On behalf of all of the Mercy University MA in English Literature faculty: welcome, everyone in our graduate English community, to the 2024-25 academic year. Here in New York the summer is just starting to hint at the autumn ahead: the morning air cools; the deep and uniform forest green of the leaves begins to gesture to the yellow, red, and brown ahead; twilight comes a bit earlier, and each day earlier yet. In different regions, nature has different ways of signaling the changing season. Whatever region you’re in, and whatever are the tells of autumn, ever since we were young we know one thing that all of these signs mean: it’s time to get back to class, get back to our studies, get back to school. We few, we happy few, who still no matter how near or far we are from our younger days can return to our studies and explorations when the summer rolls into autumn–we get to begin again. And so today, Wednesday September 4th, the first day of our fall semester and of our new annual academic cycle, we begin again!

Before we all head off into our new adventures and explorations through the literatures, histories, and cultures from across all of human time and all around the globe, I want to share with our grad students information about resources and support which are available to you all.

THE UPDATED STUDENT HANDBOOK, AND NETIQUETTE GUIDE

Now and then we revise and update the Graduate Student Handbook. The latest version, updated summer 2024, is available by clicking here. Note that among the additions to the latest version is a netiquette guide (page 8). We ask all of our grad students to review the updated handbook, as it contains answers to and information about many of the questions and situations grad students face.

STUDENT ID

Grad students, whether on campus or online, can and should secure student ID cards. A student ID can get you discounts at various stores, and can usually get you access to any university library in your area. Students at the Dobbs Ferry campus can stop in and get your ID card in Person at the Admissions office in Main Hall. Students at a distance can secure an ID card through the mail by following these instructions:

Using your @mercy.edu email account, send a photo of your face along with your full first name, last name, and ID number (your eight-digit CWID number) to pact@mercy.edu.

 Full photo guidelines are:

• Submit a color photo of just your face taken in last 6 months
• Have someone else take your photo – no selfies
• Submit a high-resolution photo that is not blurry, grainy, or pixilated
• Use a clear and unedited image of your face; do not use filters such as those commonly used on social media
• Face the camera directly with full face in view
• Have a neutral facial expression or a natural smile, with both eyes open
• Use a white or off-white background

Explain in your email that you are a distance-learning graduate student in the MA English Lit program at Mercy U, and that you would like a student ID card.

GENERAL STUDENT RESOURCES & SUPPORT

Each active graduate student has what’s called a PACT advisor, which is basically your staff advisor and the point-person for assisting you with issues that arise or general questions you might have. The primary PACT advisor for every graduate English student is currently Lydia Yearwood (lyearwood@mercy.edu). Also know that as the Program Director I am the faculty advisor to every graduate English student, so you can always contact me at cloots@mercy.edu with questions about the program or your classes.

Student Support Services is the general office/portal where you can find info about many of the things that students normally need info about. Note that practically all of Mercy University’s support services have some online variation, and so are available for our distance learning students.

The University’s Office of Accessibility is the place to contact if you need to discuss or register any accommodations.

We also have an office of Counseling Services for those in need.

The Center for Academic Excellence and Innovation (CAEI) provides tutoring (including online tutoring) and other such assistance for those who want some help with their writing and researching. Occasionally a professor might recommend or require that you seek additional help with your writing, and the CAEI is the place you can get it, whether on campus or online.

Mercy has extensive online library resources. JSTOR Language & Literature, MLA International Bibliography, and Academic Search Premier are the main databases in the field of literary research, though there are many other databases available online through the library. Additionally, Mercy has digitized versions of many scholarly books. To search the ebook selection use the advanced search option for the library catalog and under “format” select “EBook.” Then search away and check-out/download any useful books you find. For general research help and an overview of basic research methods, you might find useful this online guide that librarian Miranda Montez created specifically for the MA English program. And don’t hesitate to make use of interlibrary loan to secure any materials (such as academic journal articles, etc.) that you need but which Mercy might not have on hand. Librarians can secure materials using interlibrary loan and send scanned PDFs to students at a distance, within fair use and copyright allowance.

For those approaching their last semester, you must pay attention to your required comprehensive exam, to the instructions for how to enroll in the final 599 course, and to the instructions for how to apply for degree conferral. Also note that the format for the 599 thesis paper involves some in-house style requirements, which are explained here.

PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ENGL 599 MASTER’S THESIS ASSESSMENT RUBRIC

The program’s “student learning outcomes” are the big-picture things we hope you are developing throughout your time the program, and all of your courses in one way or another are geared around developing one, some, or all of those outcomes. We have a rubric keyed to those outcomes that we use when reviewing your final 599 thesis papers. You can see that rubric by clicking here. Even though we don’t apply the rubric systematically to papers written for courses prior to the 599 tutorial, it’s a good idea to look at it since more or less the things listed on the rubric are the things we’re considering when reviewing all of your papers for most courses in the program. The rubric and the outcomes, and our 599 assessment practices, as well as the sharing of this information with students, are all requirements of our university’s accreditation.

GRADUATE STUDENT SYMPOSIUM 2025

It’s not too early to be thinking about attending and/or, hopefully, presenting at the spring 2025 Graduate Student Symposium. More information about this will be shared in early spring here on the blog, but anyone interested or with questions should contact cloots@mercy.edu now for more information.

ONWARD INTO THE SEMESTER

Onward we go! If anyone has any questions about anything in this post, please let me know at cloots@mercy.edu. Once again, welcome, everyone, to the 2024-25 academic year here in the Mercy University MA in English Lit program. Here’s to the fall, here’s to your studies and explorations, and here’s to the academic year ahead. Thanks, all. -CL