Summer MA Degree: General Information

The English graduate program at Fort Hays State University was established in 1929; the Summer MA program began in 1975.

The unique MA program in English enables in-service teachers to earn a degree in two or three years while remaining on the job. The basic assumption is that only certain activities need to be performed on campus in the summer--attending classes, participating in discussions of assigned works, working in the library. Other activities--reading the assignments in the spring and writing the papers in the fall--can be done off campus.

Classes are typically scheduled in four-week sessions in June and July. Because of family commitments, employment schedules, and the desire to have some free time during the summer, some students elect to attend only one four-week session instead of both.

Participants in the program receive all course syllabi and reading assignments early in the spring and order texts from the university bookstore. If they plan to finish the program in two years, they enroll each summer in five courses, meeting all course requirements except for out-of-class papers. In the fall semester, while off campus, they write the papers and receive final course grades. If they prefer to finish the program in three summers, they follow the same procedures, enrolling in four courses each of the first two summers and two courses the last summer.

Course work in the thirty-hour program was designed with the teacher in mind, but all those seeking an MA whose schedules require a summer-only program are welcome.

Approaches to Literature, a survey of the main approaches to literary study and their practical application, is required.

Electives are chosen from courses in American, British, World, and comparative literature; period studies; thematic studies; genre studies; regional studies, major authors; criticism; linguistics; modern grammar; rhetoric and composition; creative writing; and pedagogy.

At the end of the program, students will write a four-hour graduate examination based on a limited reading list. Download the MA Exam Reading List for 2009.

The graduate faculty consists of the following eleven professors, all of whom possess the PhD in a variety of fields central to the discipline:

Both of these documents are in pdf format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader, available at

Send questions or comments about the website to: Dr. Lexey Bartlett. Last updated January 13, 2009.