Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

History of Graduate Studies in English at SFU

Since its inception in the 1960s, the Graduate Program in the Department of English has provided a broad-based MA program, to which was later added a small, selective PhD program. In the department’s early years, our emphasis on the Romantics and 20th century poetics meant that most graduate students focused on these areas. We now attract students whose interests cover a broad range of English studies, with many concentrating on modern and contemporary literature and theory. As a department, we currently have particular strengths in critical theory; the digital humanities; 18th-, 19th-, and 20th/21st century English/American literature; and Canadian and Indigenous literature.