The program also serves high school teachers looking to teach advanced/concurrent courses, and prepares students for careers in publishing, editing, and research as well.

The purposes of the Master of Arts program in English are at least five-fold:

• to train students to work with the materials of literature with scholarly competence and maturity;

• to prepare students to teach English in schools and colleges;

• to provide additional professional training for English teachers currently employed in elementary and secondary schools; to prepare students for such non-teaching vocations as publishing, advertising, editing, civil service, and management;

• and to offer sound professional training on the master?s level for students who intend to pursue a doctorate elsewhere in literary studies, including rhetoric and composition.

UTPB's English faculty strive to cultivate intellectual growth and to stimulate diverse scholarly interests. They are also committed to offering students the opportunity not only to master current knowledge but to contribute to this knowledge through research and original thinking. The English department is particularly known for its concentration on the burgeoning field of interdisciplinary studies. Graduate students are encouraged to participate in academic conferences and to publish in scholarly journals.