The Graduate Program in English at Florida State University offers a comprehensive and intellectually stimulating program for those who wish to be writers, literary scholars, textual scholars, or scholars/teachers of rhetoric and composition. Its diverse and accomplished faculty are actively involved in every phase of the graduate student’s life, including mentoring and assisting students during the job placement process.
The Graduate Program comprises three tracks:
• Creative Writing (CRW), which offers a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Literature, Media, and Culture (LMC), which offers a Master of Arts (MA) and a PhD
• Rhetoric and Composition (RC), which offers an MA and a PhD
Students in LMC will write a publishable capstone essay for their final project. RC students have the option to write a thesis or to submit a portfolio. Creative writing students present a body of creative work for the thesis or dissertation
Teaching assistants work in the Reading-Writing Center and teach composition classes as well as courses in the major.
The graduate students’ lounge, 308 Williams, is the graduate student home-away-from-home, especially for those who do not have a TA office, so please feel welcome and comfortable there. All TAs have mailboxes there, and the room offers a variety of other amenities: a book exchange, bulletin boards, several computers, and a printer.
The primary departmental facilities for graduate student computer use are the machines and printers in Room 308. Teaching assistants have limited access to the departmental copier, which is used for teaching materials only. Those teaching a College Composition Program course (i.e., ENC 1101, ENC 2135) will use the copier in Room 222-G. (See CCP Director for further details.) Those teaching other classes may submit requests to the Department of English office staff in Room 405 with a copy request form at least 24 hours before needed. The department expects, as a matter of policy, that all teachers will, whenever possible, use PDF material posted to class Canvas sites and thereby decrease paper use. Please note that the main office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Currently enrolled English graduate students are subscribed to gs@lists.fsu.edu. This e-mail address is for department business only. The department administration communicates with English graduate students as a whole through this address.
About This Handbook
This is not a contract, either expressed or implied, between the University and the student but represents a flexible program of the current curriculum, educational plans, offerings and requirements that may be altered from time to time to carry out the administrative, academic, and procedural purposes and objectives of the University. The University specifically reserves the right to change, delete, or add to any provision, offering, academic curriculum, program, or requirement at any time within the student's period of study at the University.
This handbook is revised annually. Ordinarily, those revisions are modest. While it is possible that a major change may result in currently enrolled students being governed by the policy as it was the year they were admitted (“legacied in”), there are no such policies at this time.
The Graduate Curriculum Canvas site supplements the policies included in this handbook with various forms, samples, and FAQ pages.
While most information relevant to FSU graduate students in English can be found in this Handbook or on our Canvas site, University-wide policies can also be found in the Graduate and Professional School Handbook.