Our Mission
As a department in a liberal arts university, we seek to educate students in the humanistic endeavor of reading, writing, and studying texts in a variety of genres from across cultures and times. We want our students to become successful humanists who can effectively analyze writing and participate in the creation of knowledge and texts. Therefore, we view writing and literary study as indelibly linked. Within the structure of our curriculum and within our individual courses, we strive to show how reading imaginative and explicative texts is intimately connected to academic, civic, and creative writing. We are committed to supporting diversity, access, and inclusion in teaching and throughout the work of our department, university, and campus. (Please see our mission addendum on access and inclusion.)
Our Strategy
Our department prioritizes a personalized education experience for all students whether they take our classes as a major or minor, or just want to explore a topic that interests them. Our small class sizes encourage great conversations and attention from faculty. Currently we offer a Bachelor of Arts in English on-campus and online; and a minor in English. Students can explore literature, linguistics, creative and professional writing, and editing and publishing. They can also become familiar with emerging digital technologies and multimodal tools for reading, writing, research, and multimodal content production. Our program emphasizes strong written and verbal communication, giving students the analytical reading, sharp thinking, and clear writing skills important for professional success. Students learn through collaborative as well as individual approaches. They become proficient in managing both group and self-directed projects.
Who We Are
Our faculty and staff is committed to the department’s mission statement and is dedicated to the futures of our students. Our specialties range from the medieval to the contemporary, the graphic novel to the epic poem, and the creative to the rhetorical, giving students ample opportunities to explore all that English Studies has to offer.
What We Do
Our diverse curriculum, hard-working faculty and staff, and unique attributes all come together to prepare our students for a variety of career paths. We aim to send our students confidently into today’s job market with an edge on the competition: communication, analysis, presentation, editing, and both creative and professional writing are highly desired skills by employers from many different fields. We believe that we are creating more versatile and adaptable employees by giving our students these skills.