A. Seminars and Courses
Most formal course work is conducted in graduate seminars. The Department provides course descriptions for each seminar before preregistration periods. Graduate seminars are courses numbered 500 and above and are generally limited to twelve students. Because the topic of a seminar may vary from semester to semester, and from year to year, students may repeat a seminar with the same number if the subject matter is different.
Specific procedures in seminars may vary greatly from teacher to teacher, subject to subject, group to group. Fundamental to all seminars, however, is the understanding that every member is equally responsible for its effectiveness and success. Because a seminar is a microcosm of the world community of scholars, its members have an obligation to contribute to each other’s education. Thus, as a seminar member, a student will be expected to prepare assigned papers and reports on time, faithfully attend all seminar meetings, and participate in discussions.
The Department welcomes suggestions from students concerning new seminars or approaches. Whenever faculty interest and scheduling permit, the Department tries to honor such requests. Students should make requests through their GEAC representatives or submit their proposal directly to the DGS.
B. Textbooks
Required texts for graduate courses are found in the English section of Emory’s Druid Hills Books located on Oxford Road in Emory Village. You should note that this bookstore also carries a good selection of titles in literary criticism, along with a solid collection of fiction, poetry, and other literature.
C. Research Facilities
University Libraries
The library resources of Emory University are housed in nine facilities throughout campus.
Graduate students in English will find most of what they need in the Robert W. Woodruff Library, located just off the quadrangle on Asbury Circle. Circulation services are located on the Library’s third floor, along with the Reserve Desk (where you will find course materials placed on reserved status by professors in your seminars).
The Woodruff Library provides excellent facilities for study and research, including graduate-student carrels and dissertation studies. Since space is limited, interested students should apply for study carrels and dissertation studies as soon as possible. Carrels are renewable each year, and assignments are based on need and usage. Note: As far as the library is concerned, “adequate use” of a carrel or dissertation study means regularly having books checked out to them. Even students who regularly study in carrels may lose them if books are not issued to them.
The EUCLID system contains all catalog entries. The library staff will instruct students on the use of the system, most actively at the beginning of the fall semester. The library also has many essential on-line data bases, including the MLA Bibliography, accessible through the EUCLID “Gateway” system and available through computer terminals on the Main Floor of the Woodruff Library. Electronic access to EUCLID is also possible from one’s home computer at home through free software available at www.it.emory.edu.
Special Collections, located on the top floor of the Woodruff Library, houses rare books and manuscripts. Significant holdings include letters and rare editions of William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory, the papers of Ted Hughes, James Dickey, and a number of contemporary Irish poets, an impressive collection of original and rare editions of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English and American literature, and a major selection of titles in the literature of the American South. Special Collections also occasionally hosts visiting exhibitions of rare materials of special interest to students and faculty.
Researchers needing books that Emory does not own can request them from Interlibrary Loan. Consult a reference librarian for further information at the Interlibrary Loan office located in the Woodruff Library.
D. The Kemp Malone Library
When Professor Kemp Malone, the noted medievalist, died in 1971, he donated his personal library of 20,000 volumes to Emory, his alma mater. This extensive and valuable collection is especially rich in material on Old and Middle English; the majority of these books are housed in the Woodruff Library. Approximately 5,000 volumes, ranging over all periods of English and American literature, are shelved in the English Department's Kemp Malone Library, located in Room 301 Callaway Center North. This library also has a modest selection of reference materials, some standard editions of the major American and English authors, and journals. Only faculty members are allowed to borrow books from the library, but students are welcome to read any volume or browse through the collection.
The Library is open as a quiet retreat for Department faculty and graduate students and may be reserved occasionally for small group study. It also functions as the site of colloquia, Department faculty meetings, and most Ph.D. oral examinations.
E. Departmental Locations and General Information
All students in residence have mailboxes in the English Lounge where general and personal communications can be found. (Oddly, the Lounge is not named for the discipline we all follow, but for a beloved faculty colleague, Professor Thomas Hopkins English, 1895-1992, whose career in our Department spanned 40 years.) Students should check their mailboxes regularly for important Departmental information or announcements of upcoming deadlines and events.
The English Lounge is a gathering place for students and faculty. Calls for papers and job announcements are regularly posted on the bulletin board and on clipboards.
All graduate students in the program subscribe to GSENG-L, the Department’s e-mail listserv for graduate students, faculty and staff. Once you obtain a campus e-mail account, be sure to give your email address to Jacque Aly, who will see that your name is added to the list. (Be aware that a message you post to fellow graduate students on the GSENG-L list will also reach faculty and staff). Since the GSENG list is the only place some information is posted, it is important that you check your e-mail account regularly. If you change your e-mail address, let Jacque Aly know immediately.
Graduate Students also regularly post items to a Learnlink conference devoted to discussion of departmental matters. The software for Learnlink, the Emory intranet bulletin-board system, can be downloaded through software.emory.edu.
F. The Use of Personal Computers and Other Office Equipment
The Department has PC and Macintosh computers in Room N-208 and one printer available for students' use free of charge. Students, however, must supply their own paper. In addition, a refrigerator is there for graduate student use.
The Department has its own copy machine located in a small room opposite the Kemp Malone Library. Graduate students may use the machine for teaching purposes free of charge. There is, however, a charge for personal use, (3¢ per page for single-sided copies; 4¢ per page for double-sided copies) including photocopying for job searches and of articles, dissertations, and examination material. See the department staff for further information on the use of this machine.
A fax machine is also available on the counter across from the main reception desk. Its telephone number--for receiving communications--is (404) 727-2605. Students may also send on a limited basis. They should ask for instructions from one of the staff members or a work-study student.
G. Advisory, Governing, and Social Groups
The Graduate English Advisory Committee (GEAC) acts as a forum to discuss such matters as policies, course offerings, and degree requirements. GEAC is composed of seven members: three faculty members elected for two-year terms by the Graduate Faculty, three graduate students elected for two-year terms by the resident graduate students, and the Director of Graduate Studies. At least one graduate student is elected each year.
The student members of GEAC serve as the major representative body for the graduate students, and act as a conduit to relay graduate student concerns to the faculty. They meet regularly with the Director of Graduate Studies. The full GEAC membership, both faculty and students, meet less frequently. However, the DGS may consult GEAC via e-mail or convene the faculty members to deliberate on particular matters.
Finally, the student members of GEAC hold regular meetings for all graduate students so that they can express their concerns and interests. These meetings are important to the life of the department, and all graduate students are urged to attend them. An active graduate student body is crucial to the efforts of Department faculty to meet student needs.
Each year, graduate students in the Department elect two representatives (one for each thirty students) to the Graduate Student Council (GSC). This organization appoints representatives to the University Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association (SGA). The GSC provides financial support for graduate student activities, including the annual Graduate School Symposium, travel to conferences for presentations of papers (the current, nearly automatic grant is $100), and other University and Departmental academic and social functions.
H. Departmental Speakers and Colloquia
The Department regularly hosts visiting lecturers and urges all graduate students to attend these events. Doing so is both an opportunity to learn from leading scholars beyond Emory as well as a chance to participate in departmental life. In addition, the Department encourages students to take advantage of the wide range of speakers hosted by other departments, programs, and institutes on the Emory campus.
Beginning in 2004, the graduate student in English have invited a distinguished scholar for the Kemp Malone Lecture Series. The Kemp Malone Lecturer gives a public lecture, presents a colloquium in conjunction with a seminar-in-progress, and is available for less formal interaction with graduate students. The Kemp Malone Lecturer is selected and invited by a committee of graduate students in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.
Finally, GEAC presides over a Brown Bag Colloquia Series, a series of lunch-time panels and discussions related to professional and graduate-student matters. Graduate students are encouraged to propose topics and participate in the organization of these events.
I. Professional Organizations
The Department encourages graduate students to join both the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). The SAMLA convention is held in Atlanta nearly every fall, and students will find it a convenient place to begin mixing with other members of the profession and to exchange ideas and information; one's graduate-student years are not too early to begin attending conventions and meeting people in one's field. Students will also receive the journals, newsletters, and other publications from these organizations and receive information on meetings, conferences, calls for papers, special issues of journals and other information difficult to obtain in any other way. Both the MLA (www.mla.org) and SAMLA (www.samla.org) offer reduced membership rates for students. In addition, the department encourages all students to join the professional organizations relevant to their chosen specialties, such as the American Studies Association, the Modernist Studies Association, the Shakespeare Society of America, the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, etc. This is not a complete list, and students should consult faculty in their fields to learn of the relevant organizations.
In addition, students should be aware that calls-for-papers are frequently posted through the University of Pennsylvania's website.
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The English Department's Graduate Handbook
