FAQ about Studies in Literature and Environment (L&E)
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest strengths of your program?
A: We attract excellent students from around the world, creating a close-knit sense of community and shared purpose.
We offer at least one and often two specialized Literature and Environment graduate seminars each semester, and have a dozen outstanding faculty who teach in the program. Also, the program hosts visiting writers, speakers, and events, all of which greatly enhance the intellectual vitality of our campus.
The leading journal in this field--ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment--is edited here and gives our students a range of opportunities to gain experience in academic publishing. Faculty in our program were the co-founders of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) and maintain an extensive network of contacts and involvement in this organization that often leads to special opportunities for our students.
We are committed to mentoring our students and helping them achieve their professional goals.
Reno, situated at the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and at the western edge of the Great Basin Desert, affords outdoor recreation under a brilliant sunny sky. Other pages of this web site elaborate on these points.
Q: What kind of mentoring is offered in the L&E program?
A: Two of the formal mentoring approaches that have become vital parts of the program include the Professional Development Workshop (a day-long event) and the Portfolio Review Process. For the latter, each student in the program compiles a portfolio of professional materials each spring and meets to discuss these materials with two faculty members from the program. Mentoring also occurs less formally through routine meetings with faculty members and with other students in the program. All new students are assigned both a faculty and student mentor, which allows for one-on-one support until committee chairs are selected.
Q: Do L&E students have an opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary work?
A: Yes, We strongly encourage--and, at the MA level, require--our students to take courses in disciplines other than English, because we believe that Literature and Environment is necessarily integrative and interdisciplinary. In fact, we allow MA students to fulfill their foreign language requirement (and for Ph.Ds, one of their foreign languages) by taking two graduate-level courses in another discipline, based on our belief that mastering the "language" of another discipline may be a greater help to people working in literature and environment than learning a foreign language would be.
Some of the fields in which our students have specialized and which have informed masters theses and doctoral dissertations include Geography, Anthropology, Conservation Biology, Women's Studies, and History.
Q: Do you offer field-based courses?
A: Yes. Several years ago, one of our graduate students, Jerry Keir, established the Great Basin Institute, which enlists several faculty members and graduate students, who offer a variety of undergraduate and graduate field courses during the summer. These courses often combine science and literature or writing and typically include conservation or restoration work. Students in the L&E program have both taken and taught courses through the Great Basin Institute.
Q: Do students in the L&E program have an opportunity to take writing classes?
A: Yes, The English Department at UNR offers an MA in Writing and schedules advanced writing courses in support of that degree. While most of these courses do not focus exclusively on environmental writing or nature writing, students have found opportunities to practice these genres in these classes. Our students have published their work in magazines, literary journals, and poetry reviews.
Q: How long does it usually take students to complete the program?
A: Graduate students who work on their degrees full time generally complete the MA in two years, the PhD in five.
Q: What have the graduates of your program gone on to do?
A: Graduates of UNR's Literature and Environment MA and PhD programs have gone on to achieve success in a wide range of advanced graduate programs, professional careers, and public service fields. Among MA graduates who have proceeded to advanced graduate studies, our alumni have been accepted to Columbia University, Brown University, University of Virginia, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of Minnesota, Georgia State University, Washington State University, CUNY, Essex University, University of Birmingham, and elsewhere, and have pursued PhD and other advanced programs in literary studies, comparative literature, rhetoric and composition, creative writing, environmental studies, educational administration, popular culture studies, African studies, American studies, culinary and food studies, peace studies, women's studies, library science, and environmental law. Other MA graduates have gone directly into careers in editing, publishing, marketing, communications, journalism, digital design, public lands management, environmental education, museum administration, non-profit consulting, and into teaching at the secondary, junior college, or college levels. Yet others have started field institutes, served in the Peace Corps, or become Fulbright Scholars. Alumni of our PhD program have gone on to careers in teaching and research, editing and publishing, and nonprofit administration, and have received faculty appointments at University of Massachusetts, University of Alaska, Kanazawa University (Japan), Okanagan College (Canada), Idaho State University, Humboldt State University, Boise State University, Northern Michigan University, Mansfield University, University of California-Santa Barbara, Concordia University, University of the Ryukyus (Japan), Lake Tahoe Community College, Fordham University, Appalachian State University, IULM (Italy), Northland College, University of California-Davis, Young Harris College, and elsewhere. A number of L&E dissertations and spinoff projects have been published as books, and many of our alumni have won major teaching, research, and service awards.
Q: What is the relationship between the L&E program and the English Department?
A: L&E is one of several areas in the Department of English graduate program (see the English Department's Graduate Pages for descriptions). The MA in L&E is one of four different MA emphases in the department's Masters Program, while the PhD in L&E is one of three different doctoral emphases. Faculty who teach L&E courses are members of the English Department, and these courses are taken by students pursuing a variety of emphases, as well as by students from other departments.
Q: Do you accept students whose undergraduate work was not in English?
A: A minor in English or the equivalent is the minimum for admission to the MA While most have majored in English, students applying come from a variety of undergraduate backgrounds, including Women's Studies, Environmental Policy, Anthropology, and Geopetrology. These students have had great success in the program. In fact, an interdisciplinary background can be a decided asset in Literature and Environment studies. At the PhD level, almost all of our incoming students have an MA in English, but we have on occasion made exceptions.
Q: How do I go about contacting current students in the program?
A: Please contact Mike Branch. He can work with you to identify students whose interests or background are similar to your own.
Alternatively, you can contact Professor Cheryll Glotfelty.
Q: How do I go about arranging a campus visit?
A: Send e-mail to Professor Cheryll Glotfelty, Director of Graduate Studies. Cheryll will work with you to identify a good time for a visit and to arrange meetings for you with current faculty and students in the L&E Program. Come visit us if you can!
If you plan to visit campus, please let us know in advance. Providing some lead time allows us to set up the sorts of meetings that will make your visit most productive
Q: Whom should I contact if I have further questions about the program?
A: The best place to start is the English Department's Director of Graduate Studies, Cheryll Glotfelty, who can either answer your questions or direct you to an appropriate faculty member. Please also feel free to read the student and faculty profiles, linked to this web site, and contact them. We do ask that you begin by carefully reviewing this web site as well as the English Department's web site (including the Graduate Pages), as most of your questions will likely be answered there.
Q: Where can I get more information about Teaching Assistantships?
A: Information on Teaching Assistantships can be found in the English Department's Graduate Page.
Q: Do Graduate Teaching Assistantships include health care coverage?
A: Yes. For more information on the terms (pay, responsibilities, etc.) of Teaching Assistantships, see the English Department Graduate Page, Teaching Assistantships section. For more information on health care coverage, see the Graduate School's Student Health Insurance Information. You might also want to consult insurance information on the University Health Center's web site.
Q: How can I get information about finding housing in Reno?
A: Often, students in the L&E program have the best ideas about where you might look for housing. You should feel free to forward a request for help to the L&E Committee Chair, Mike Branch. There may be other L&E students who are either looking for a housemate or who know of local availabilities. If you want to shop apartments through the classifieds, you'll find the Reno Gazette Journal, our city newspaper, online.