In the Literature, Cultural Theory and Social Practice PhD Program in English at Kent State University, graduate students identify, investigate and theorize the social functions of texts in a variety of contexts both within and outside the academy. A nationally recognized program, the department's literature PhD is characterized by its focus on modern and postmodern literature, a particular strength among Kent State English faculty.

This program features a faculty of scholars and teachers with diverse interests, whose work crosses the increasingly fluid boundaries that have begun to characterize the profession of literary and cultural studies. They bring to bear on twentieth- and twenty-first century literary and popular texts a variety of cultural theories -- deconstruction, feminism, gender theory, historical materialism, postcolonialism, psychoanalysis, etc. Kent State's program provides sustained focus on the social functions of all categories of texts (both literary and non-literary), including the conditions of their production, distribution, and consequent use.