The PhD Program offers a rigorous course of study in the field of Composition & Rhetoric. Designed to prepare candidates to do innovative scholarly and pedagogical work, our area features an active and wide-ranging faculty committed to mentoring graduate students. We are able to offer a low student-to-professor ratio, a vibrant graduate student community, and numerous teaching, professionalization, and leadership opportunities. Thanks to this, our students have had a particularly strong track record with job placements over the past 20 years in a range of institutions.
We invite you to consult the following pages for more detailed information on the program, the application process, and our faculty and graduate students. For procedural questions about applying to graduate study in Composition & Rhetoric, please contact our Graduate Admissions Office at gradadmission@english.wisc.edu. For questions about academic interests and the PhD program in Composition & Rhetoric, please contact Professor Morris Young.
A PhD Minor in Composition & Rhetoric (four graduate seminars in Composition & Rhetoric) is available to graduate students in other disciplines/fields who are interested in the study of composition, rhetoric, and literacy.
A masters degree is required to begin the PhD with an emphasis in Composition & Rhetoric. We do not admit students who will only have a BA/BS. If you are interested in applying to the Bridge Program in Afro-American Studies to earn an MA and then move into the Ph.D. with an emphasis in Composition & Rhetoric please see detailed information on the Afro-American Bridge Program.