IUP's English Doctoral Programs Achieve National Stature
A recent survey by the Modern Language Association, a professional organization for English teachers, found IUP's doctoral programs in English among the most successful in employment for its graduates. In 1996-97, IUP granted thirty-five new graduates the doctorate in English from its two doctoral programs, one in Rhetoric and Linguistics and one in Literature. IUP's English programs, one of the largest among the 141 doctoral programs in the United States, graduated four times as many students as the national average. In fact, almost 3 percent of the students who received a doctorate in English in the United States were IUP graduates.
The program is by far the largest in Pennsylvania. At the same time, IUP's graduates obtain full-time employment at almost twice the rate as graduates from other schools. Ninety-four percent of the 1996-97 graduates obtained full-time employment in teaching, and three percent found employment in other fields. This compares with a national average of 62 percent finding employment in teaching. In addition, 65 percent of the 1996-97 graduates were in permanent, tenure-track jobs, compared with a national average of only 33 percent.