Refine Your Research

This program offers a unique opportunity for you to delve deep into the world of literary analysis and exploration. You will not only expand your knowledge but also be empowered to contribute to the ongoing discourse in the field. Your passion for literature will be nurtured and refined as you immerse yourself in the captivating world of literary scholarship, with opportunities to contributions to the ever-evolving narrative of human expression through words.

A female student looking at a book in the library smiling.

Careers

Student’s pursuing a Ph.D. in English often aspire to teach at the college or university level. Join a rewarding program that deepens your understanding of literary theory and criticism. Other careers in higher education, academic publishing and editing may require a Ph.D.

Career Possibilities and Current Median Salaries

Professors
$78,470
High School Teachers
$60,320

US DOL Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2018

See Yourself Succeed With a Ph.D. In English

A female professor lecturing in a classroom.

Career Readiness

Employers are looking for critical thinkers and effective communicators. The College of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts is dedicated to providing you knowledge and resources to excel in the workforce.

A male and female writing at a table.

Enrich Your Education

Engage in meaningful discussions that deepen your understanding of cultural and social differences. We challenge our students to broaden their appreciation of literature and become globally minded citizens.

A young woman writing on paper while listing to headphones at a computer.

Lead Students to Success

Teach undergraduate students how to read often and write well. Through our Writing Center and teaching assistant program, you’ll work with undergraduate students as you mentor and tutor.

Group of professors standing in a classroom.
An educator teaching a student who is setting at a computer while wearing headphones.

Dedicated Faculty

Work alongside exceptional faculty who will improve your reading, writing and analytical skills. You’ll receive one-on-one mentorship as you explore the literary world.

Tablet, high five and teacher with child education, learning and support, achievement and classroom goal. Mentor, black woman or person and girl in success hand sign for English, language development.

What you will learn

A Ph.D. in English will offer you the opportunity to:

  • Engage in discussions with peers and professors
  • Benefit from small class sizes and one-on-one mentorship
  • Receive substantial knowledge in literary theory and practice
  • Research areas that interest you within the discipline
  • Serve as a teaching assistant for the Department of Literature and Languages

Focus Your Passion

Choose from three three specialties while earning your doctorate. Discover which option works best for your research interests and career goals.

  • American Literature
  • British Literature
  • Children’s Literature

Add a Graduate Certificate

You can choose to take a graduate certificate in conjunction with your degree. Add a certificate to get an even more specialization in the area of your choosing!

English Graduate Certificates

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Graduate Certificate

This certificate is ideal for students who either already hold a completed graduate degree or are actively in the process of earning a graduate degree and wish to earn this certificate in conjunction with their degree. In addition to the enhanced professional status that the Certificate in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) brings, this Certificate will enable the holder to meet the 18-hour SACS requirement to teach at the College level.

Faculty Spotlight

Hunter Hayes, Ph.D.

Karen Roggenkamp, Ph.D.

Deborah Scaggs, Ph.D.

Eralda L. Lameborshi, Ph.D.

Elie Wiesel once said: ‘Listening to a witness makes you a witness,’ and I have been inspired a grea…

Rebecca Rowe, Ph.D.

I love helping my students understand how they fit into the world around them.

Graduate Teaching Opportunity

Gain the experience you need by teaching English 1301 or 1302 at the university level. Doctoral students will have the opportunity to serve as teaching assistants in order to meet residency requirements, though students who are not able to serve as teaching assistants may fulfill requirements in alternate ways. Contact Dr. Ashanka Kumari, program coordinator, for more information. 

Admission

Your Path to Becoming a Lion

Deadlines

Fall admission consideration: ApplyTexas application due May 1. All documents due May 15.
Spring admission consideration: ApplyTexas Application due November 15. All documents due Dec. 1.
Summer admission consideration: ApplyTexas Application due April 1. All documents due April 15.

Submit Application

  • Select “Create a new graduate school admissions application.”
  • Select “Texas A&M University-Commerce (Commerce)” as your “Target University.”

  • Select “English, PHD” as your “Major.”

Domestic Application Fee 395064

  • Pay the $50 application fee.

Wait to receive an application confirmation email before proceeding to the next step.

  • After you submit your application, the Graduate School will send a confirmation email within two business days to the personal email account you used for ApplyTexas.
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Wait to receive an application confirmation email before proceeding to the next step.

  • After you submit your application, the Graduate School will send a confirmation email within two business days to the personal email account you used for ApplyTexas.

Submit the following documents after you receive an application confirmation email.

Graduate Coordinator Dayla Burgin

Your Graduate Coordinator

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Contact your previous institution(s) and request that they send your official transcripts to your graduate coordinator.

  • We recommend that you request transcripts for all of your academic work.

All international transcripts must be evaluated and the evaluation submitted to the Graduate School.

We accepts evaluations sent directly from the following Agencies.

  • If a normal evaluation is submitted, official original transcripts with all marksheets will still need to be submitted.
  • If a WES ICAP or equivalent is submitted, we will not need the official transcripts to be submitted separately.

To be considered for admission, one of the following is required

  • a bachelor's degree with an overall GPA of 2.75 or higher, or
  • a bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the last 60 hours, or
  • an awarded master's degree with an overall GPA of 3.4 or higher.

If you have a non-thesis master's degree, you must complete a thesis prior to doctoral candidacy (empirical thesis can be completed in our program en route to the dissertation and doctoral candidacy).

If your institution is unable to submit a digital copy, hard copies may be mailed to:

Texas A&M University-Commerce
Attn: Graduate School
PO Box 3011
Commerce, Texas 75429-3011

We will need official/original documents. If those documents are the only copies you have, the Graduate School can mail them back to you upon request. Contact your graduate coordinator for more information.

Submit a Statement of Goals (two pages, double-spaced) that addresses the following questions:

  • What is your area of study? (linguistics, literature, etc)
  • Why do you want to study that particular area?
  • What do you hope this degree leads to? What are your goals?
  • Are there any professors you would like to study under?

Submit a resume or curriculum vitae (CV) which includes your academic and professional history and achievements.

Submit a sample of your writing that contains:

  • a one or two pieces of your academic prose (no more than 10 pages total) and
  • a two-page statement of your background, interests and goals as they relate to your graduate work in English.

Request two signed letters of recommendation, on letterhead, from professionals who can attest to your goals and ability to succeed in the program. Those individuals should:

One or both of the references should hold a doctoral degree.

Review the Application Packet for more information.

Look for application updates in myLeo > Apps > Check Application Status

  • Once an admission decision has been made, you will receive an email to your student email account at myLeo > Apps > Leomail.

  • Apply for scholarships and graduate assistantships once you are admitted.
  • Apply for financial aid by submitting a FAFSA and sending it to school code 003565.
  • Contact your financial aid advisor with any questions.

Once registration opens and you are eligible to enroll, your graduate enrollment specialist will contact you to complete registration.

  • View your degree plan in DegreeWorks.
  • To register for classes, go to myLeo > Student Resources > Registration Menu.

Contact your graduate enrollment specialist if you have any questions regarding your degree plan and registration.

Graduate Enrollment Specialist Jennifer Faunce

Your Graduate Enrollment Specialist

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Deadlines

Fall admission consideration: May 15
Spring admission consideration: October 1
Summer admission consideration: February 15

Submit Application

  • Select “Create a new graduate school admissions application.”
  • Select “Texas A&M University-Commerce (Commerce)” as your “Target University.”

  • Select “English, PHD” as your “Major.”

International Application Fee

  • Pay the $75 application fee

Wait to receive an application confirmation email before proceeding to the next step.

  • After you submit your application, the Graduate School will send a confirmation email within two business days to the personal email account you used for ApplyTexas.
Back to menu

Wait to receive an application confirmation email before proceeding to the next step.

  • After you submit your application, the Graduate School will send a confirmation email within two business days to the personal email account you used for ApplyTexas.

Submit the following documents after you receive an application confirmation email.

Graduate Coordinator Dayla Burgin

Your Graduate Coordinator

Back to menu

Contact your previous institution(s) and request that they send your official transcripts to your graduate coordinator

  • We recommend that you request transcripts for all of your academic work.

To be considered for admission one of the following is required

  • a bachelor's degree with an overall GPA of 2.75 or higher,
  • a bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the last 60 hours, or
  • an awarded master's degree with an overall GPA of 3.4 or higher.

If your institution is unable to submit a digital copy, hard copies may be mailed to:

Texas A&M University-Commerce
Attn: Graduate School
PO Box 3011
Commerce, Texas 75429-3011

We will need official/original documents. If those documents are the only copies you have, the Graduate School can mail them back to you upon request. Contact your graduate coordinator for more information.

All international transcripts must be evaluated and the evaluation submitted to the Graduate School.

We accept evaluations sent directly from the following Agencies.

  • If a normal evaluation is submitted, official original transcripts with all marksheets will still need to be submitted.
  • If a WES ICAP or equivalent is submitted, we will not need the official transcripts to be submitted separately.

Submit a Statement of Goals (two pages, double-spaced) that addresses the following questions:

  • What is your area of study? (linguistics, literature, etc)
  • Why do you want to study that particular area?
  • What do you hope this degree leads to? What are your goals?
  • Are there any professors you would like to study under?

Submit a resume or curriculum vitae (CV) which includes your academic and professional history and achievements.

  • a one or two pieces of your academic prose (no more than 10 pages total) and
  • a two-page statement of your background, interests, and goals as they relate to your graduate work in English.

Request two signed letters of recommendation, on letterhead, from professionals who can attest to your goals and ability to succeed in the program. Those individuals should:

One or both of the references should hold a doctoral degree.

Submit these documents to the Office of International Programs once you have been admitted

  • Official sponsor statement
  • Bank statement from the sponsor with a balance of at least $26,025 USD which is less than 1 year old

See the Office of International Program's “Confirmation of Financial Resource” for more details.

You do not need to submit test scores if you have completed (all years) of a bachelor's or higher degree from a regionally accredited university in the United States.

Request that your scores from one of the following be sent to Texas A&M University-Commerce:

  • TOEFL (Minimum Scores: IBT 79, or CBT 213, or PBT 550)
  • IELTS (Minimum Score: 6.00 band overall)
  • PTE (Minimum Score: 53 overall or higher)
  • Duo Lingo (Minimum Score: 105)

*Scores must be less than two years old.

Review the Application Packet for more information.

Look for application updates in myLeo > Apps > Check Application Status

  • Once an admission decision has been made, you will receive an email to your student email account at myLeo > Apps > Leomail.

  • Apply for scholarships and graduate assistantships once you are admitted.
  • Apply for financial aid by submitting a FAFSA and sending it to school code 003565.
  • Contact your financial aid advisor with any questions.

Once registration opens and you are eligible to enroll, your graduate enrollment specialist will contact you to complete registration.

  • View your degree plan in DegreeWorks.
  • To register for classes, go to myLeo > Student Resources > Registration Menu.

Contact your graduate enrollment specialist if you have any questions regarding your degree plan and registration.

Graduate Enrollment Specialist Jennifer Faunce

Your Graduate Enrollment Specialist

Back to menu

Course Delivery

Our PhD programs in Literature or Rhetoric and Composition are not intended to be completed fully online; however, students may take up to 49 percent of coursework online as noted in our course catalog. Our flexible programs are designed for current educators and working professionals. Whether a full or part-time student, you can complete the program at your own pace. We offer face-to-face courses at our main campus location as well as a fully online PhD in English with an emphasis in Applied Linguistics and master's programs and certificates.

We are here to help!

Literature and Language :: Contact Us

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