COLLEGES OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Degree, Minors and Certificates Offered

General Information

Undergraduate Programs

Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Departments

English

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

Faculty

*Graduate Faculty

*S. Shankar, PhD (Chair)—postcolonial literature and theory, South Asian literatures, translation and translation studies
*S. Allen, PhD—composition theory (subjectivity and ethics), creative nonfiction, writing pedagogies
*C. Bacchilega, PhD—folklore, narrative, fairy-tale studies, 20th-century fiction, feminist criticism, literary theory, translation studies
*K. Beutner, PhD—fiction and creative nonfiction
*J. Caron, PhD—19th-century American literature, Mark Twain, comic art and literature, popular culture
*N. Chandra, PhD—Marxism, critical theory, popular culture, comparative modernisms, childhood studies
*R. W. Dasenbrock, PhD—modernism, literary theory, post-colonial literature, comparative literature
*D. Desser, PhD—20th-century rhetorics, writing and difference, composition studies
*A. Feuerstein, PhD—19th-century literature and culture, Victorian studies, animal studies, cultural studies, political theory
*C. Franklin, PhD—contemporary women’s literature, ethnic American literatures, feminist theory
*C. Fujikane, PhD—literatures of Hawai‘i, Asian American literatures, feminist/nationalist critical theory and practice
*J. T. Gagnon, PhD—cultural rhetorics, human rights rhetoric, embodiment/embodied rhetorics, decolonial theory, composition studies, relational pedagogy, and oral history
*M. Heberle, PhD—Renaissance literature, American Vietnam literature
*D. Higginbotham, PhD—late medieval English literature; early modern literature; literary history; Shakespeare and his contemporaries; queer theories/gender studies/feminist theories; Marxism and economic criticism; queer African literatures
*K. Ho‘omanawanui, PhD—Native Hawaiian literature, literatures of Hawai‘i, folklore and mythology, children’s literature, translation studies
*C. Howes, PhD—life writing, literary theory, research methods, 19th-century literature
*R. Hsu, PhD—modernism, ethnic literature, Asian American literature, feminist criticism
*L. Lyons, PhD—post-colonial literatures and theory, Irish literature, cultural studies
*P. Lyons, PhD—19th- and 20th-century U.S. literatures, literary and cultural theory, regional and settler literatures in Oceania
*G. Man, PhD—film, narrative, 19th-century British literature
*K. McAndrews, PhD—folklore, oral narrative, American Literature (1905–present), cultural studies in relationship to gender, humor and tourism
*R. Morales, MA—creative writing, Pacific literature, American ethnic literature
*J. Morse, PhD—American literature, literary history
*G. Nordstrom, PhD—composition and rhetoric
*G. Pak, PhD—creative writing, literature of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, Asian American literature, ethnic American literature
*D. Payne, PhD—composition and rhetoric, computer-mediated writing, collaborative learning
*C. Santos Perez, PhD—creative writing, international poetry, indigenous literature and theory, Pacific and Chamorro studies
*P. Quigley, PhD—environmental literature, ecocriticism, critical theory, 19th century American and British literature, cyber literature
*J. Rieder, PhD—literary and cultural theory, science fiction, British Romanticism
*S. Yang Ryan, MA—creative writing, Asian American literature, speculative and social protest fiction
*T. Sammons, PhD—Renaissance and 17th-century literature, Milton, science fiction, rhetoric
*S. Schultz, PhD—20th-century poetry in English, American literature, creative writing
*J. Taylor, PhD—African American literature, visual culture, critical theory
*C. Ward, PhD—critical theory, post-colonial literature, popular culture, oral and performance theory, the novel
*J. Zuern, PhD—computer-mediated communication, comparative literature

Degrees Offered: 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 Manoa’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; and (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

One FW and one ENG 270–273 course are prerequisites for upper-division English courses. Majors must complete 33 credit hours of upper division courses, as follows:

Level Requirements

at the 300 level
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. 5 300-level courses are recommended 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 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 or ENG 491
at the 300 or 400 level:

E. 2 elective courses; 6 credits

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 ENG 320 must come from at least two different categories:

Composition/Language/Rhetoric (300, 302, 303, 306, 307, 308, 311)
Creative Writing (311, 313)
Genre (360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 366, 369)
Literature and Culture (372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385)
Literature of Hawai‘i and the Pacific (370, 371, 378)

Historical Breadth: of the nine courses in addition to Introduction to English Studies, 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.

For information on a Bachelor Degree Program Sheet, go to www.manoa.hawaii.edu/ovcaa/programsheets/.

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.

Advising

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. Schedule a session on www.english.hawaii.edu.

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.

One FW and one ENG 270–273 course are prerequisites for upper-division English courses. All UH Manoa 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:

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
Single author course (440 Single Author; 442 Chaucer; 445 Shakespeare; or 447 Milton); 3 credits
300-level ENG elective; 3 credits
400-level ENG elective; 3 credits
300- or 400-level ENG elective; 3 credits

No more than one upper division English large enrollment course may be counted toward the minor. Only courses in which a student receives a C or better may be counted toward the minor.

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 a bachelor’s degree in English or a closely related field. PhD applicants normally will have completed the MA in English. All applicants must submit an application, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, GRE General Test scores, a comprehensive statement of professional goals and objectives, and a critical writing sample. Also, applicants interested in the creative writing concentration must also submit a creative writing sample. Application deadlines are December 1 for the PhD program and January 1 for the MA program. Complete information on the application process is provided on the department’s website.

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.

Master’s Degree

Graduates of the MA program in English have taught in secondary schools, community 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.

Plan A (Thesis) Requirements

Plan A is applicable only to students admitted to the Creative Writing concentration. Students complete 33 credits:

27 credit hours of course work:
- ENG 625D and ENG 625B, C, or E
- 9 credits of course work in creative writing and 12 credits outside of creative writing.
- One course must be pre-1900
- One course must have substantial Hawai'i/Asia/Pacific content
6 credits of work on the MA thesis

Students must also achieve intermediate level knowledge of one foreign language.

Plan B (Non-thesis) Requirements

Plan B is applicable to students in the Literary Studies in English, Composition and Rhetoric, and Cultural Studies in Asia/Pacific concentrations. All Plan B students complete 33 credits–30 credits of course work and 3 credits of work on the MA final project. One course must have substantial Hawai‘i/Asia/Pacific content. All students must also achieve intermediate level knowledge of one foreign language.

Requirements for students in Literary Studies in English: ENG 625B and ENG 625C, D, or E; 9 credits minimum in LSE. One course must be pre-1700.
Requirements for students in Composition and Rhetoric: ENG 625C and ENG 625B, D, or E; ENG 605, 705, and 709; 12 credits minimum in other concentrations. One course must be pre-1900.
Requirements for students in Cultural Studies in Asia/Pacific: ENG 625E and ENG 625B, C, or D; 9 credits minimum of course work in CSAP and 12 credits minimum in other concentrations. One course must be pre-1900. 3 credits may be taken outside of the English department with the permission of the concentration advisor.

Concentration-specific program requirement sheets are available on the English Department website.

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 graduate or 400- level, in or out of the English department, while in residence at UH Manoa. 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

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Please note: This Catalog was prepared to provide information and does not constitute a contract. The University reserves the right to change or delete, supplement or otherwise amend at any time and without prior notice the information, requirements and policies contained in this Catalog.