Next year's incoming master's students will be the final class admitted to the Department of English's terminal master's program before its suspension, said Daniel Kim, associate professor of English and the department's director of graduate study.
"We may revisit (the program) in the future, but for now we've suspended (it)," Kim said. Two students are currently enrolled in the program, which offers a two-year course of study leading to a master of arts in literatures and cultures in English.
The primary reason for closing the program was the continued lack of financial support for master's students. Kim said providing departmental support for the master's students would divert resources from the much more popular doctoral program.
Unlike doctoral candidates - who, starting next academic year, will receive five years of full funding along with other benefits - master's students often do not receive aid from the Graduate School. Some departments offer funding to master's students but many others - including English - do not provide financial aid packages, though master's students in English may apply for loans, according to the Grad School Web site.
"M.A. students (in the English department) don't receive financial support, and we felt that if we are going to keep the terminal M.A. program, we should have a much more substantial support structure for it," Kim said. But, he said, increasing support for the master's program would be difficult without diverting resources from the doctoral program.
Another reason for the suspension was the program's lack of a distinct purpose, Kim said.
"The Graduate School is redoing their Web site, and they wanted to make a clear distinction between M.A. programs and Ph.D. programs," Kim said. "We took that as a request to clarify the purpose of the M.A. program. ... We looked at it, and we realized it doesn't have a clear and distinct purpose on its own."
Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde said the Grad School more clearly distinguishes between the degree programs now than in the past.
A year and a half ago, "our admissions procedures simply admitted you to (the Grad School) and asked you to check a box for the (M.A.) or the Ph.D. We're now focusing on those programs to say, 'Who are we admitting? Where are we focusing our energies?' " Bonde said.
Kim said the decision to suspend the program was "difficult" because some "really terrific students" have come through it.
David Liao GS, one of the two students in the English master's program, said there is little to distinguish the master's from the doctoral program.
"The master's program is just a small chunk off the Ph.D. program. You're taking all of your classes with Ph.D. students," Liao said. "It is a good program, but it doesn't feel very distinct from what Ph.D. students are doing."
He said the program has been "very useful" as preparation for the doctoral degree he plans to pursue after graduation. "I needed (a master's program) as a stepping stone for following the Ph.D.," Liao said. "I feel like I would not have been ready to go right from an undergraduate to a Ph.D. program," he added. "I needed to learn the difference between serious academic scholarship and doing well as an undergrad. I feel like the master's program taught me what serious scholarship is."
