Saturday, July 5, 2014

Report of the MLA Task Force on Doctoral Study in Modern Language and Literature

The Modern Language Association of America has recently published its Task Force Report on doctoral education. It contains an analysis of the state of doctoral education in literary studies, along with a set of recommendations for revising programs based on rethinking the way graduate students are trained and the range of professional positions for which our programs currently prepare students. You can read the executive summary and the entire report here. I also recommend that you read the constructive critique of the report entitled "Don't Capitulate. Advocate." For additional commentary on the report see "Fixing the Ph.D." by Joshua Rothman in The New Yorker, and "Restructuring the Humanities" by Christopher Long in the The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 23, 2014).