Department of English

Welcome!

If you enjoy studying and creating literature, film, and other texts, including multimedia compositions, you’ve come to the right department. In our courses, minors, and majors, you will analyze and critically engage many kinds of texts for their craft and meaning in their cultural contexts. Many of our courses involve written, visual, and auditory texts, challenging students to develop 21st century digital literacy skills and exploring new ways to create and seek meaning.

Whether you seek to take courses in our program as a major, minor, or elective, our award-winning faculty members are committed to supporting you. We are active writers and scholars who publish and teach about literature, cinema, memoir, nonfiction, poetry, teacher education, multimodal composition, digital rhetorics and literature, environmental literature and rhetoric, Appalachian studies, and many other timely topics.

We offer a B.A. program with specializations in Creative Writing, Film Studies, Literary Studies and Rhetoric and Technical Writing, a B.S. in English Education, and minors in English, Film Studies, and Rhetoric and Technical Writing. Our graduate program offers concentrations in Literary Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and Teaching Literature and Writing. We offer accelerated admissions to our graduate program that enables students to complete a bachelor’s and master’s degree in as little as 5 years.

Our department’s goal is to contribute to students’ success in their professional aspirations. Our graduates pursue numerous career and education pathways, including teaching at the secondary and postsecondary levels, earning advanced graduate degrees, and pursuing careers in creative and technical writing, business, medicine, entertainment, publishing, broadcasting, advertising, journalism, government, the law, and beyond.

If you are interested in taking courses, becoming an English major, or doing a minor within our department, you might:

• Explore our website for information about our diverse, engaging programs.

• Reach out to a program’s director about your interest as a potential major, minor, or student taking elective courses.

• Check out our course promos, so you can see how some of the courses are taught.

• Discuss your interest in our courses with your academic advisor.