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With internationally acclaimed faculty and a cutting-edge curriculum, the MA and PhD programs of UWM’s Department of English are at the forefront of English studies today. We offer four areas of specialty:

  • Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies
  • Creative Writing
  • Literature and Cultural Theory
  • Rhetoric and Professional Writing

Our graduates are published authors, professors at colleges and universities across the country and around the world, leaders in business and academia, and media experts. We pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve as we explore innovative alternatives in literature, writing, and visual studies.

What makes UWM different? We focus exclusively on modernity from the early modern to the present, in courses that combine theoretical ambition with historical rigor. Building on UWM’s long tradition of groundbreaking theoretical work, our faculty are at the center of some of the most exciting developments in English studies today. The department faculty has special strengths in a large number of areas, including creative writing, American literature, post-colonialism, Native American studies, digital literature, cinema and media studies, queer theory, feminism and women’s studies, visual and scientific rhetoric, and Irish studies, among many others.

Through close collaboration with UWM’s Center for 21st Century Studies, students have the opportunity to hear and meet leading scholars and critics from other universities. Graduate students also run cream city review, the Department’s nationally recognized literary magazine.

Teaching assistantships are available. Each year, the department begins accepting applications from prospective graduate students in mid-October for enrollment the following fall. The application deadline is December 15.

Contact Us

Prospective Graduate Students

Questions regarding the application or the application process should be directed to the UWM Graduate School at gradschool@uwm.edu or 414-229-6569.

Current Graduate Students

Questions about research opportunities, department funding opportunities, or issues specific to the discipline should be directed to Prof. Kristie Hamilton.

Graduate Programs

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Master’sOn Campus
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DoctoralOn Campus

Graduate Student Resources

English Graduate Courses
Course list and syllabi.
View English Graduate Courses
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Funding Your Graduate Degree
The Department offers assistantships and limited scholarships for graduate students.
View Funding Options

Campus Resources

UWM offers a wide range of on-campus resources, such as academic support and mental health resources. Students also find community within our student centers.

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UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.