English
Small Classes and Personal Attention
The Master of Arts in English gives students the flexibility to tailor courses of study to meet their individual needs and professional goals. A highly versatile program, it emphasizes writing, critical thinking, and interpretive skills, even as it fosters the growth of initiative and self-confidence—qualities much in demand in today’s professional world. Small classes and the dedicated attention of graduate faculty ensure a nurturing environment for growth.
Overall, the degree is designed for individuals interested in teaching writing and literature at the college level; pursuing a career as a writer or writing consultant in business, industry and government; or working in the publishing field. The degree also is appropriate for students planning to enter a doctoral program in English.
The program offers three areas of emphasis:
Professional and Creative Writing and Teaching
Writing helps to prepare students for jobs in teaching, writing and publishing. This area affords training in fiction and poetry writing, screen scripting and play scripting, the art of the memoir, technical writing, public relations writing, and magazine and travel writing. It also offers instruction in the teaching of expository writing.
Writing and Communications
This area is valuable for those who want to work for the media or in the corporate sector. Students are encouraged to undertake a professional internship. This area exposes students to principles of mass media, the semiotics of film, linguistics and semantics, and other interesting practical and theoretical issues. The Master of Arts in English does not, however, offer studio courses in media training.
Literary and Critical Studies
Arcadia offers advanced study to high school and college teachers of literature, film and drama and can lead to doctoral programs. This area provides a judicious balance between theory and the study of individual artworks and exposes students to a broad range of experiences with canonical as well as non-canonical texts. The program offers a particularly broad range of courses in this area. “Special topics” seminars focusing on individual authors or artistic movements mingle with courses on standard periods of literary history; interdisciplinary courses link literature and film from different nationalities.
Additional Opportunities for Students
Study Abroad: Students in the Master of Arts in English program are encouraged to consider study abroad as part of their degree program. Students may arrange to take up to 9 credits of work in English and related fields at foreign institutions through Arcadia’s The College of Global Studies. Study abroad arrangements require the approval of the Coordinator of the Master of Arts in English program.
Internships: Students also may do a graduate-level professional internship in a job placement related to the field of English. The internship is an unpaid, 3-credit experience conducted under the supervision of the Coordinator of the Master of Arts in English program or an appropriate member of the Department. Arrangements for the internship must have formal departmental approval before the beginning of the semester in which the student is to do the internship.
Visiting Writers: Students have the opportunity to work with visiting authors, including acclaimed alumni and prestigious award-winning writers. Celebrated novelist John Edgar Wideman came to campus as part of the 2004-05 Distinguished Speakers Series. He conducted a two-hour intimate fiction–writing workshop with ten students prior to his public reading and speech. Arcadia is proud to be the host institution of the Montgomery County Poet Laureate Program. Each year a renowned poet is selected as the celebrity judge who will confer the laureateship. The 2006 celebrity judge was Galway Kinnell, who selected the new laureate in addition to giving a reading of his own work.
Poet and Rome Prize winner Karl Kirchwey visited campus as part of the University Colloquium Series and talked about his fifth book of poems, The Happiness of This World. Arcadia alumna Jen Bryant, who earned her Master of Education from Arcadia in 2000, visited campus in association with the Writers Return to Campus Series to discuss a writer’s journey from idea to publication. Bryant, who writes biographies, poetry and fiction for children and adults, received the Milton Center Prize for Poetry and has published numerous books. To initiate the Writers Return series, former Arcadia undergraduate Gigi Anders gave a reading from her wildly successful memoir, Jubana! The Awkwardly True and Dazzling Adventures of a Jewish Cuban Goddess!
Summer Studies in Scotland
For five years, the English and Humanities programs have worked closely with the Scottish Universities’ International Summer School program to offer students a unique opportunity to study abroad and earn graduate credit. Students attend classes in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh, and have available the resources of some of Britain’s most prestigious universities. The Scottish Universities’ International Summer School, founded in 1947, offers courses in British and Irish Literature and Creative Writing. The Creative Writing program is offered in conjunction with Edinburgh’s International Book Festival.
