Graduate Program Handbook

The Department of English Graduate Handbook is an essential guide to the Department’s graduate program. The handbook is the primary source of information regarding departmental policy and procedures related to the program. It is expected that all students will familiarize themselves with the handbook and take an active role in planning their graduate education. The handbook specifies the standards to which you will be held during your academic program.

Definitions and Acronyms:

The “Director of Graduate Studies” (DGS), aka “Faculty Graduate Advisor,” is a rotating position held by an English faculty member, usually for 3-4 years.
The DGS helps advise English grad students–particularly those who have not yet advanced to Candidacy–with regard to balancing research and coursework, strategically approaching Qualifying Exams, and otherwise connecting English grad students to campus resources. Here is more information about current English Faculty Administrative leadership.

The “Staff Graduate Advisor” is a full-time SASC administrative staff position. They help with English graduate student progress checks and advising (including filing forms with the department, and/or UCSB’s Graduate Division) new graduate student recruitment and admissions, Teaching Assistant (TA), Associate, and Reader hiring, payroll questions, fee remissions, and coordinating graduate student funding/stipends/awards. They also serve as an English Department Graduate Committee consultant and “englgrad” (English Graduate Student) email list administrator.

A “Teaching Assistantship” (TAship) is a part-time position that usually involves attending lectures, leading two hour-long discussion sections per week, grading student work, holding office hours, and otherwise working alongside other graduate students re: assisting a faculty member with instruction for a large (~150-450) undergraduate course. Most English graduate students are funded via holding TA positions; the Staff Graduate Advisor is able to clarify workload expectations in accordance with your TA contract.

1. The English Faculty

2. Graduate Study in English at UCSB

3. The M.A./Ph.D. Program
3.1. Course Requirements
3.2 Distribution Requirement
3.3 Normal Progress for the M.A./Ph.D. Program
3.4 Incomplete Courses
3.5 Normative Time
3.6 Ph.D. Classification

4. The Ph.D. Program
4.1. Course Requirements
4.2 Distribution Requirement
4.3 Normal Progress for the Ph.D. Program
4.4. Incomplete Courses
4.5 Normative Time
4.6 Ph.D. Classification

5. Independent Studies, Colloquia, Special Courses
5.1 English 297—Graduate Tutorial with Required Attendance at an Undergraduate Course
5.2 English 500—Directed Teaching
5.3 English 591—Doctoral Colloquium
5.3.1 English 592—LCM Colloquium
5.3.2 English 593—Graduate Technology Colloquium
5.3.3 English 594—ACGCC Colloquium
5.3.4 English 595—EMC Colloquium
5.4 English 596—Directed Reading and Research
5.5 English 597—Individual Study for Examination
5.6 English 599—Dissertation Research and Preparation