Welcome to Graduate Studies in English at the University of Louisiana. The department is pleased to offer M.A. and Ph.D. candidates a diversity of intellectual, pedagogic, and community opportunities as well as those resources and facilities necessary to take advantage of such opportunities. We believe that our degree programs strike a crucial balance by combining a generalist vision with a flexible accommodation of individual interests. In both the M.A. and Ph.D. degree programs students pursue a broad-based course of study alongside more specialized work in one of five concentrations or options: creative writing, folklore, linguistics, literary and cultural studies, and rhetoric and composition. Graduate students may also supplement their course of study in African American literature, children's literature, critical theory, and women's studies.

The department is committed to creating a graduate community where scholarly, creative, pedagogic, and outreach or activist endeavors can flourish. Prominent guest lecturers, including Patrick Brantlinger, John Burrison, Beth Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Elaine Lawless, Henry Glassie, Susan Gubar, Carol Mattingly, Jerome Rothenberg, Mona Lisa Saloy, Stephen Watt, and Joseph Wiesenfarth, regularly bring a sense of the most current work being done both in and beyond the academy. In the meantime, the department also sponsors the annual Levy Lecture, which has invited to the campus such lecturers as Isaac Singer, Robert Coles, Bruno Bettelheim, Walker Percy, Cleanth Brooks, and Peter Gay. Intradepartmentally, workshops and colloquia bring the faculty and graduate students together to share work, discuss literature, critical theory, pedagogy, and those concerns defining the contemporary academy.

Graduate students in the Department of English also take significant part in academic and community endeavors, working at the forefront of local, regional, and national events, including the British Women Writers Conference, “La Vie en Acadie” (the Folklife Festival associated with Festival Acadiens), the annual Deep South Festival of Writers, the Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, the annual Graduate Conference on Language and Literature, and three recent V-Day Lafayette campaigns. Our graduate students also participate in editing ventures through work with journals housed at the University of Louisiana; in particular, graduate students have served as staff for the Southwestern Review and Louisiana Folklore Miscellany.

The department, aware of the complexity of the job market and committed to successful placement of its graduates, offers instruction in various dimensions of professionalization. In recent years, faculty have led colloquia on constructing curricula vitae, presenting and networking at academic conferences, submitting abstracts and manuscripts, writing job application letters, building dossiers and teaching portfolios, and performing at job and on-campus interviews. Additionally, the department’s network of former graduates across the United States has proven helpful in assessing and enhancing our graduates’ success on the job market. Our Ph.D. graduates in the last five years have acquired faculty positions in universities and colleges all over the country, including Long Island University-C.W. Post, California State-Northridge, Kentucky State, Oral Roberts, Central Arkansas, Arkansas State, Benedict College, Central Oklahoma, Francis Marion, Middle Tennessee, Florida Memorial, Hardin-Simmons, and Xavier in New Orleans.

Financial aid is available for both highly qualified M.A. and Ph.D. students primarily through fellowships and teaching assistantships.

Ph.D. Fellowships provide support for three or four years; this support includes a waiver of tuition, most fees, and a current stipend of $15,375/year (10 months). Ph.D. Fellows perform no departmental or teaching in their first and last years; they are required to teach during their second year (and third year for four year fellowship). M.A. Fellowships provide support for one year; this support includes a waiver of tuition, most fees, and a stipend of current $9,500/year (10 months). M.A. Fellows perform no departmental or teaching duties in that year.

Ph.D. assistantships provide support for four years; this support includes a waiver of tuition, most fees, and a current stipend of $12,000/year (10 months). M.A. assistantships provide support for two years; this support includes a waiver of tuition, most fees, and a current stipend of $8,100/year. All teaching assistantships, whether M.A. or Ph.D., require either tutorial duties or the teaching of two classes per semester. Teaching assistants are assigned classes which provide as varied a teaching experience as possible to enhance employment qualifications.

Prospective students interested in applying for assistantships and/or Fellowships may contact the Graduate Coordinator for the necessary forms (fellowship and assistantship applications are also available online at the Graduate School website) The application deadline for fellowships, which are awarded only to students incoming for a fall term, is February 15. The application deadline for Fall admission is March 1.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is located in Lafayette, the center of the French Acadian region of the state. This city of 100,000 is situated about midway between New Orleans and Houston. The 635-acre main campus has a population of approximately 17,000 students. The English Department is centrally located on campus in Griffin Hall with easy access for the handicapped and a faculty lounge available for graduate student use.

Graduate Assistants at the M.A. level have offices in several large rooms, each of which contains from three to ten cubicles. Graduate Assistants at the Ph.D. level share an office with one other assistant. Each office is furnished with desks, chairs, bookshelves, and computers.

Computing facilities are available to graduate students at the university. The university provides services through a variety of facilities including an IBM mainframe with over 70 terminals (TVI 910+). 80 Sun workstations connect through ethernet to the campus data network, OUINET, and in turn to the Internet. A Sun account, with e-mail and other basic functions, is available for all students. Most terminals for the university-networked computers are located in Stephens Hall and the Conference Center. The university's personal computers are generally located in clusters in classroom buildings, including some in Griffin Hall. The Writing Center houses a local area network and a computerized classroom. Computers and other AV equipment are also available in the Humanities Resource Center.

Dupre Library serves as a focal point for graduate study. In addition to substantial holdings in traditional areas of language and literature, the facility also includes the Louisiana Room, devoted to the history of Louisiana, and the Center for Louisiana Studies, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and study of traditional Louisiana culture. Dupre Library has a computerized cataloging system and provides access to various data base services.

For married students or students with children, university housing is available in prices averaging about $300.00 per month, including utilities. The newest are the Cajun Village apartments, directly across the street from Griffin Hall. These two-bedroom unfurnished units come with stove, refrigerator, and central air/heat. Parking is available near these buildings for an annual fee.

Single accommodations are available in university housing in two locations; all costs are approximate:

(1) Rooms in the Conference Center for the regular semester cost $893.00 without a meal ticket. Meal ticket prices vary according to the number of meals ordered per week, up to $1563 including room. For summer session room plus board ranges from $750.00 to $800.00.
(2) Rooms for seven single female graduate assistants in the Department of English or Modern Languages cost about $50 per month in the Griffin House, a large older home located a few blocks off campus; interested eligible students should contact the Graduate Coordinator about having their names placed on the waiting list.

In the Lafayette area, rental housing is also available, though rental prices tend to be higher than university housing. Please contact the Graduate Coordinator for a list of rental properties in the campus vicinity (10-15 minutes).

For more information about housing, write to the Director of Housing, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504-2690, call (337) 482-6471, e-mail: housing@louisiana.edu, or see the Housing Department website.

All graduate students in the University belong to the Graduate Student Organization. In addition to representing graduate student concerns to the university administration, the GSO provides some funding for graduate student travel to professional meetings and helps defray the costs for graduate student use of the interlibrary loan service.

Student Health Services seeks to provide quality, accessible, cost sensitive primary medical care and active health promotion to students with in the campus community. The Student Health Services clinic is located on 120 Boucher Street, between Guillory and McLaurin dorms. For questions, please contact Student Health Services, (337) 482-5464; Fax (337) 482-6428; email: shs@louisiana.edu.

The mission of Counseling and Testing Services is to offer a wide range of professional services which prolong wellness and support each person's continuing participation in higher education, development as a person, and success as a member of the university community. Counseling and Testing provides professional counseling services for students and University employees. These services include personal counseling for students, faculty, and staff (i.e., crisis intervention, short-term counseling for individuals, couples, and groups), information provided for nationally standardized tests and administration of tests, group counseling, and responding to requests from individuals, campus groups or departments who need information, advice, or customized programming on timely issues. Counseling and Testing Services is located in Olivier Hall 202, with office hours M-F 7:45-11:45AM, 12:30-4:30PM. For questions, please contact (337) 482-6480; for emergencies, please call the University Police, (337) 482-6447.

Student health insurance is provided by the Lyman Agency, Inc., 2121 Airline Drive, Suite 301. Metairie, LA 70001. (800) 257-7117. Students may also purchase this insurance at the student cashier’s office in Corona Hall.

The Domestic Health Insurance Basic Plan is included in the paid registration of all graduate students taking six or more hours in the fall/spring semesters and three or more hours in the summer semester. For a fee, this plan will allow you to add your dependants. For on-campus questions about policies and claims please contact Student Health Services, 120 Boucher Street. (337) 482-6826.

The Optional Comprehensive Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan/ Coverage is limited to domestic students only. This student health insurance plan may be purchased to replace the basic insurance plan above. The optional coverage plan offers more coverage and will also allow you to add dependents.

For international students, all non-immigrant students and scholars admitted to the University are eligible for International Accident & Sickness Insurance Plan/Coverage. They are automatically enrolled in this plan at registration; and the premium for Students Only coverage is included in their tuition billing. For on-campus questions about policies and claims please contact the International Insurance office, International Office, 413 Brook Street. (337) 482-6819.