Students learn how English works in various parts of the world--how it got to be the way it is, how it functions in relation to local histories, and how it enhances and impedes communication.Currently, the majority of people who use English as a language for work, school, and daily communication learned English as a second or foreign language.

Through the study of Douglass’s and Whitman’s work and biographies, students understand major concerns of the nineteenth century, including enslavement and abolitionism; shifting ideas about gender and sexuality; the possibilities and limitations of American ideals like freedom, equality, and self-reliance; and the role of narrative, oratory, and poetry in the formation of national culture.

This scheduled weekly interdisciplinary seminar provides the context to reflect on concrete experiences at an off-campus internship site and to link these experiences to academic study relating to the political, psychological, social, economic and intellectual forces that shape our views on work and its meaning. The aim is to integrate study in the liberal arts with issues and themes surrounding the pursuit of a creative, productive, and satisfying professional life. Students receive 1.0 unit of academic credit for the academic work that augments their concurrent internship fieldwork.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Intended for English majors with junior or senior class standing, the advanced creative writing workshop facilitates the writing and revision of an original work: a collection of short stories, a novel or novella, a chapbook or volume of poems, a play, a film script, or other substantial piece of student writing. Like the literary and rhetorical scholarship seminars, this course devotes the early part of the semester to building a shared expertise that will inform creative projects in multiple genres; the latter part of the semester involves the production of a polished manuscript.

Course topics and emphases are determined by the instructor. Intended for English majors with junior or senior standing, advanced seminars are designed to facilitate in-depth examination of a specific topic, independent study, and the production of substantial work in fields related to faculty and student interest. Generally, the early part of the term is devoted to building a shared expertise that will inform the student’s independent research later in the semester. Please consult the department website for information on current and upcoming topics.

Course topics and emphases are determined by the instructor. Intended for English majors with junior or senior standing, advanced seminars are designed to facilitate in-depth examination of a specific topic, independent study, and the production of substantial work in fields related to faculty and student interest. Generally, the early part of the term is devoted to building a shared expertise that will inform the student’s independent research later in the semester. Please consult the department website for information on current and upcoming topics.

Course topics and emphases are determined by the instructor. Intended for English majors with junior or senior standing, advanced seminars are designed to facilitate in-depth examination of a specific topic, independent study, and the production of substantial work in fields related to faculty and student interest. Generally, the early part of the term is devoted to building a shared expertise that will inform the student’s independent research later in the semester. Please consult the department website for information on current and upcoming topics.

Course topics and emphases are determined by the instructor. Intended for English majors with junior or senior standing, advanced seminars are designed to facilitate in-depth examination of a specific topic, independent study, and the production of substantial work in fields related to faculty and student interest. Generally, the early part of the term is devoted to building a shared expertise that will inform the student’s independent research later in the semester. Please consult the department website for information on current and upcoming topics.

An experiential seminar in which each student develops a passion project that translates ideas and critical skills learned in humanities classrooms into a public-facing demonstration of the humanities’ potential beyond the university. This seminar supports students in translating their knowledge, experience, and skills to the professional or the public sphere, and in communicating the significance of their work. The seminar has two components: fieldwork and classwork.