Signum University is a non-profit, online

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

based in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, granting the degree of

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Language and Literature. Its founder and president is

Corey Olsen Corey Olsen is a teacher and podcaster known as the Tolkien Professor, best known for his work in new media promoting the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Anglo Saxon literature. Formerly a professor at Washington College, Olsen now dedicates his tim ...

. Signum's

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

program has four areas of concentration:

Classic Literature A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cla ...

Tolkien Studies ''Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review'' is an academic journal publishing papers on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The journal's founding editors are Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D. C. Drout, and Verlyn Flieger, and the current editors ...

Germanic Philology Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary tex ...

, and Imaginative Literature. Instruction is done entirely via the Internet, with a combination of the use of

webinar Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of the peer-le ...

s, live and pre-recorded lectures,

Google Classroom Google Classroom is a free blended learning platform developed by Google for educational institutions that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process o ...

, and

Google Groups Google Groups is a service from Google that provides discussion groups for people sharing common interests. The Groups service also provides a gateway to Usenet newsgroups via a shared user interface. Google Groups became operational in February ...

. Signum is one of the few universities to offer multiple courses in Tolkien Studies, in addition to founder Corey Olsen drawing such notable Tolkien scholars as

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

Verlyn Flieger Verlyn Flieger (born 1933) is an author, editing, editor, and Professor Emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland at College Park, where she taught courses in comparative mythology, medi ...

Douglas A. Anderson Douglas Allen Anderson (born December 30, 1959) is an American writer and editor on the subjects of fantasy and medieval literature, specializing in textual analysis of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. He is a winner of the Mythopoeic Award for sch ...

, John Garth,

Michael D. C. Drout Michael D. C. Drout (; born 1968) is an American Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College. He is an author and editor specializing in Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature, science fiction a ...

, and

Dimitra Fimi Dimitra Fimi (born 2 June 1978) is a Scottish academic and writer and since 2020 the Senior Lecturer in Fantasy and Children's Literature at the University of Glasgow. Her research includes that of the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and children's ...

. The Germanic philology program is also robust and growing.

History

Signum's beginning was with the launch of the "Tolkien Professor" podcast in 2009 by Corey Olsen, who was teaching at

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

at the time. In 2011 its first credit classes were offered, and in 2012 the university was founded. In 2018, Olsen announced that Signum University was to be formally entered for state certification via the

New Hampshire Department of Education The New Hampshire Department of Education is the state education agency of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is headquartered in Concord. Frank Edelblut has led the department as commissioner since February 16, 2017. History New Hampshire ha ...

. Following some days of crowdfunding, they raised the $23,720 required, and later in 2018, it began the ascension process, announcing that the New Hampshire Department of Education had accepted the request for Signum University to do business in the state after facing a difficult vote in the New Hampshire legislature. In 2021, Signum received authorization from the State of New Hampshire to grant the Master of Arts degree.

References

External links

* {{Official, signumuniversity.org Universities and colleges in New Hampshire Tolkien studies