Program Overview

Introduction to the Master of Arts Program in English

The Master of Arts Program in English at Kansas State University is an academic community of professors and graduate students who are intellectually engaged, committed to creative and critical work in English, and dedicated to advanced research in the discipline as well as the primary goals of a liberal education. The program values critical writing, creative work, careful explication of texts, breadth of reading and historical and cultural knowledge, critical engagement with expressions of cultural diversity and underrepresented experiences, and collaborative, interactive, and meaningful learning and instruction.

Program Values and Expectations

The Program values:

• Critical writing, carefully honed and revised, informed by current research in the problem or field, and aware of its own critical assumptions
• Creative work, carefully honed and revised, informed by the reading of other writers, including contemporary authors, and aware of its own exigence and aims
• Careful explication of texts
• Breadth of reading and breadth of historical and cultural knowledge
• Critical engagement with expressions of cultural diversity and underrepresented experiences
• Collaborative, interactive, and meaningful learning and instruction It is the expectation of the Program that its students will join this academic community and share these intellectual and disciplinary values.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Master of Arts degree, graduate students in English are expected to demonstrate the ability to:

• Read carefully, with historical and contextual perspective
• Conduct research within the field of English
• Think analytically and critically about literature and language
• Recognize and analyze the perspectives and assumptions that they and other readers and critics bring to texts and interpretations
• Write well, with an understanding of audience and purpose
• Exhibit substantial knowledge about literature and language in the context of specialization
• Demonstrate integrative and independent thinking, originality, imagination, experimentation, problem solving, or risk taking in thought, expression, or intellectual engagement

Program Evaluation and Assessment

During the evaluation period, assessment data was collected for 104 M.A. students. Faculty evaluated student performance through the Oral Exam rubric, which assesses the M.A. Program's seven student learning outcomes. In addition, each student's Major Professor completed a "Final Writing Project or Thesis Oral Examination Report," which offers a descriptive summary of the student's accomplishments of our learning outcomes, along with specific consideration of two of our SLOs. Results demonstrated that the vast majority of students met or exceeded proficiency for each learning outcome. Particularly strong results were recorded for SLO 2, "Conduct Research within the Field of English" and SLO 7, "Demonstrate Integrative and Independent Thinking, Originality, Imagination, Experimentation, Problem-Solving, or Risk Taking."