

MA candidates are required to select a concentration by the end of their first semester in the program. Plan A (thesis) applies only to those admitted into the concentration in creative writing. Plan B (non-thesis) applies to those who have selected the concentrations in literary studies in English, composition and rhetoric, or cultural studies in Asia/Pacific.

Plan A (Thesis) Requirements

  • Applicable only to those students admitted to the concentration in creative writing. Students should submit a writing sample during the admission process or apply to the chair of creative writing for admission to the concentration during their first semester in the program
  • 27 credit hours of course work, including 21 credit hours of courses numbered 600 and above
  • 6 additional credit hours of work on the MA thesis
  • ENG 625D—plus an additional 625, both taken during the first semester
  • Final oral examination on the thesis
  • A minimum of 12 credit hours of course work in creative writing and 12 credit hours of course work outside of that concentration. Courses listed in different concentrations may be applied to either area.
  • One graduate course in a subject area before 1900. In exceptional cases, the graduate director may approve the use of a 400-level course to meet this requirement.
  • One course with substantial content in Asia/Pacific at the 400-, 600- or 700-level, in or out of the English department while in residence at UH Mânoa.
  • Reading knowledge of one foreign language

Plan B (Non-thesis) Requirements

  • 33 credit hours of course work, including 27 credit hours in courses numbered 600 and above. Applies to all students except those in creative writing
  • Two courses taken from the 625 sequence, to be taken in the first semester, 6 credits
  • ENG 691— a minimum of 3 credit hours and a maximum of 6 credit hours required for work on the MA final project
  • Final oral examination on the MA project
  • One course in the English language (ENG 402, 403, 404, 601 or equivalent)— taken prior to entering the program. Students may meet this requirement within the program by taking an undergraduate course in the English language in addition to the total of 33 credit hours required for the MA degree or by taking an appropriate graduate course, such as 601, which will count towards the MA degree but may not also be used to fulfill the pre-1700 or pre-1900 course requirement.
  • One course with substantial content in Asia/Pacific, at the 400-, 600-, or 700-level, in or out of the English department, while in residence at UH Mânoa.
  • Reading knowledge of one foreign language
  • Requirements for those in literary studies: between 12 and 24 credit hours of course work in the student’s concentration, including ENG 625B; one graduate course in a subject area before 1700.
  • Requirements for those in composition and rhetoric: ENG 605, 625C, 705 and 709; a minimum of 12 credit hours of course work outside the concentration; one graduate course in a subject area before 1900. Courses listed in different concentrations may be applied to either area.
  • Requirements for those in cultural studies in Asia/Pacific: a minimum of 12 credit hours of course work in the concentration, including ENG 625E and 3 credit hours in Hawai‘i’s local literature, Asian American literature, or Pacific literature; a minimum of 12 credit hours of course work outside the concentration; one graduate course in a subject area before 1900. Courses listed in different concentrations may be applied to either area. Students in cultural studies will be allowed to meet 3 credit hours of work in their concentration with a course outside of the English department with permission of their concentration advisor.

Doctoral Degree

Since the PhD program offers diverse courses and the opportunity to specialize in a range of different areas, graduates may pursue careers from among several professions, including teaching, research, and writing.

Requirements

PhD candidates must fulfill the residency requirement and are required to take seven graduate-level courses in the Department of English; two courses, normally at the 400 level or above, in a field outside of English but related to the student’s research interests; one course with substantial content in Asia/Pacific at the 400-, 600-, or 700-level, in or out of the English department, while in residence at UH Mânoa. They must pass three area examinations and a comprehensive examination and demonstrate competence in two languages other than English (one of which, if appropriate to the candidate’s research, may be a computer language) or in one language at an advanced level of proficiency. Candidates will be required to complete an original scholarly or creative dissertation representing a substantial contribution to the discipline of English, suitable for publication, and a final oral examination on the dissertation.

ENG Courses