The Department of Literature is composed of 10 sections: Writing; Classics; Comparative Literature; Cultural Studies; and Literatures in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. Each of these sections has its own set of requirements that students must fulfill to earn their degree.
The department is governed by a Chair and Vice-Chair, elected by the ladder-rank faculty. They are advised and assisted in their duties by an Executive Committee of elected representatives of the ladder-rank faculty.
The Chair appoints faculty members to serve as the Director of the MFA Program, Director of Graduate Studies (PhD), and Section Heads and Graduate Advisors for each section.
Faculty office hours are posted on this website. Faculty who are on leave are not expected to be available for advising, reading papers, supervising independent studies, or attending qualifying examinations or dissertation defenses. Likewise, during the summer faculty are not available for these activities.
MFA students work with the MFA Graduate Coordinator and the Student Affairs Assistant. Refer to the staff directory for names and contact information.
The Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) represents the concerns of the graduate students to the faculty and departmental administration and facilitates communication among all components of the program.
The GSC consists of:
All members have a vote in the committee's business. The GSC is constituted annually (by election and appointment before the end of spring quarter) to take office the following September. It meets at least once each quarter during the academic year and can be called into special session by the Department Chair, by the Director of Graduate Studies, or by petition of any three faculty or graduate student members of the department. The committee:
The Graduate Student Association (GSA) is the campus-wide official graduate student organization. Functions of the GSA include allocating the graduate student activity fee, appointing graduate students to campus-wide committees, and sponsoring academic and social events.
The GSA is governed by an internally elected executive board. Its membership includes two or more representatives from each department. Literature department representatives to the GSA are elected annually as a part of the GSC election.