English
Chair: Susan Goulding, Department of English
Director of First Year Composition: John P. Hanly
Undergraduate Program Coordinator: Elizabeth Gilmartin-Keating
Graduate Program Directors: Mary Kate Azcuy and Alex Gilvarry (M.F.A. in Creative Writing)
Master of Arts in English (M.A.) Creative Writing
The Master of Arts in English is a flexible program that allows various types of students to pursue a course of study meeting their own interests and goals. For those interested in the challenge of graduate study and considering going on to an MFA or PhD program at another institution, the courses at Monmouth provide a broad education in English literature, creative writing, and rhetoric, and a sound foundation for further graduate study. Secondary school teachers can fulfill their continuing education requirement and accrue credits toward salary increases by taking courses in the program. Those interested in personal enrichment or career advancement will find that the program requirements improve creative and critical thinking abilities along with reading, speaking, and writing skills. The curriculum, appropriate for recent college graduates as well as returning students, is designed to allow students to finish the degree in two to two-and-a-half years by taking two to three courses per semester, with the additional option of summer study. Part-time students are also welcome to attend. Course offerings allow students to take courses in a variety of fields to obtain a broad knowledge of literature in English or to focus on areas of specific interest.
Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)
Every writer has a story to tell—at Monmouth, we give you the tools to bring it to life. With our full-residency 48-credit M.A./M.F.A. dual degree program in Creative Writing, you will prepare for your dream career in the literary world by training directly with published, award-winning faculty. Through flexible course offerings, you can choose to study fiction, nonfiction, and poetry as desired, and may also pursue interests in crime novels, thrillers, romance, fantasy, and more.
Our intensive and pragmatic program gives you an advantage over your peers by focusing on developing your craft, your network, and your resume. After completing their M.A. in English with a Creative Writing concentration, Monmouth’s M.F.A. students will immerse themselves in an additional 18 credits of intensive creative writing study that includes the completion of a book-length Creative Thesis. Students will also benefit from personalized learning, advanced craft seminars, networking opportunities, and rigorous career preparation, including an internship program and the opportunity to gain teaching experience by working as an adjunct professor during the program.
You are eligible to participate in the M.F.A. program if you have obtained a Master of Arts (M.A.) in English from Monmouth University and demonstrate a proficiency for creative writing through a thesis or equivalent work.
Graduate Creative Writing Certificate
This is an 18-credit graduate certificate is designed to provide alumni and other English, non-creative writing students with a way to transition to the M.F.A. in Creating Writing program.
Master or Arts
- M.A. in English: Literature Concentration
- M.A. in English: Creative Writing Concentration
- M.A. in English: Rhetoric and Writing Concentration
Master of Fine Arts
Creative Writing Graduate Certificate
Mary Kate Azcuy, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director (Graduate Faculty). B.S., Monmouth University; M.A., New York University; Ph.D., Drew University. Specialty is contemporary American literature with an emphasis on women poets, mythology, and feminism, as well as creative writing.
mazcuy@monmouth.edu
Kristin Bluemel, Professor and Wayne D. McMurray-Helen Bennett Endowed Chair in the Humanities (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Wesleyan University; M.A., Ph.D., Rutgers University. Specialty is twentieth-century British literature. Additional interests include literary criticism and theory, the novel, children’s literature, World War II and the end of empire, and book history.
kbluemel@monmouth.edu
Heide Estes, Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D., New York University. Specialty is Old English language and literature, and additional interests include Middle English literature, feminist theory, and representations of Jews in early English texts. Current research is in ecocriticism.
hestes@monmouth.edu
Alex Gilvarry, Assistant Professor and M.F.A. Program Director (Graduate Faculty). B.A., M.F.A., Hunter College. Specialty is creative writing, fiction.
agilvarr@monmouth.edu
Susan M Goulding, Associate Professor and Chair (Graduate Faculty). B.A., M.A., Adelphi University; Ph.D., New York University. Specialties are eighteenth-century British literature, women’s studies, British history, and reception history.
goulding@monmouth.edu
Alena Graedon, Assistant Professor (Graduate Faculty). M.F.A., Columbia School of the Arts. Specialty is creative writing, fiction, with an emphasis on speculative fiction.
agraedon@monmouth.edu
John P. Hanly, Associate Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Georgetown College; M.A., University of Chicago; Ph.D., University of Louisville. Areas of specialty include composition theory and ethics.
jphanly@monmouth.edu
Jeffrey Jackson, Associate Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Linfield College; M.A., Portland State University.Ph.D., Rice University. Areas of specialty include nineteenth-century British Romantic and Victorian literature.
jejackso@monmouth.edu
Patrick Love, Assistant Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Western Michigan University; M.A., Ph.D., Purdue University. University; M.A., Ph.D., Purdue University. Research interests include Rhetoric and Composition, Professional and Technical Writing, Digital Rhetoric and Game Studies, Writing Program Administration and Writing Across the Curriculum.
plove@monmouth.edu
Mihaela Moscaliuc, Associate Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., M.A., Al.l. Cuza University; M.A., Salisbury University; M.F.A., New England College; Ph.D., University of Maryland. Areas of specialty include immigrant literature, postcolonial studies, translational studies, and poetry writing.
mmoscali@monmouth.edu
Anwar D. Uhuru, Assistant Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., M.A., Marygrove College; Ed.M., Teachers College Columbia University; Ph.D., St. John's University. Research interests include Black Atlantic Anglophone Literature and Culture, Africana Traditional Religions, Bio-Medical Ethics, African-American and Africana Philosophy, Carceral Studies, Gender and Trans Studies.
auhuru@monmouth.edu
Lisa Vetere, Associate Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Siena College; M.A., St. Bonaventure University; Ph.D., Lehigh University. Specialty is Antebellum American literature and culture, with an emphasis on cultural studies and feminist and psychoanalytical theory.
lvetere@monmouth.edu
Courtney Werner, Assistant Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Moravian College and Theological Seminary; M.A., Texas State University; Ph.D., Kent State University. Specialities are composition and rhetoric, new media, and multi-modal learning.
cwerner@monmouth.edu
Kenneth Womack, Professor (Graduate Faculty). B.A., Texas AM University; M.A., Texas AM University/Moscow Institute of Communication, U.S.S.R.; Ph.D., Northern Illinois University. Dr. Womack's areas of professional interest include the Beatles, twentieth-century British literature, and creative writing. He serves as Editor of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory, published by Penn State University Press, and Co-Editor of the English Association's Year's Work in English Studies, published by Oxford University Press.
kwomack@monmouth.edu
EN-ESS English Master's EssayCredits: None
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
A revision and development of a graduate paper researched and written in a previous semester. Typical length 20-25 pages. Only for students in the Literature or Rhetoric and Writing Concentrations who are not writing a thesis. This is a pass/fail course.
EN-500 Critical TheoryCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.4, EN.RW
Introduction to a variety of critical approaches to literature. Theories will be applied to texts: poetry, fiction, and drama, and the interpretation developed from these theories will be considered.
EN-502 Seminar in Literary ResearchCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
Methods and materials for composing and presenting graduate research centered upon selected texts chosen by the instructor; bibliography, reference resources, critical analysis, and evaluation of sources; techniques, forms and formats for research projects and papers.
EN-509 Middle English LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.1, EN.LT
Study of selected works from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries in the context of contemporary cultural and literary developments.
EN-511 The English RenaissanceCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.1, EN.LT
Intensive study of the major genres and authors of English literature from 1550-1660, the age of Spenser, Johnson and Milton. Lyric and epic poetry, drama, prose fiction, and the essay are represented.
EN-513 Shakespeare, His Contemporaries and Renaissance SocietyCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.1, EN.LT
Study of selected Shakespeare plays along with works by Marlowe, Webster and others in order to place Shakespeare's achievement within aesthetic, critical and historical contexts.
EN-525 Eighteenth Century British LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.1, EN.LT
Intensive study of selected works of prose, poetry, and drama, which represent the Ages of Dryden, Pope, Johnson, and Hume.
EN-528 Foundations of World LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.3, EN.LT
The oral and written traditions of the foundation of the non-Western world: Africa, the African Diaspora, Asia and the Middle East.
EN-530 Contemporary World LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.3, EN.LT
Major literary texts from three broad areas of the non-Western world (African Diaspora, Asia, and the Middle East) will be critically examined, including literary trends, theories, and criticism. Selections will be drawn from poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama.
EN-533 Literature of ImmigrationCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.3, EN.LT
Examines literature written by the first or second generation immigrants, about the experiences of emigration and immigration to North America; it combines close analysis with historical contextualization, and includes discussion of critical and theoretical works on immigrant identities and subjectivities. Focuses on narratives of immigration from areas outside Western Europe.
EN-535 The Novel in EnglishCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
The development of long prose fiction from the eighteenth century to the present with consideration of criticism that defines the novel as a genre.
EN-537 British RomanticismCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
Investigation of British Romanticism as a self-consciously defined movement in literature. Will also consider how "Romanticisms" have been read and defined historically.
EN-538 Victorian NovelCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
Through a close thematic and formal analysis, this course will study how British Victorian novels responded to the momentous social, political and intellectual changes of their time.
EN-540 Modernism in Britain and IrelandCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
Study of British and Irish modernism in the context of twentieth-century culture and history.
EN-541 UtopiasCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.LT
The significance of utopian proposals and attempts to create utopian communities in the history of ideas. From the utopias of Plato and More to dystopian visions of the Brave New World to 1984 and science fiction as a utopian genre.
EN-542 Contemporary American/British LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
This course will explore American and/or British literature written in English from the "contemporary" period. These works will be critically examined via close readings and discussions within a literary, historical, cultural, and/or theoretical framework.
EN-544 Irish Literary StudiesCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
Ireland's literary tradition in English from the eighteenth-century to today. Different semesters may focus on a particular period, genre or theme within Irish literature, such as Irish drama, the eighteenth century tradition, W.B. Yeats and his circle or James Joyce and Irish Modernism.
EN-546 Historical Persuasion and ArgumentationCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.4, EN.RW
Examines important texts in the history of persuasion and argumentation. Covers the era when Rhetoric - the study and practice of persuasion and argumentation - was one of the fundamental disciplines (the "Trivium") that every educated person had to learn.
EN-547 Definitions of Contemporary RhetoricCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.4, EN.RW
Examines the use of language in a number of key spheres of human communication with the ultimate objective of constructing a usable definition of modern rhetoric. Work in the course is especially concerned with defining more precisely the boundaries of contemporary rhetoric and language theories to gain a deeper understanding of the richness and dangers of language in our own written expression.
EN-548 Rhetoric of Science and SocietyCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.4, EN.RW
Examination of how language-using agents (corporate, governmental, educational, journalistic, and scientific) outside the activities of a professional scientific community (and sometimes within it) rely on the dominance and force of scientific language and its symbol systems to influence the society we live in.
EN-550 Feminist Theory and CriticismCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.4, EN.RW
Examines the theories and strategies developed and used by feminist theorists and literary critics to explore a range of visual and written texts. Includes focus on gender-related experiences in literature and culture.
EN-558 Teaching CompositionCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.RW, EN.4
The scholarship and methods of teaching composition with a focus on the collaboration experience of the writing process, one-on-one conferencing, and integration of language skills.
EN-560 Early American LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.1, EN.LT
The development of American literature in various genres through the Colonial, Revolutionary War, and Early Republic periods.
EN-561 Nineteenth Century American LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
Major works of American literature from 1830 to World War I will be critically examined to place them in their literary context and discover the techniques used by their authors.
EN-563 Linguistics and the English LanguageCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.4, EN.RW
Includes grounding in the structural aspects of general linguistics: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics. Examines the structure of the English language, including nouns and noun classes, ways of talking about actions and states, how ideas are combined into complex sentences, and how context and purpose affect how we use language. Also considers differences between learning a first and second language.
EN-565 New Jersey's Literary HeritageCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
The development of New Jersey's literary heritage in various genres from the Colonial period to the present, through analyses of representative works from different regions of the state, with emphasis on their local significance and their relationship to national literary trends.
EN-571 Modern American LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.2, EN.LT
Major works of American literature written between 1910 and 1945 will be critically examined and placed within a literary context in order to discuss techniques used by their authors.
EN-581 Women in LiteratureCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.LT
Investigates the role of women in literature as writers, readers and subjects. Includes theoretical consideration of gender. Topics vary by semester.
EN-598 Special Topics in EnglishCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
The subject matter varies with the interest of the students and of the professor teaching the course. The exact nature of the topic covered in any given semester is indicated in the student's transcript. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.
EN-599 Independent Study in EnglishCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
Reading and research under the direction of a member of the English faculty. A minimum of six, face-to-face meetings are required; bi-weekly meetings are the norm. Prior permission of the directing professor and department chair is required to take this course.
EN-607 Seminar in Creative Writing: Non-FictionCredits: 3
Term Offered: Spring Term
Course Type(s): EN.CW, EN.RW
Students will analyze, in a workshop setting, readings in creative non-fiction to understand and become aware of the variant forms, techniques, and approaches used. As workshop participants, students will write and analyze their own creative nonfiction pieces. This course may be retaken for credit.
EN-609 Seminar in Creative Writing: PoetryCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.CW
Students analyze in a workshop setting readings in contemporary poetry to observe techniques in craft, and present their own poetry for intensive examination by workshop participants. The course may be retaken for credit.
EN-611 Seminar in Creative Writing: FictionCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.CW
Students will analyze in a workshop setting readings in both American and World fiction to observe techniques in craft and present their own short stories for intensive examination by workshop participants. This course may be retaken for credit.
EN-613 Seminar in Creative Writing: PlaywritingCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.CW
In a workshop format, students will write, critique and perform stage readings of their classmates' plays. This course may be retaken for credit.
EN-615 Seminar in Creative Writing: Writer's CraftCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.CW
An in-depth study of the creative writing process. Students may develop a craft workbook that focuses on both traditional and contemporary literary forms and strategies. Students write by assignment and develop techniques of reviewing in order to compare and contrast major authors' aesthetics with their own creative gestures. This course may be retaken for credit.
EN-617 Advanced Academic WritingCredits: 3
Term Offered: Summer Term
Course Type(s): EN.RW
Designed for the graduate student interested in sharpening his or her writing skills for the purpose of developing publication-quality articles. Content and assignments are structured in such a way as to provide practice in accelerated academic prose and, ideally, to produce a publication-quality article by the end of the course. Taught in a lecture/discussion and workshop format.
EN-619 Writing and the World Wide WebCredits: 3
Term Offered: Fall Term
Course Type(s): EN.RW, EN.4
A study of theories and concepts of writing and rhetoric in digital media with emphasis on the uses of verbal and visual media in digital spaces, such as Web sites, blogs, and wikis. Topics examined include authorship, narrative, and multimedia participation, design, and creation.
EN-644 Manuscript SeminarCredits: 3-6
Prerequisite(s): Completion of 21 credits with a minimum G.P.A. of 3.00 and a minimum of 6 credits of courses with a course type of ENCW
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
Completion of a single-genre manuscript under the direction of a first reader who is a member of the English Graduate faculty, in consultation with a second reader, who is a full-time faculty member. A minimum of six face-to-face meetings are required; bi-weekly meetings are the norm. The manuscript will consist of at least forty pages of poetry or prose, or approximately eighty pages of drama, half of which may be work begun in previous graduate creative writing courses and substantially revised for this course. The manuscript will include a three to five-page Introduction. In addition, a twenty-item annotated bibliography of at least twenty pages must be submitted. Once the manuscript has been judged as satisfactory by both readers, the Graduate Program will schedule an oral defense to be attended by both readers as well as the Graduate Program Director. This is a pass/fail course.
EN-650 Internship SeminarCredits: 3
Prerequisite(s): 12 credits from English MA or MFA, consent of the graduate advisor, and internship placement
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
A seminar designed for students who are pursuing professional experience through internships appropriate to those pursuing an advanced degree in creative writing.
EN-652 Craft Intensive Seminar in Creative WritingCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.CW
Intensive study of advanced creative writing craft techniques. Genre and seminar topics vary by professor. Repeatable once for credit.
EN-655A MFA Creative Thesis SeminarCredits: 3
Prerequisite(s): 39 credits in English
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
A two-semester capstone project for the MFA program under the guidance of two faculty readers, culminating in a substantial creative project of 100 pages or the equivalent of a book-length manuscript. The first reader must be an MFA faculty member, the second reader a member of the Creative Writing faculty.
EN-655B MFA Creative Thesis Seminar IICredits: 3
Prerequisite(s): EN-655A and 39 credits in English
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
Part II of a two-semester capstone project for the MFA program under the guidance of two faculty readers, culminating in a substantial creative project of 100 pages or the equivalent of a book-length manuscript. The first reader must be an MFA faculty member, the second reader a member of the Creative Writing faculty.
EN-674 Professional Research with Service LearningCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): EN.CW, EN.LT, EN.RW
An independent study designed for students who want to explore and prepare for careers that are appropriate for holders of advanced degrees in English. It can fulfill a literature, rhetoric, or creative writing elective. Students will produce an annotated bibliography and researched writing totaling at least 25 pages, a service learning component that offers practice experience, and a curriculum vitae or resume, cover letter, and Linked In profile.
EN-691 English Thesis DevelopmentCredits: 3
Prerequisite(s): 12 credits and a minimum G.P.A. of 3.00
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
An intensive and rigorous study of an author, topic, or theme developed under the direction of and evaluated by a thesis advisor who is a member of the English Graduate faculty in consultation with another full-time faculty member. A minimum of six face-to-face meetings are required; bi-weekly meetings are the norm. The thesis may be based upon a paper completed in a course taken in a previous semester and further developed under the direction of the professor in that course. By the end of the semester, students will submit a twenty-five item annotated bibliography and a ten-page review of recent scholarship. A student who wishes to complete Thesis Development in Summer must register in Session C, and then only with a Thesis Advisor in residence for the majority of the term and with permission of the Graduate Program Director.
EN-692 English Thesis WritingCredits: 3
Prerequisite(s): EN-691, completion of 21 credits, and a minimum GPA of 3.00
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
Completion of the writing of the thesis under the continuing direction of a thesis advisor who is a member of the English Graduate faculty. A minimum of six face-to-face meetings are required; bi-weekly meetings are the norm. The thesis must comprise of between thirty and sixty pages (not including works cited) and will be evaluated by the thesis advisor in consultation with another full-time faculty member. Once the thesis has been judged as satisfactory by both readers, the Graduate Program will schedule an oral defense to be attended by both readers as well as the Graduate Program Director. Students may not register for Thesis Writing EN-692 in a summer session.
EN-699 Independent Study in EnglishCredits: 3
Term Offered: All Terms
Course Type(s): None
Reading and research under the direction of a member of the English faculty. A minimum of six, face-to-face meetings are required; bi-weekly meetings are the norm. Prior permission of the directing professor and department chair is required to take this course.