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

Hiring Two TT Assistant Professors: Creative Writing (Fiction) and World Literature

We are hiring two tenure-track Assistant Professors in Creative Writing (Fiction) and World Literature.Here's some information on the job listings and...

ENG 4508-101, Junior/Senior Honors Seminar: Popular Genre Fiction

The class will explore and analyze literature through the organizing structures of genre, with an emphasis on popular as well as literary fiction. Weâ...

ENG 3175: Studies in Film Genre (The Western)

ENG 3175: Studies in Film Genre (The Western) Tuesdays and Thursdays               9:30-10:45 AM  &n...

ENG 3174: Topics in Global Cinema (Animation)

ENG 3174: Topics in Global Cinema (Animation) Tuesdays and ThursdaysTime: 11:00-12:15Location: Sanford Hall 214Far from mere children’s enterta...

ENG 2170: Introduction to Film

ENG 2170: Introduction to Film Tuesdays and Thursdays3:30-4:45 PM                      &nb...

Dr. Jessica Cory, editor of Appalachian Journal

Dr. Jessica Cory appointed editor of Appalachian Journal

Appalachian State University’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jessica Cory as the third editor of&...

Memorial Page for Dr. Edwin T. (Chip) Arnold III is now online

Memorial Page for Dr. Edwin T. (Chip) Arnold III is now online

A memorial page for English Professor Dr. Edwin T. (Chip) Arnold III is now online at Edwin T. (Chip) Arnold Memorial Site (google.com).A Go...