Information for New Students in the MA-Literature Program

Advising; Director of Graduate Studies

The Director of Graduate Studies is Nan Goodman. She is the general advisor for all MA-Literature students and may reached at Nan.Goodman@colorado.edu, or at (303) 492-8643. For the Fall 2006 semester, Professor Goodman will hold office hours beginning the week of August 21. Call the English Department Student Services Office at (303) 492-6434 to make an appointment.

Once you begin the semester, you will also be assigned a faculty advisor who is a member of the department’s Graduate Committee. This faculty member will be an additional resource for you when you have questions about your coursework, your plans for study, and your preparations for PhD programs or for a post-degree career.

Orientation

The English Department orientation for new MA-Literature students will take place the week before classes begin. Date and time TBA. This orientation is required. An informal get-together for current and new MA-Literature students will follow the orientation.

Choosing Courses for the Fall 2006 Semester

A list of 2006-2007 English graduate courses is available on the website at Courses. Please note that there are some changes in this list since the version that was sent to you with your offer packet. The schedule for Fall 2006 courses is online at www.colorado.edu/plus. Course descriptions for Fall 2006 courses are online at http://www.colorado.edu/English/cmenu.htm.

All MA-Literature students take two required courses in their first semester. Please register for one section of each of these courses:

REGISTER FOR TWO OF THESE “CRITICAL ANALYSIS” COURSES:

ENGL 5029 INTRO BRIT LIT - PRE-1660
SEC CALL NO DAYS TIME BLDG RM INSTRUCTOR ENR
001 75076 W 100PM-330PM LIBR M549 KE EGGERT 15

ENGL 5059 INTRO BRIT LIT 1660-1900

SEC CALL NO DAYS TIME BLDG RM INSTRUCTOR ENR
001 75078 M 0200PM-430PM LIBR N549 S Zemka 15
ENGL 5139 INTRO 20th C. LIT

SEC CALL NO DAYS TIME BLDG RM INSTRUCTOR ENR
001 75080 T 0200PM-430PM LIBR N549 J Garrity 15
ENGL 5169 INTRO MULTICULT LIT

SEC CALL NO DAYS TIME BLDG RM INSTRUCTOR ENR
001 75083 M 0200PM-430PM HLMS 229 C Higashida 15

ENGL 5019 CONTEMPORARY LIT THEORY

SEC CALL NO DAYS TIME BLDG RM INSTRUCTOR ENR
001 75074 M 0930AM-1200PM LIBR M549 K HURLEY 15
002 75075 W 0930AM-1200PM LIBR M549 K HURLEY 15

Registration in the above two courses will qualify you as a full time graduate student. You may also wish to choose a third graduate course from among the department’s Fall offerings. However, the department strongly recommends that you not take a fourth graduate course. A normal course load is two or three graduate courses per semester.

Language Requirement

The foreign language requirement for the MA-Literature degree may be satisfied either before or after you enroll in the program, in one of the following ways:

(a) Completion of a fourth-semester college language course with a grade of C or better. This means you must complete a course that is the second semester of a sophomore-level foreign language. Courses may be taken at CU or at another institution (including community colleges, etc.). If you have completed or will complete this course work at another institution, we will need a record of that fact in your file. The transcript(s) you submitted when you applied for admission are already in your file; you will need to supply further evidence of such course work only if we are missing a relevant transcript.

(b) A GSFLT score of 560 (580 for German). This is the "Graduate Student Foreign Language Test," administered by Career Services Testing Office, located in Willard Hall 84. The Test is given by appointment at various times. The test fee is $35. You may retake it as often as you need to. For more information, see www.Colorado.EDU/careerservices/tests/gsflt.html.

(c) Presentation to the Director of Graduate Studies of other evidence of competence in a second language. In most cases, this other evidence consists of native or near-native fluency in a language; a written examination may be administered to confirm such fluency.

In addition to graduate courses in English, you may thus need to take undergraduate language courses to fulfill the language requirement for the MA. While you are not obliged to begin language coursework your first semester, you should get started early on the requirement if you have work left to do to complete it. The language requirement must be completed before you graduate. If you have questions about whether you have already fulfilled the language requirement, contact Dr. Goodman.

Teacher Training and Teaching Assignments

All MA-Literature students who have already been awarded a TA-ship for Spring 2007, or who hope to be awarded a TA-ship in Spring 2007 or in 2006-07, are required to attend the English Department’s pedagogy workshop series, which is a non-credit weekly seminar held throughout the Fall 2006 semester, date and time TBA. The workshop is led by David Visser and Tom LeCarner, PhD students who are the department’s Lead Graduate Teachers for 2006-07.

First-time teachers are also strongly urged to attend the Graduate Teacher Fall Intensive Training Program on August 23-25. See www.colorado.edu/gtp for information and a schedule.

Exact teaching assignments for Spring 2007 will be made in November 2006. TA-ships may include teaching sections of Freshman Writing seminar; leading recitation sections of a large, faculty-taught lecture course; or assisting a faculty member with grading and other duties for a large lecture course.