Welcome!

If you enjoy studying and creating texts, film, and 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 communication, antiracist pedagogy, 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 Professional Writing, a B.S. in English Education, and minors in English and Film Studies. Our graduate program is being redesigned to offer concentrations in Literary Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and Teaching Literature and Writing.

Our department’s goal is to contribute to students’ success in their professional aspirations. Our graduates frequently teach at the secondary and postsecondary levels, go on to complete graduate degrees, and pursue fruitful careers in creative and technical writing, business, medicine, entertainment, publishing, broadcasting, advertising, journalism, government, and the law.

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.

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

The English Department acknowledges and honors the ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ (Cherokee), the yeh is-WAH h’reh (Catawba), and other Indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands we occupy.

Please read our full acknowledgement here.

Our Statement on Diversity

Education is transformative, and open intellectual inquiry is the foundation of a university education and a democratic society. In the spirit of shared humanity and concern for our community and world, the Department of English faculty celebrate diversity as central to our mission and affirm our solidarity with those individuals and groups most at risk. In line with our departmental goals, we disavow all racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, classism, ableism, and hate speech or actions that attempt to silence, threaten, and degrade others.

As educators, we affirm that language and texts, films and stories help us to understand the experiences of others whose lives are different from ours. We value critical reasoning, evidence-based arguments, self-reflection, and the imagination. Building on these capacities, we hope to inspire empathy, social and environmental justice, and an ethical framework for our actions. We advocate for a diverse campus, community, and nation inclusive of racial minorities, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of all religious faiths.

As part of ongoing efforts to improve our inclusivity, the English Department recently approved the following resolution on the use of the n-word in our classes.

Latest News

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We Are Hiring Two Visiting Assistant Professors in Early American and World Literature

The Literary Studies program, housed within Appalachian State University’s Department of English, invites applications for multiple non-tenure track...

Spring 2023 Cratis D. Williams Society inductees Zoë Benfield (upper left), Krystal Carter (upper middle), Nic Garzone (upper right), Natalie Moyer (lower left), Gabriel Paredes (lower middle) and Skyler Prowten (lower right)

Cratis D. Williams Society inductees include six CAS graduates

BOONE, N.C. — In the Spring and Fall, Appalachian State University's Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies seeks nominations for the Cratis ...

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We Are Hiring NTT Lecturers in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication (Multiple Vacancies)

The Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication (WRTC) Program, housed within Appalachian State University’s Department of English, invites appli...

Course Flyer

ENG 4810/5710: Advanced Folklore Fieldwork at the Mount Airy Fiddlers' Convention

English 4810/5710:Adv Studies in Folklore Fieldwork.Primary Field Trip: Mt Airy Fiddler's Convention, June 1,2,3,4 (3 credits)(in person)Possible fiel...

Imperiled Rhythms Flyer

ENG 2360: American Literature and the Arts: Imperiled Rhythms: Music, Memory, & Uncertainty in American Fiction

ENG 2360: American Literature and the Arts: Imperiled Rhythms: Music, Memory, & Uncertainty in American FictionDr. Ryan James McGuckinMWF 12:00pmâ...

Image of the silhouette of a person and a bird with mountains in the background

ENG 4815 Distinguished Guest in Creative Writing with Emily Nemens: Places and Spaces in Short Fiction

Places and Spaces in Short FictionGuest Writer: Emily NemensT/Th 5-6:15In this class we’ll look at short fiction with a focus on place—domestic sp...

English 2170 – Introduction To Film – Leon Lewis flyer

English 2170 – Introduction To Film – Leon Lewis

Fall, 2023  English 2170 – Introduction To Film –Leon LewisIn Person and On ScreenIntroduction To Film is the foundational course of the Film...

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Congratulations to the Winner of the David Hodgin English Award

This year's winner of the David Hodgin English Award is Mikayla Gordon for her short story "Tough Luck."Here's what the awards committee had to say ab...

Congratulations to the winners of the 2023-24 Truman Capote Literary Trust Scholarships for Creative Prose and Poetry!

Congratulations to the winners of the 2023-24 Truman Capote Literary Trust Scholarships for Creative Prose and Poetry!  Spring Visiting Writer Je...

Flyer for Remembering and Forgetting: An American Libretto

Remembering and Forgetting: An American Libretto

On Sunday, April 30 at 7:00 pm in App State's I.G. Greer Auditorium, a group of App State faculty-- Bruce Dick (English), Rob Falvo (Music), Tom Whyte...