Research Opportunities

Graduate students in the Department of English enjoy the benefits of having a relatively small cohort while also being able to explore one of the largest research institutions in the United States. The University of Minnesota offers a comprehensive range of academic programs and the opportunity to work with faculty doing exciting research in a variety of disciplines. English PhD students have received research fellowships from the Immigration History Research Center and the Libraries' Givens Collection (see below), among other fruitful collaborations.

Graduate studies at the U of M are interdisciplinary, offering opportunities for coursework, research projects, or scholarly events within numerous academic centers:

  • The Center for German and European Studies organizes lecture series, symposia, and projects that bring together students and scholars from all areas of the humanities and social sciences.
  • The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies offers digital archives, regular programming and events, an interdisciplinary graduate student group and a graduate fellowship opportunity. 
  • The Center for Premodern Studies offers graduate minors in Early Modern Studies and Medieval Studies and organizes numerous lectures and conferences. CPS partners with The Premodern Workshop, a multidisciplinary group for graduate students and scholars of the premodern world. The Workshop provides work-in-progress workshops, pedagogy workshops, professionalization events, and visiting speaker events, with the goal to expand the network of premodern scholars on campus. 
  • Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) offers a graduate minor in Feminist and Critical Sexuality Studies.
  • The Immigration History Research Center (IHRC) promotes the study of immigration and ethnic history, with extensive archives, conferences, and internships.
  • The Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) supports interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study and research on issues of conflict, social change, justice and human rights, social and ecological sustainability, and the consequences of an increasingly global economy and culture.
  • The Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) brings to campus a number of senior scholars in various disciplines for lectures.
  • The Institute of Global Studies (IGS) connects students, scholars, and communities dedicated to social justice, understanding, and transforming our globalized world.
  • Moving Image, Media and Sound (MIMS) offers a graduate minor in Moving Image Studies. 
  • Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality (RIDGS) supports innovative research, teaching, and community-building around lines of inquiry that challenge systems of power and inequality, assert human dignity, and imagine social transformation. It offers an interdisciplinary graduate minor.

Visit our faculty Research Interests and Research Activities pages for more information about our department's primary areas of scholarship and collaborations.

Library Resources

With over five million volumes, the University of Minnesota Libraries constitute a world-class research center, ranking 15th among academic research libraries in North America. 

Make use of several rich collections of rare books, maps, and manuscripts. The Givens Collection of African American Literature includes novels, poetry, plays, short stories, essays, literary criticism, periodicals, and biographies that span nearly 250 years of American culture. The James Ford Bell collection documents European expansion and immigration, and the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine features 48,000 rare books and manuscripts dating from the early 1400s to 1920. Other nearby humanities research centers include the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library at St. John's University.

The University of Minnesota's Subject Specialist for English Literature is Malaika Grant. She can be reached at [email protected].