. If not, continue on to item 2.
This is a Rackham Graduate School joint program, which means that students take courses and draw upon resources in both the Department of English Language and Literature and the School of Education. If you have prior teaching experience and aspire to be a professor of English or a professor of education specializing in English education, rhetoric and composition or literacy, you may wish to consider the Joint Ph.D. Program in English and Education (JPEE).
The Joint Ph.D. Program in English and Education prepares students with prior teaching experience to assume positions as professors of English and/or professors of Education. The Program emphasizes research traditions and methods appropriate to study in the discipline of English as well as those customarily followed in the study of educational issues; because of this, the Program is interdisciplinary in character, and students have the opportunity to take a broad range of courses in English and education, and others outside those fields.
What is the Program really like?
| Fall Newsletter (Adobe PDF) |
One of the Program's chief strengths is the consistent and supportive colleagueship that has developed among students and faculty. The Program has helped its many highly qualified students achieve a satisfying, rich doctoral experience; in large part because it offers mature graduate students the flexibility they need to achieve their own aims in a demanding intellectual environment. Current students will gladly explain their experience. A recent issue of the Program newsletter, Dimensions and Directions, is available upon request.
See what our graduates are doing.
Traditionally, graduates of the Program have obtained jobs in: (a) university English departments focusing on rhetoric and composition or on English education (b) university departments of education, teaching methods courses, adolescent literature, or literacy courses. Some graduates have found joint appointments in English departments and Schools of Education. Others have assumed supervisory roles in state departments of education, in intermediate school districts, and in independent schools. The Program’s placement rate is excellent; please take a moment to view a list of our alumni and their current positions.
"One of the things that makes our program particularly unique is that it brings together a discipline in the humanities and a discipline in the social sciences," says Professor Anne Gere. "What you get as a result of that particular combination is an unusually rich mixture, both conceptually and methodologically."
"It’s designed for people who are ready to make a career change," adds Gere. "They go from being a high school English teacher, say, to becoming a university professor of English or education. Or they go from someone who has been teaching writing, often as a lecturer or adjunct, to being someone who is a tenure-track professor. The preparation that students get here combines the humanistic tradition of rhetoric with the educational tradition of literacy studies, so these people are unusually well prepared."
Professor Lesley Rex cites a recently completed dissertation by Victoria Haviland, now a research associate, as an example of how the program’s students put that preparation at society’s service.
"She was interested in studying why it was so difficult for white female teachers, especially those beginning their professional lives, to talk with their students about issues of race and multiculturalism," Rex says. "Coming from her own experience as a white female teacher who had had that kind of difficulty, she discovered there wasn’t anything in the literature that would be helpful for beginning teachers. She set up her own study and found there were ways in which these teachers were talking to students that undermined having in-depth and relevant and potentially transforming discussions about race and multiculturalism. It contributes significantly to understanding why we’re having such a difficult time improving the study of multicultural issues in the classroom in this country."
"The joint program really allowed me to follow my own path in terms of designing a program that worked for me," says Haviland. "I was able to make choices much more freely among a range of courses within English and Education, and the humanities focus that I got through the English part led me to take anthropology classes and other kinds of research classes that are the exact same things that I ended up using in my dissertation."
How many courses are required to complete the program?
Four to six courses in English and an equal number in education
are
required beyond the Master's degree.
Which courses are required?
Students design their own program of study, electing courses and designing exam reading lists in their areas of interest. Students consult regularly about their program of study with the Program Co-Chairs. A "specialization" should be considered early in the student's program of work. It has proved useful to students to reach general ideas about specialization before the end of the first year of study. Such general notions, however tentative, are useful in planning course selections and in laying the groundwork for the dissertation.
What are typical areas of specialization?
Students focus on a variety of areas ranging from topics in rhetoric and composition to theories and pedagogies of literacy to professional concerns. Students usually specialize in the area in which they write their dissertations.
Examples of specific topics include:
The three examinations (see below) usually include the area of specialization but will also move beyond it.
How does a student satisfy the foreign language requirement?
Students are encouraged to fulfill the language requirement as early as possible after enrollment. The requirement is typically fulfilled in one of two ways: (a) by taking course work in the language at an advanced level (b) by taking and passing a departmental examination (one advanced exam or two basic exams). In addition, students may petition the Program Committee to fulfill the requirement in another way that will better fit their individual backgrounds and/or academic plans.
Can you describe the qualifying Examinations in this program?
Students take three major qualifying examinations:
To make timely progress toward the degree, students should complete all examinations and meet the foreign language requirement by the beginning of Winter Term of the third year. Students who do not adhere to this schedule are not eligible for some fellowships.
What degrees are required to apply?
AND
Is there a minimum grade point average needed to qualify for admission?
A grade point average indicating the abilities and habits necessary to achieve a strong record of graduate study at the University of Michigan is necessary.
How many new students are admitted each year?
4-6 students are admitted each fall. Competition for admission into this program is keen because the Program is small and highly selective.
What kind of financial support is available?
All students accepted into the Program will be guaranteed five years of support. This may come in the form of a fellowship or a teaching assistantship, but in either case it will be accompanied by full tuition remission and the option of health benefits. The 2007-2008 stipend for Graduate Student Instructors teaching two terms is currently $14,756. Some students are supported by fellowships.
Is knowledge of a foreign language necessary to be considered for admission?
A background in one or more foreign languages is recommended as students in the Program must demonstrate either advanced competence in one foreign language, or basic competence in two foreign languages, in order to complete the Program.
Is teaching experience required?
It is necessary to have teaching and/or informal experiences, in or out of school settings in order to be considered for the Program.
How many letters of recommendation are needed to apply?
At least three letters of recommendation are required, two of which are from persons in a position to predict the applicant's success. Such persons might be professors associated with the student's study, administrators from an institution where the applicant has taught, or other persons familiar with graduate standards.
What tests are required?
Are you interested in applying to our program? If so, you've come to the right place. Just follow the steps below. Links will open up in a new window, close the window to return to this page.
1. Do you have any questions you would like answered
before you apply? If so, contact
the program . If not, continue on to item 2.
2. If you would like to apply, please submit the following:
,
which is the overall administrative unit for graduate programs. If the application
is submitted online, both the program and the Graduate School will automatically
receive a copy of the application. Fee waivers are available through the Rackham Graduate School for prospective students who qualify for Specialized Fee Waiver Groups. Please check Rackham's fee waiver Web page to see if you are eligible for one of these groups. 3. Application Deadline: All materials must be received in our office by January 15 and applicants will be informed of decisions by mid-March.
Meanwhile, if you have questions about the Program, visit
the Rackham Graduate
School Web
site or send an email message to the Coordinator of the Program, Jeanie Mahoney Laubenthal.
Note: We match documents to an application using the name appearing on the Rackham application. If the name on your documents, i.e., transcript, letter of recommendation, portfolio, etc., is different from the name appearing on your application, please be sure to indicate all former last names or other first names on question 3 of the Rackham application. Contact us if you have information about your name that you did not include on the Rackham application.
Beginning Fall 2006, the University of Michigan will require certain entering international students to be screened for tuberculosis (TB). This new requirement is in response to recommendations from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Michigan Advisory Committee for Elimination of Tuberculosis to screen individuals from countries where TB is common. Screening will be offered free on campus and a TB infection would not jeopardize a student's visa status. Health care is completely confidential. For further information, see http://www.uhs.umich.edu/tbscreen.
To assist those interested in the various concentrations, here are the names of faculty members, student ambassadors, and recent graduates involved with the JPEE specialization. If you have a general question about the program please visit the JPEE Contacts page. You can learn more about the faculty, students, and alumni here.
Faculty: To view a faculty member's research interests, click on their name (links open up a new window).
Anne Ruggles Gere
Lesley Rex
Students (If you wish to add an URL to your Web site, or wish to not be listed, please contact us by clicking here.)
Shelly Alilunas
Laura Aull
James Beitler
Jennifer Buehler
Heather Thomson Bunn
Michael Bunn
Amy Carpenter
Robert Cosgrove
Bethany Davila
Hannah Dickinson
Steven Engel
Moises Perales Escudero
Christopher Gerben
Denise Gray
Timothy Green
Brett Griffiths
Ben Gunsberg
Carlton "Zak" Lancaster
Melinda McBee Orzulak
Stephanie Moody
Randy Pinder
Anne Porter
Donna Scheidt
Staci Shultz
Ebony Thomas
2008
David W. Brown
University of Michigan 2008
Christian Michael Dallavis
University of Notre Dame 2008
Kelly Sassi
North Dakota State 2008
Matthew Nelson
Francis Marion University 2008
Paul Feigenbaum
Florida International University
2007
Jill Lamberton
Wabash College
2006
Lindsay Ellis
Grand Valley State University
2006
Zandra Jordan
Spelman College
2006
Laura Vanderploeg
University of Washington
2005
Suzanne Spring
Colgate University
2005
Rebecca Ingalls
University of Tampa
2004
Shari Steadman
Florida State University
2004
Victoria Haviland
University of Michigan
2003
Steven Salchak
George Washington University, Washington DC
2003
Shawn Christian
Wheaton College
2002
Jeff Buchanan
Youngstown State - Youngstown OH
2002
Tim Murnen
Bowling Green University - OH
2002
Allan Cook
Marygrove College - Detroit Mi
2002
Rafael Heller
MPR Center for Curriculum & Prof Devel
2002
Rona Kaufman
Pacific Lutheran-Seattle WA
2000
Anne Reeves
Susquehanna University-Selinsgrove PA
2000
Jennifer Sinor
Utah State University-Logan UT
1999
Laura Roop
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI
1999
James Inman
University of South Florida
1998
Margaret Willard Traub
Oakland University - Rochester MI
1998
Anne Berggren
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor MI
1998
Carla Verderame
West Chester University - West Chester PA
1998
Aaron Schutz
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
1998
Roberta Herter
California Polytechnic State University - SanLuis Obispo
1998
Renee Moreno
Cal State - Northbridge
1998
Alisea McLeod
St. Augustine College - Raleigh NC
1997
Morris Young
Miami University - Oxford OH
1996
Elizabeth Masciale
Millersville College - Millersville PA
1996
Deborah Minter
University of Nebraska - Lincoln NE
1996
Todd DeStigter
University of Illinois at Chicago
1995
Emily Nye
California State University- Hayward
1995
Randall Roorda
Kentucky University - Lexington, KY
1994
Chet Breed
Northeast Missouri State
1993
Sarah Robbins
Kennesaw State University
1993
Tom Philion
Roosevelt University at Chicago
1993
Michael McClure
Oglethorpe University
1992
Colleen Fairbanks
University of Texas at Austin
1991
William Rice
Washington DC
1991
Virginia Purvis-Smith
Cary Presbyterian Church
1991
Margaret Marshall
University of Miami
1991
David Lardner
Cleveland State University
1991
Kathleen Dixon
University of North Dakota
1990
David Schaafsma
University of Illinois@Chicago
1990
Cathy Fleischer
Eastern Michigan University
1990
Raouf Mama
Eastern Connecticut State University
1988
Cheryl Cassidy
Eastern Michigan University
Here is a list of some of the projects that JPEE faculty and students are working on now, or have been involved with in the past.
Teachers for Tomorrow, funded by a Teacher Quality Grant- Joint Program in English and Education faculty are working with teachers from Willow Run Public Schools, UM graduate & undergrad students, trying to improve their quality of teaching and recruiting undergraduates to teach in urban/high need areas.
Making American Literatures Workshop - This summer workshop is a gathering of secondary ed English teachers learning to improve their teaching of literature.
